Embrace the Word for Friday, June 5, 2026
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Psalm 73 is the start of Book 3 of the Psalter. Book 3, which consists of Psalms 73 through 89, basically follows Israel’s pathway to Babylonian exile. This path to exile is very evident in many of the Psalms in Book 3, but not as evident in some of them. After the hopeful vision offered in Psalm 72 through the ascendancy of a Davidic King, Book 3 deals with the reality of death, destruction, deep disappointment, and even disillusionment. Psalm 73 sets the overall tone of Book 3 as it expresses in a highly emotional fashion, the struggle to make sense of the prosperity of the wicked. Book 3 contains a lot of Psalms “of Asaph” (Psalms 73-83), as well as Psalms “of the sons of Korah” (Psalms 84-85, 87-88). There is even “A Prayer of David” (Psalm 86) in Book 3. The superscription of Psalm 73 states that it is by Asaph: “A Psalm of Asaph.” Psalm 50 was actually the first by Asaph, who was appointed by David (See 1 Chronicles 6:31) and served as the chief of the musicians (See 1 Chronicles 16:5). Even though the tone of Psalm 73 is very different from the tone of Psalm 72, nevertheless, they share several common links. Each Psalm uses the terms for “peace” or “prosperity” (72:3,7; 73:3); “violence” (72:14; 73:6); “oppression” (72:14; 73:8); and “forever” or “always” (72:17; 73:12). Psalm 73 is arranged by three movements, which are indicated by the term “truly” (73:1,13,18). The opening movement of Psalm 73 describes the temptation that Asaph is facing (73:1-12), then it moves to the Asaph’s struggle to make sense of what he sees (73:13-17), before Asaph realizes the destiny that awaits the wicked (73:18-28).
Psalm 73 begins with an emphatic confession: “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (73:1). This opening statement reveals Asaph’s conviction concerning the goodness of God. Awareness of the goodness of God is central to a proper functioning life. Questioning the goodness of God, is not only a perspective introduced and embraced in the Garden of Eden, it is also commensurate with a life filled with struggle and sorrow. The term “good” brackets Psalm 73 as it is stated here in verse 1 and in the closing verse. God is good not simply in terms of His character or attributes, but in His actions and commitments toward His people. It is this matter of the goodness of God that Asaph will be tempted to question. Asaph acknowledges that the goodness of God is expressed toward but also evident to “those who are pure in heart.” Asaph uses the term “heart” throughout Psalm 73. In this opening phrase, the pure in heart refers to those who have a genuine devotion to the LORD. Such a posture is directed by the command: “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (See Deuteronomy 6:5).
As this Psalm unfolds, it will become clear that Asaph’s struggle is a heart struggle. After his emphatic confession, Asaph admits an emphatic contrast: “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (73:2-3). The solid footing grounded in the truth of verse 1 felt like it was giving way. Asaph’s confidence in the LORD was on the verge of a spiritual collapse. And while the term heart is not explicitly stated in verse 3, the origin of Asaph’s struggle is his heart. Envy is a heart posture; a heart posture stemming from a divided heart devotion. Asaph saw something in the arrogant that he desired. Asaph was being drawn away from his devotion to the LORD as he was enticed by the fact that he longed for all the stuff the wicked seemed to have. Later, Asaph will confess: “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant” (73:21-22a). Asaph was “seeing” with his heart, that is, he was interpreting what he saw through a particular bent or posture—the envious posture of his heart.
What Asaph was seeing with his eyes, his heart was trying to make sense of. But his heart was not making good sense of the things he saw—instead his heart became embittered before God. In verses 4-12, Asaph paints a vivid picture of what he saw: “For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind” (73:4-5). Asaph observes that the wicked seem to have no physical afflictions, living their whole life without any suffering and then they peacefully die. Their bodies are a picture of good health. They seem to be exempt from diseases and illnesses that plague the rest of mankind. Asaph surmises that the wicked have higher life expectancies and an overall better quality of life, and they are boastful of their good health and have callous disregard for toward others: “Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment” (73:6). Their wicked ways know no limits, always looking for more, as their wickedness feeds their imagination to dream: “Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies” (73:7). The lips of the wicked overflow: “They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth” (73:8-9). Their boasts, threats, and mocking each reveal their disregard for the LORD. And what they say and do has profound influence even on God’s people as His people are at times persuaded to follow them and/or not speak out against them: “Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them” (73:10). The wicked even claim their actions are either unknown by God or they will escape any accountability before God: “And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” (73:11). Asaph concludes with this take on the wicked: “Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches” (73:12).
In light of what Asaph has observed about the life of the wicked, he begins to reflect on the life that he has sought to live: “All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence” (73:13). The term translated “all” in verse 13 is actually the same word translated “truly” in verse 1 and verse 18. Following the flow of Psalm 73 is perhaps best seen by using “truly” in verse 13 as well (the NASB, NIV, and NKJV translations use “surely” throughout the Psalm). Whichever term we use to open verse 13, the point is the same: Asaph is wondering if his attempt to keep his heart clean, that is, striving to be “pure in heart” (73:1), was pointless. At the moment, Asaph is not sure if there was any value to his seeking to live virtuously. The wicked seem to have evaded God’s judgment; their arrogance and pursuit of sinful pleasure has occurred without impunity. In fact, they seem to have been given some sort of reward. And while the wicked are doing great, Asaph, for all his attempts to be humble before the LORD and deny himself the desires of wicked pleasures, is suffering all day, every day: “For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning” (73:14). Asaph even admits that it would not have gone well if he took his private struggles he was enduring at the hand of God and made them public: “If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children” (73:15). In this sad state that he was in, Asaph would have brought great harm to others around him if he verbally unleashed his embittered struggles to the community.
As Asaph continued to personally struggle, he grew more weary until the LORD brought about a decisive turning point: “But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end” (73:16-17). As Asaph tried to figure out the dissonance between what God’s Word said about the punishment of the wicked and what he seems to see as the wicked elude punishment only left him more troubled. Asaph could not figure out this apparent contradiction on his own. But as he gathers at the public place of worship and encountered the very presence of the LORD, his perspective flipped. Asaph now discerned what he could not decipher on his own. He realized that the wicked do receive punishment; but the full import of justice for them will not be implemented till the end. As it turns out, life for the wicked is not a sure and stable as it might seem: “Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin” (73:18). Even though it might seem like justice is a long way off, when it does unfold, it will be sudden and comprehensive: “How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms” (73:19-20).
As Asaph reaches a proper understanding of the future of the wicked, he also reveals a proper analysis of how his own heart was distorted while he struggled: “When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you” (73:21-22). Asaph does not speak kindly of his previous spiritual state, calling himself stupid, ignorant, and thinking like a wild animal before the LORD. Asaph’s heart posture, which at that moment possessed no spiritual comprehension nor spiritual sensitivities, left him dim-witted, slow-witted, and dull-witted. But note the LORD’s regard for Asaph: “Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory” (73:23-24). Asaph “almost stumbled” and “nearly slipped,” but he did not fully or completely stumble and slip because the LORD was with him, holding his hand and guiding him and was in the process of getting him safely home. In the midst of Asaph's wavering belief in which he entertained a host of false assumptions about the wicked, the LORD, and himself, the LORD took him by the hand and led him. Such a sweet realization stirred Asaph to declare: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you” (73:25). Let the wicked have their stuff, for its only a temporary acquisition! Asaph doesn’t want the stuff that the wicked grasp for because he once again has his sights set on something better, more beautiful and satisfying: the LORD Himself! And in having the LORD, Asaph confesses that he has what he needs for the stabilization of his heart: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (73:26). Asaph has just recounted for us how his heart did falter—how it became envious and embittered. So he emerges with a fresh confidence not in his own heart, but in the fact that the LORD himself would be the One who strengthens his heart as well as the One who would be the inheritance in which his heart would be content.
Asaph recaps the end of the wicked: “For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you” (73:27). Yet more importantly, Asaph recalls the goodness of the LORD’s presence: “But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works” (73:28). Earlier Asaph alluded to the temptation he faced with going public with his struggles against the LORD: “I will speak thus” (73:15). But now Asaph announces that he will go public in pronouncing how good is the goodness of the LORD.
As we reflect on Psalm 73 we can consider the mercurial nature of the Christian life because of the reality of an ever possible crisis of faith. The Christian life is not static, it is dynamic. All Christians waver and vary to one degree or another; our faith in Christ flickers at times and flames up at other times. In the midst of these variations there are two important things to keep in mind. First, we must remember our calling from the LORD to persevere in our trust in Christ: “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard” (See Colossians 1:22-23). To “continue in the faith” we must continue to receive the Gospel—the Word about Christ. We fight off spiritual instability and sluggishness through the gracious means of continually re-setting our minds on Christ: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (See Colossians 3:1-4). Without a conscious re-set of our minds on Christ, our minds will re-set to “the things that are on earth.” A re-set of our minds on this world fosters hearts that are impure leading to being envious of the things of this world and embittered over not having them. But we are called to consistently, constantly, and continually re-set our minds on the One who promises the second thing we must remember: “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen” (Jude 24-25). The One who calls us to persevere in the faith is the One who promises to preserve us in the faith. Or recall the way Asaph says it—keep looking to the One of whom he declared: “you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.”
That’s all for Embrace the Word for Friday, June 5, 2026. I look forward to being back with you for the Monday, June 8, 2026 episode of Embrace the Word as we take a look at Psalm 74.