The text: Psalm 73 – NRSV
Today’s psalm is one to remember, bookmark, and study, particularly in times such as these. This wisdom poem marks a progression in Hebrew philosophical and moral thought. In early psalms, particularly the very first psalm, we see a philosophy often called “the two ways”. It is a simple idea: there are the righteous and there are the wicked. God will bless the righteous and punish the wicked. Psalm 1 clearly articulates this perspective. The problem is that, as we all know, life is very often inconsistent with this perspective: bad things happen to good people, and vice versa. Scripture is not silent on this complexity: the great wisdom books of Ecclesiastes and Job are frontal assaults against “the two ways”. Psalm 73 is much briefer, but contains the seeds of these challenges, and asks the same questions posed forcefully in Ecclesiastes and Job.
It starts in the opening verses, culminating in v. 3: I saw the prosperity of the wicked. The verses that follow give examples of the problem, until in v. 13 the psalmist utters a cry that resonates so well with so many modern people who struggle with faith: All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. What is the value of faith in a morally complex and corrupt world? Watch and read carefully what happens next, for it is remarkable. The tone changes in v. 16 when the psalmist enters God’s sanctuary. It may seem a glib solution; after all, life is still unfair outside the church in the real world, and the wicked are still prospering. But then, at least to me, come two of the most stirring verses in the psalm, v. 21-22. While we can’t always do very much to change the wicked, what we can change is our own hearts and minds. We do have control over that. It’s a marvelous and convicting image: the faithful psalmist reduced to a brute beast simply because of the psalmist’s bitterness toward the wicked! So what is the answer to that? None other than the close relationship with God we have heard described repeatedly in other psalms so far (such as Psalm 139). There is a pathway to peace here, and out of that peace can grow hope. In this, perhaps this singular psalm can illuminate how you read Romans 5:
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Curious about this series of posts? Read the initial post.
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