How About a Little Something for the Effort!

Psalm 73:21-26

²¹ When my heart was grieved
    and my spirit embittered,
²² I was senseless and ignorant;
    I was a brute beast before you.

²³ Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever.

The context of this psalm is that the psalmist sees those who are prosperous, despite their arrogance and wickedness.  He doesn’t understand why he has to suffer for doing good, while these men live in pleasure though they do bad.  These men even mock God saying, “How can God know? Does he have knowledge?” The psalmist complains, “Surely I have kept my heart pure and kept hands washed of sin in vain.” But then he comes to his senses and says, “I was senseless and ignorant, I was like a brute beast before you.”  

He seems to be a little hard on himself, I mean don’t we all feel this way from time to time.  But he steps back from his emotional depression to remember his relationship with God.  He remembers that God has always been there for him, when he turns to him.  He remembers that God guides him with wise counsel when he doesn’t know which way to turn. He remembers that God has laid up for him a treasure in heaven that will be his someday.  He concludes that though while he is weak in this life, God strength will carry him through and he will be with him someday forever

What a great model for us to look at when we feel like our efforts to be Christ-like are in vain.  We try to do the right thing, and we feel we are aren’t getting a break. We want to say to God, “How about a little something for the effort.” But being a Christian is never about short-term gain or gratification. We need to have a long-term perspective.  Even our hardships are molding us into Christ-like character. As we suffer even for doing good, we identify with the sufferings of Jesus, as he is with us through the power of the Holy Spirit. 

So yes, it is hard being a Christian in a world where evil seems to go “unchecked”, and those who do evil seem to have it made! But there will be a day of reckoning when all things come under God’s feet.  For now, though we live in an evil world where selfishness and greed abound, we can develop the attitude of the psalmist and say, “Who have I in heaven but you, and on earth I have nothing to desire besides you.”