The Good Life, Part II
Asaph vs. The Kardashians
Read Part I here.
In the last post, I attempted to show that the reason (or at least one of the reasons) that we sin is because we don’t know that God has our best interests in mind. I don’t mean simple head knowledge. To know God is to be intimately acquainted with him in relationship — to trust him. We might be convinced that God is right and even good in some moral sense, but we have trouble believing that the good life and the Christian life are the same thing.
We are not alone.
The psalmist Asaph struggled with the exact same issue. In Psalm 73, he finds himself coveting the good life of his faithless neighbors and questioning why he should obey YHWH. The poem has a narrative structure — a beginning, middle, and end — and is introduced by a thesis of sorts:
[1] Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
In verses 2–15, Asaph reflects upon a time (or the many times) that he struggled to believe his thesis. He describes the envy he felt when he saw the way the godless prospered, and the disconnect he experienced intellectually: How can it be that the godless are happier and wealthier and more care-free than I am?
[2] But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
[3] For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
[4] For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.*
[5] They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
[6] Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
[7] Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
[8] They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
[9] They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
[10] Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
[11] And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
[12] Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
[13] All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
[14] For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
[15] If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
Then, in verses 16–17, he puts his envy in check and considers the whole scenario from another perspective. The remainder of the psalm is one of the best examples in scripture of what Peter later calls all Christians to do: “Preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the hope that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance” (1 Peter 1:13–14, ESV).
Employing what Socrates calls “the art of measurement” (see The Good Life, Part I), Asaph takes the long view:
[16] But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
[17] until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
[18] Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
[19] How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
[20] Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
[21] When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
[22] I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
[23] Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
[24] You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
[25] Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
[26] My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
[27] For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
[28] 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. (Psalm 73, ESV)
Like many of us, Asaph can recite a truth about God — “surely God is good to Israel” — that does not connect in his heart — “but…I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” We might say it something like this today: “Yeah, God loves his church, but it seems like everybody else has more fun. Where’s the joy in being a Christian when I have to give up all the fun stuff?”
“there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you.”
Then he spends time dwelling on — envying — the wicked, much in the way that we might watch or read about the Kardashians or other celebrities, wishing that we had her body or his house or her clothes or their lifestyle.
Then Asaph stops himself mid-thought, and here’s the turning point: He enters “the sanctuary of God.” That is, he worships. I don’t mean that he sang songs, though certainly a hymn or two might have been part of it. I mean he worshipped — he submitted himself to God. And in that submission, his mind was transformed, until he could refocus his spiritual eyes — his imagination — to see that the pleasures right in front of him were not lasting pleasures; they would not bring him ultimate fulfillment. And he finally comes to the conclusion that “there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you.”
I wonder if Paul had Asaph in mind when he penned this reminder to the church in Rome:
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God — this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1–2, NIV, emphases mine)
* fatness was fashionable and an indication of health and prosperity
Muncie Fellow is now accepting applications for Fall 2019. Apply Now!
Have questions or just want to learn more? Contact us here.
We’re also looking for community partners and employers who can support Muncie Fellows. Visit munciefellows.com for more info!
