Is It Well With Your Soul?
The question for today is, “Is it well with your soul?” If we look at the world around us and at our own circumstances, we’ll be stressed, depressed and distressed. However, our joy is in the object of our joy… our joy is in the Lord. As Pete’s wife Suzan often said, Joy is not the absence of pain; joy is the presence of the Lord. Joy is a deliberate choice to position our heart inside of God’s heart. Therefore, Philippians 4:4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice. Within the joy of the Lord, although the storm rocks our boat and the waves crash around us, it is well… it is well with our soul.
Psalm 73 is a Psalm of Asaph, one of David’s chief choir directors. David himself was a musician. Part of rejoicing is to lift up our voices as a choir in harmony unto the Lord as we “tune our hearts to sing thy praise.”
According to Psalm 73:
1. “TRULY God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
2. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.
3. For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.
5. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
6. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment.
7. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
8. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily.
9. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth.
10. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them.
11. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
12. Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.
13. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
14. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning.
15. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
16. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me;
17. Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end.
18. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
19. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
20. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image.
21. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
22. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
23. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
24. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
25. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
26. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
27. For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
28. But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.”
It’s easy to stumble when we look at the world around us. The Psalmist began this psalm with a lamentation. It seems that the world around us is full of chaos, confusion, and darkness. Why would God allow the darkness? From the perspective of our fallen sin nature, God will appear like an unkind friend… an unnatural Father and an unrighteousness judge…but he is not. God is not like the injustice and the unrighteousness of this world. If we look around us we’ll be stressed, if we look at ourselves, we’ll be depressed, if we look at others, we’ll be distressed, but if we look at the Lord our God through Christ’s eyes behind our eyes, we’ll be blessed.
In verse 2 the Psalmist looks at the battle inside his own soul. The Apostle Paul said that I buffet my body to bring it under control. The spiritual battle is first a battle for our own soul… for our own hearts and minds. In 2 Peter, there are seven characteristics to add to our faith to make our calling and election sure. Therefore, add to your faith virtue (superior excelling excellence), and to virtue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance (self control), and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly love, and to brotherly love, charity (the unconditional love of God), for if these things be in you and abound you shall be fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you give your utmost diligence to these things to make your calling and election sure, you shall never fall.
Men begin to stumble when they focus on the selfish motives of their sinful flesh. According to verse three of this Psalm, when Asaph looked through eyes of envy and covetousness at the seeming prosperity of the wicked, he began to lose his joy. The evil seem to be better off than those who profess the Lord’s righteousness. The foolish who prosper in the riches of this world wear their pride like a golden chain. They look for opportunities to exert their power over the righteous. They revel in their pride and in their power over their innocent victims. The ungodly even dare to speak to God as if they are powerful and God is not.
The “political correctness” In our culture was evident when Pete recently spoke with his own granddaughter. With on-line learning during the Corona virus social distancing mandate, one student in Pete’s granddaughter’s class was not allowed to show his face in the video call since he had an American flag on his wall.
God’s holiness starts with separation. Holy means to separate from the darkness of this fallen world according to the purpose for which God has called us.
In Psalm 73, the Psalmist laments about the oppressiveness of the wicked and the darkness of this fallen world. However there is an inflection point, a point of repentance… of turning around. In verse 17, the Psalmist said, when I went into the sanctuary, into the house of the Lord, then I understood their end. He shifted his focus from the darkness of the world into the light of the sanctuary where God dwells. The sanctuary is the place where God is welcome to help himself to the lives of his people. According to 1 Corinthians 6, Paul wrote by God’s inspiration, “Know ye not that ye (collectively) are the body of Christ, the temple, which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit?
In the sanctuary, God revealed the end of the destruction of the evil that permeates this world of darkness. According to verse 18, surely he has set their feet on slippery places. When the blind lead the blind, they both fall in the ditch.
God allows the prosperity of the worldly to allow them to fall in their own pride and conceit. The outcome of the ungodly will come to naught. Therefore the Psalmist concludes that nevertheless God has taken hold of our right hand. The right hand is the hand of blessing. When confronted by the darkness of this world, our responsibility is our response to His ability. Our responsibility is to walk in the light as he is in the light.
The Lord is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Beside you Lord, I desire nothing on earth. As for me, in the nearness of my heart unto thee is my good. I have made the Lord my refuge so that I can tell of thy goodness to all the earth.
Our calling isn’t to condemn the unjust but that God through his mercy and grace would turn their hearts from the darkness of this world and unto the glorious light of the gospel of truth. Our calling not to be overcome by evil but to overcome evil with good. Our Lord Jesus Christ came not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
Despite the darkness of this fallen world, our joy is in the Lord and our hope is in the redemption of our vile bodies, His purchased possession, at His return. Therefore, let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven.
Whom have I in heaven but you Lord? …. our flesh and our heart will fail, but our portion is in you alone… for in Thee and in Thee alone, it is well with our soul…
…that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of Thy grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
