Ever Thought About Giving Up On The Whole God Thing?, Psalm 73

Psalm 73

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of Asaph.

[1] Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.

[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.

[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. (ESV)