Our Father Is Good
A psalm of Asaph.
Asaph nearly lost his footing envying the healthy, arrogant rich. Nothing resolved until he went into the sanctuary and saw where they end up. He admits he had been brutish, and discovers he already held what he wanted: his Father's hand gripping his.
73 1Truly our Father is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped. 3For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. 4For they feel no pain in dying; their bodies are healthy and sleek. 5They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 6Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. 7Their eyes bulge out from fatness; the imaginations of their hearts run wild. 8They scoff and speak with malice; from on high they threaten oppression. 9They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. 10Therefore his people turn back to them, and drink up waters in abundance. 11And they say, "How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" 12Look—these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
13Surely I have kept my heart clean in vain and washed my hands in innocence. 14For all day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
15If I had said, "I will speak this way," I would have betrayed the generation of your children. 16When I tried to understand all this, it was a wearisome task in my eyes, 17until I went into the sanctuary of our Father; then I understood their end. 18Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 19How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! 20Like a dream when someone wakes up, O Sovereign Father, when you rouse yourself, you will despise them as phantoms.
21When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, 22I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. 23Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. 25Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26My flesh and my heart may fail, but our Father is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27For those who are far from you will perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 28But for me, it is good to be near our Father; I have made the Sovereign Father my refuge, so I can tell of all your works.
