There’s one word that we probably say to God more than any other word. Do you know what it is? “Why?” How many times did you ask “Why?” this past week? I bet it was a lot! What are your “whys”? Everyone’s got them. “Why does my mom have cancer, when so many bad people don’t? Why is it that the harder I work, the less I feel appreciated? Why is it that I believe in God, but I’m still not happy? Why does God let Muslim terrorists kill Christians? Why do people who believe in God seem to have harder lives than those who don’t? Why can’t I find anyone who loves me? Why do I feel so alone?” What are your “whys”? Whys are hard, aren’t they?
We’re not the only ones asking that question. Every believer in God has asked “Why?”, including a man long ago in the Bible named Asaph. He wrote a whole song about the question “Why?” It’s Psalm 73. He starts with this: “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.” That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? “God is good!” But I think Asaph is doing what you do when people ask how you’re doing. What do you say? “I’m good!” Are you really? Once in a while, someone leans in and asks, “How are you really doing?” Then it all comes out.
At least, that’s what happened for Asaph. He unloaded: “But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Asaph wasn’t doing good. Not even close! He was slipping away from God. He was losing his foothold. Why? Wicked people are so prosperous. Isn’t that the case? All the wrong people are always doing well. Why? That made Asaph envious. Envy is an awful thing. You’ve felt it. Envy turns you green inside and out. All the “whys” were driving Asaph away from God.
When he looked around, this is what he saw: “They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human ills.” It sure seemed like people who didn’t follow God were healthier. Wealthier. Happier. Would you agree? Larry Flint passed away this month. He gained incredible fame and fortune by publishing pornography for over 40 years. Why? Why did God allow that? Elon Musk is openly irreligious and says he has never prayed in his whole life. Yet, do you know how much money Elon Musk made just this past year? Over $150 billion. $150 billion in one year. Why? Why on earth would God bless him? That proves it, doesn’t it? People without God are wealthier. Healthier. Happier.
And they even boast about it. “Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity; their evil imaginations have no limits. They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.” Sound familiar? Ahhh! Doesn’t that drive you nuts? Jesus once said that the meek will inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). It sure doesn’t seem that way! It sure seems like the proud inherit the earth and everything in it… Why?
To make matters worse, everybody follows them. “Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, ‘How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?’” Everybody turns to them and listens to them. The proud words of the godless are loved and shared more than God’s Word. Even within the Christian church, the gospel in America today isn’t the message that Jesus is your Savior from your sins. It’s the prosperity gospel. It’s the promise of wealth and power. Name it and claim it. Joel Osteen preaches to thousands every week. Creflo Dollar flies around in his jet. People flock to them. Ahhh! Why?
Here’s the worst part: It seems like they’re right. “This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.” It sure seems like it pays to be wicked. But it’s doesn’t pay to be a Christian. In fact, it doesn’t seem like it’s worth it at all. At least, Asaph didn’t think so. “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been afflicted, and every morning brings new punishments.” Can you appreciate his honesty? Asaph is willing to spill out what he’s struggling with inside. It doesn’t seem worth it to follow God. Have you ever felt that way? “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure!” Why?
Stop and notice how many verses there are in this psalm. Can you see? 28. How far are we? 14. Half-way through Asaph’s psalm, his tone suddenly changes. “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure” is followed by, “If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children.” Something called Asaph back. Suddenly, he came to his senses. “If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children.” He was wrong to complain about God. But he wasn’t just wrong. He was sinning. He was sinning against God, and he was sinning against other believers.
How could he understand all this? Listen: “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” Nothing made sense until he entered God’s presence. Nothing made sense until he understood the final destiny of those who live without God. Then Asaph realized this: “Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! They are like a dream when one awakes; when you arise, Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.” What’s the final destiny for the wicked? Ruin. Destruction. Swept away. Terrors.
Finally, Asaph had a breakthrough. Maybe things don’t seem fair here on earth, but you need to understand the final destiny. You could have billions and billions of dollars, but without faith in Jesus, where will you end up? In hell. Do you want that? You could have a beautiful mansion on the ocean and a chateau in the mountains and a townhouse in Titletown, but without faith in Jesus, where will you end up? In hell. Sound good? You could have perfect health and live to be 100 years old, but without faith in Jesus, where will you end up? In hell. You heard Jesus’ words in our gospel lesson today: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” (Mark 8:36). What good? None. When Asaph saw the final destiny, he finally understood.
So here’s what he had to confess: “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.” Isn’t that a true description of you and me and our sin? “Senseless and ignorant… A brute beast.” Doesn’t it seem like sometimes our dogs have more sense than we do? This is what sin does. It blinds us to God’s truth. Remember where Asaph started? “As for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” All the “whys?”, all the envy, all the complaints…. We deserve the same destiny as the wicked! “I was a brute beast before you.”
When he finally came to his senses, Asaph wrote some of the most beautiful words in the Bible. “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Why did God put Asaph through all the “whys”? So he could learn what he had in God. “I am always with you.” Always! “You hold me by my right hand.” God is holding your hand. Now! “You will take me into glory.” Heaven. That’s your destiny. “God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” After all his “whys”, Asaph learned the most beautiful lesson: God is always with you. God holds your hand. God takes you into glory. God is your strength.
Do you know what we should say? “Why?” Why on earth would God do all those things for us? Because Jesus picked up his cross and carried it for us. Jesus endured the greatest injustice and wickedness for us. Jesus lived and died and rose for us. Jesus forgives every “why?” Every complaint. Every sin. Jesus opened heaven to all who believe in him. Why? Why did Jesus do it? You know. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son” (John 3:16). Why? Because God loves you. He always has. He always will. No matter what “why?” you have in your life right now, it’s not because God doesn’t love you. It’s not because God’s given up on you. Far from it! God uses every “why?” in life to open up our eyes to see what we have in him.
So that you can say with Asaph: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” After all the “whys”, Asaph concluded: “Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.” There are two certainties in life: Those who are unfaithful to God will be destroyed. Sometimes in this life. Always in the next. But God is with those who trust in him. Always in this life. Always in the next life. To understand this world, you have look past what you see. “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”
Later, we’re going to sing an old song: “When Peace Like a River.” It was written by a lawyer from Chicago named Horatio Spafford. God blessed Horatio and his wife with four daughters. In 1873, the Spafford family decided to take a trip to England. Caught up with work, Horatio sent his family on ahead of him on a ship. Except another ship broadsided them in the middle of the ocean. Over two hundred people died, including Horatio’s four daughters. When his wife made it to England, she sent a telegram to Horatio that said, “Saved alone.” Can you imagine that?
Horatio immediately boarded a ship to join his wife in England. Three days into the journey, they passed the very place where his daughters had drowned. As Horatio gazed out over the icy sea, he ran to his room and wrote a poem to God: “When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll – whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say: It is well, it is well with my soul.” “My sin – oh the bliss of this glorious thought – my sin, not in part, but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more: Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!”
The “whys” aren’t going to stop—not until we get to heaven. The sorrows are going to come. Yet, whatever our lot is in life, this is our confidence in Jesus: “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
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