Psalm 73

Have you ever almost plunged to your death?

Have you ever "come so close to the edge of the cliff that your feet were slipping"?

This Psalm powerfully describes a pit that so deep and perilous -- and subtle -- that millions fall in ... everyday. It's a pit that begins with covetousness and envy. One of the Ten Commandments. One of the seven deadly sins. The Psalmist says ...

"I envied the proud." When? " When I saw the prosper despite their wickedness." That observation poses questions that absolutely haunt the masses. If God is just, why do good die young and why do the evil seem to prosper. "They seem to live such ... painless lives ... They do not seem to be troubled ... with problems like everyone else. Instead they wear their pride like a jeweled necklace." They flaunt their riches. "They boast against the very heavens. They have everything their hearts could ever wish for!"

"Does God realize what is going on?"

How many of us have ever asked that question?

How many of us have tried to cry for justice, but the only cry that seems to ring true is: "Look at these arrogant people – enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. Was it for nothing that I kept my heart pure and kept myself from doing wrong?"

"I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. What a difficult task it was until one day when I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I thought about the destiny of the wicked."

Ahh! He's getting to the point. The troubles -- and riches -- of this world endure for just a twinkling of an eye.

It's eternity that matters.

And ... it's today that matters too.

Why?

Because how we live today determines the destination of all our tomorrows, and luxury and ease "put us on a slippery path." When Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God," he was reminding us of the heart of this Psalm. He was telling us how pride and prosperity can all too easily "send us sliding over the cliff to destruction."

Scripture tells us that if we refuse to realize that "this present life is only a dream that is gone when we awake," we will inevitably become "bitter."

"God ... remain the strength of my heart"

"How good it is to be near God!

I have made the Sovereign LORD my shelter.

I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do."