These exhortations were given by me between 1999 and 2005. That was a long time ago, and I have grown a lot since then. They may not reflect my current beliefs.

Compare Psalm 23 with Psalm 73.

The former is “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Psalm 23 is written by a happy, well, contented man.

The latter is very different. Psalm 73 has a much more gloomy outlook on many things.

“For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. This is what the wicked are like– always carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.”

The Psalmist is almost saying “What is the point of living a Godly life? The wicked prosper; they don’t have any worries, and they have lots of money.”

I don’t know about the rest of you but I have certainly felt that way, from time to time. Think of all the times when there has been something that you want to do, something you have perhaps seen your friends and colleagues doing, but you haven’t done it because you have known it was wrong in the eyes of God.

“This is what the wicked are like. They don’t have any major moral worries. They have more money than I do. Being wicked looks like fun, and I’ve been a fool to resist it.”

The first message we can take from this Psalm is that other people feel like this as well. God included this Psalm in the Bible so that we would know other people felt this way, from time to time – even the people who wrote the Bible.

The Psalm doesn’t leave us there. It doesn’t say “Sometimes we just feel that way. Learn to live with it.” The Psalm tells us why it is dangerous to feel this way, and crucially tells us of the fundamental difference between the wicked and the Godly. Verses 2 and 3 say “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.”

If we allow ourselves to envy the wicked then we will damage ourselves. Envy of any kind is dangerous, but if you envy the wicked, then you draw yourself away from God and towards wickedness. As Christ said “Where your treasure is, your heart will be also.” If you are envying the wicked you are putting your heart among them.

The difference between the wicked and the Godly is this: the wicked could never truthfully say the words of verses 23 to 28:

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. 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.

The wicked will not be guided by God’s counsel, the wicked will not be taken into God’s glory. The wicked are far from God and will perish.

Lets take a real world and possibly even topical example. Suppose we needed to find a builder to build us a new hall. We put an ad in the Belfast Telegraph and we are approached by two firms. Each say they can build us a new hall within our budget.

The first says “I can have a new hall for you built within 3 months. There will an excellent sound system, superb heating and wonderful rooms for your Sunday School. I’ll even be able to install an organ bigger than the one in the Ulster Hall.” It’s something that sounds tempting, isn’t it?

The second builder says something quite different. “I will take two years to build a new hall. You will have to take the electric heaters you have at the moment, and you’ll need to reuse the existing sound system as well. The budget is going to be very tight, so you might want to take your carpets too.”

Here my example starts to get a little bizarre, but please bear with me. We can’t decide which builder to go with, so we ask each of them to build us a hall. We get two plots of land and they begin working. The first building is finished within three months, and it is wonderful. It’s warm, comfortable, and lots of space. The second building goes very slowly. The winter comes, and the second building has just had its foundations dug. If you go past during the week, you can see the builders working in the wind and rain. It’s a miserable job, but they seem to be OK. Eventually the builder finishes the second hall. He manages to get it done a year and 11 months, not two years.

We are all delighted that the second hall is finished. And we are delighted because the first hall collapsed a few days previously. You see, the first builder didn’t bother with foundations. He didn’t use plans, he just made things up as he went along. He didn’t follow the building regulations. He did it as quickly as he could.

The second hall took much longer. The second builder made plans. He dug foundations. He looked at building regulations and followed them. The second hall was much much better than the first. The second builder comes to us and says: “I’m glad to have finished this. It was hard work. There were times when we were working here in the middle of the winter that we slightly envied that other lot. They got their hall up so quickly. They did it so quickly that the roof was on well before winter and they never had to work in the snow, like we did. But we knew what they did was destined to collapse, and what we were making would last for a long time. That helped us. That kept us going.”

In this example, the wicked are the first builders, and the Godly the second. Briefly, from the point of view of the builders, it looked like the first lot were doing the right thing. They weren’t working in the cold and rain. They were able to build much faster because they didn’t care about things like regulations, which were only written in a book after all. And as for things like foundations, well, they aren’t worth worrying about. Nobody really sees them.

The second builders were Godly. They did everything they should, even things that might not be appreciated by those who looked at the building. Despite the fact that they were cold and wet and maybe didn’t have the same fun as the first builders, they ultimately produced a better building.

Doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest thing. Sometimes we are lucky and it is, other times it isn’t. It is only natural when we do the right thing and suffer for it that we envy those who do the wrong thing and appear more comfortable. When we feel like that we have to remember the long term objective of what we are doing. If we are doing the Godly thing then the long term benefits to us are much greater.

This is what Psalm 73 is saying. It’s not just a lament for how well the wicked seem to live. It’s also a realisation that the quality of life they enjoy is transient and superficial. It is not vain to keep your heart pure.

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. 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.

Psalm 73 is complimented by Psalm 37. It is a fairly long Psalm, so I’m not going to read all of it. I would like to conclude with the first 8 verses. Psalm 37, verses 1 to 8:

Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun. Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.