Psalm 73:12-13

New International Version (NIV)

This is what the wicked are like – always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely, in vain have I kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence

For meditation

1. Do you sometimes feel that you have wasted your time serving God with all your heart and strength?
2. Why is that?
3. Is it because of how the wicked are prospering all around you?
4. Like Asaph, do you sometimes feel that the wicked have no struggles or problems (Psalm 73:4-5)?
5. Is that how you feel when you see them healthy and strong, flexing their muscles and flaunting their well-toned bodies before everybody (4b)?
6. Do you get envious of them?
7. Do you think they are enjoying a life of ease with their increasing riches, while you suffer and struggle (12)?
8. Are you sure?
9. Can you imagine how it feels in their shoes?
10. Are you sure you will be better off being like them?
11. Is that why you think you’ve kept yourself from defilement in vain?
12. Is that why you think your determined life of integrity has been for nothing (13)?
13. Do you know what you are doing to yourself thinking that way (14-16)?
14. Why don’t you put off that worldly perspective and draw closer to God and ask Him to open your eyes to understand their final destiny (17-20)?
15. Now, looking at the situation with eternal perspective, will you trade your secure, divinely guided, and guaranteed hope of glory in Christ (23-24) for the slippery grounds and certain doom of the wicked (18)?

I pray you will not. Rather, my hope for you is that you will rejoice and be thankful for your life and situation today. For, without a doubt, God is good “to those who are pure in heart” (Psalm 73:1). Though your health may fail, and your spirit may grow weak, God remains the strength of your heart and your portion forever (26). Remember what Paul said, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17).

So, fix your eyes, “not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

May the Lord smile on you and give you peace beyond comprehension, according to the ceaseless flow of His grace in Christ Jesus. Amen!

Shalom