You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me up in glory.
-Psalm 73:24
This verse has been on my mind for quite some time. Like most of the Psalms, Psalm 73 is extremely raw, honest and authentic, as the Psalmist begins writing about his observations of the wicked (those rebelling from God). From his perspective, everything seemed to be going great for them.
The Psalmist even confesses that he almost turned towards the wicked out of envy and weakness. In the midst of his temptation though, there is a shift that takes place. As soon as the Psalmist entered Gods sanctuary, his whole perspective changed.
In verse 21-22, he says this: When I became embittered and my innermost being was wounded, I was stupid and didn’t understand; I was an unthinking animal toward you. Wow! Talk about a perspective shift. He began to see things clearly when he turned back to Gods presence.
Don’t we all do this? In our darkest moments, we are tempted to lean into the wicked, sin against God and question His goodness and faithfulness. This is what sin does. It blinds us to the truth and pulls us into lies. BUT, when we come back to the Lord and position ourselves to receive His truth and walk in His light, everything changes.
Here is a great, honest example. Leading up to this presidential election, there has been a lot of fear and anxiety for our nation. There still is. Half of our nation is celebrating who won, and half of them are not. This would have also been the same case if the other candidate would have won. Hear me out, if your candidate didn’t win, it is normal to feel disappointment. If your candidate did win, it’s normal to feel relief. However, this is often taken way too far.
The other day, I woke up sad and burdened because far too many people, who say they are Christians, are putting WAY too much identity and hope in a political candidate. They boast in their party and take claim of a red or blue tribe, often over anything else. They post about and speak more of their political views than their relationship with Jesus and what God is teaching them. Or, they look at the state of the world and panic, often creating an us vs. them mentality and forgetting the promises in Scripture about the world becoming worse before Jesus returns and that those endure to the end will be with Him forever. And Christians have a great responsibility and opportunity to share the light of Christ to the dark world! Now, this is obviously not a statement for all Christians. I see and know many that model 1 Timothy 2:1-2 very well. My goal is to model that, but I must confess that I can get bogged down in the media and negative narrative. This is a real struggle for all of us!
Now, for those that are not Christians, this does not apply, since they do not have the Holy Spirit. Although it is still sad, they do not know any better.
All that being said, we may be living in a completely different day and age than the Psalmist, but nothing has really changed. The wicked still remains and we still have a choice. Our political landscape and media often has a way of pulling us into the wicked sphere that the Psalmist speaks about, if we are not careful. If we consume our minds with it, it brings us into lies and fear.
But, when we snap out of that fog, come back to the promises in the Bible and surround ourselves with Gods people, we begin to remember the truth.
I want to highlight one specific verse in Psalm 73. Verse 24 teaches us two main things that we can come back to as we resist the wicked:
- God is with us in this lifetime and will not abandon us. He is sovereign over the present!
“You guide me with your counsel…”
- God is preparing a place for us in Heaven. He is in control of the future!
“…and afterward you will take me up in glory.”
Christian, even in the midst of a wicked culture pressing in on you from every side, it IS more than possible to be guided by Christ’s counsel and to anticipate and live towards the day when the wicked will be no more.
Take heart from Psalm 73. Be reminded that there is hope and you are not alone! Christ is with you and He is working a greater plan for eternity!
Blessings
Matthew Weaver 