The Backdrop
Have you ever felt a little dry in your spiritual walk? Don’t be afraid to admit it. It happens. It happens to the best of us, including priests of Israel (as you’ll see below). Life ebbs and flows. The problem comes when there is more ebb than flow.
Asaph was a priest (a musician, in fact) who had drifted dangerously far from God. His experience, which he wrote about in Psalm 73, can teach us a lot about how to keep the flow going and why it is vital that we do.
We’re going to step into Asaph’s experience one segment at a time. So that you can see Asaph’s story in detail, copy Psalm 73 into a document that you can print out. Format the text with wide margins and space in between the lines.
The What
Step one: Read
• Circle anything that describes Asaph’s internal spiritual struggles.
• Draw a frowny face over Asaph’s descriptions of the wicked and arrogant.
After you’ve read and marked the passage, write down a couple thoughts about how you would describe Asaph’s heart and mind in this segment of his experience.
Step two: Now check out
Step three: Now look at life after the turning point. Read
• Again, draw a frowny face over references to the wicked.
• Underline anything that describes Asaph’s relationship with God.
How would you describe Asaph’s heart and mind in this segment? Write down a couple of your thoughts regarding the contrast you see between Asaph 1 (Ps. 73:1-16) and Asaph 2 (Ps. 73:18-28).
The So What
The difference in Asaph’s life? The sanctuary, the presence of God. Think about this for a moment: Being a priest, Asaph was around the sanctuary all the time. Apparently he was religiously busy but spiritually dry. This led to his thinking that he had kept himself pure for no reason, that the wicked had it made. However, once he experienced God’s presence, he regained perspective and spiritual strength. He started the psalm wanting nothing to do with God. He ended the psalm wanting to do everything with God.
Without God’s perspective, we lose our resolve for beating temptation. Bad things appear enticing; good things appear unfulfilling. Destructive traits such as envy and jealousy influence our decision-making; life-giving traits such as patience and purity get pushed aside. The consequences can be devastating.
So the question is: When, in your busy life, are you experiencing the presence of God? If God seems distant, as He did to Asaph in the opening of the psalm, it’s not because of God. It’s because of us. Schedule a time within the next couple days to seek the presence of God—to enter into His sanctuary. Find a way to get to some solitude. Take your Bible and a journal of some kind (notebook, laptop, iPad, etc.). If you need a plan, choose one of the chunks of Scripture below as the backbone of your time. Listen closely to what God wants to say to you through His Word. Before you close your time, schedule your next sanctuary experience. Soon you will be enjoying the fruit of more flow and less ebb.
Matthew 5-8 (the Sermon on the Mount, words directly from Jesus on how to live the gospel)
John 14-17 (Jesus’ final conversation with His disciples, words directly from Jesus about how to live in a fallen world)
Colossians (a four-chapter book of the Bible that’s packed with info about Christ)
Philemon (a one-chapter book of the Bible that shows grace in action)
