Why?

Psalm 73:23-28 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works.

How do you gain the peace of God in an out of control world? How do you slow down enough to rest, in a world that demands immediate action? How do you rest with life’s questions of the prosperity of the wicked while the good suffer? The writer of this Psalm asked the same question to the point he had to quit asking it. Asaph was really struggling with the world around him. He spent the first part of this Psalm pointing out the prosperity of the wicked, and how he struggled with why God was allowing it. 12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. 13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning (ESV). He struggled with understanding why he and other good people were having so many problems in this life; the “why of life.” Asaph began to ponder it deeply, and God spoke to him clearly; he had pondered it too deeply and was in danger of loosing his faith. 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children. 16 When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me– 17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.

How did he come to this understanding? How did he gain peace in his world out of control? How did he begin to understand within, the sovereign control of it all; God gave him a glimpse of his sovereignty because He saw the true desires of his heart. God opened his mind to understanding because of the humble nature of Asaph’s pursuit of God. God opened the doors to his mind through his heart. Paul wrote of these worldly stresses and worries, these mind games that draw our attention away from God. Paul wrote of how we are to trust God just as Asaph wrote many years before Christ. Philippians 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. God lets you go down every rough road you will ever travel. God lets the wicked prosper for a time here, and they pay for their mistake eternally. If God can speak a star into existence, the details of our lives are a simple task. Free-will and Sovereignty are a complexity that boggles the mind, and exemplify how great our God is.

The depth of your relationship and understanding of God, is measured by your ability to refuse Satan’s temptation of the question of why.