08-09-26 | And I Don't Have to Have It

Psalm 73 begins with a true thing: God is good to Israel, to those pure in heart. Asaph immediately admits that his feet almost slipped, because his eyes locked onto the prosperity of the wicked. The wicked look healthy, comfortable, powerful, and totally at ease. Pride is their necklace, violence is their garment, and their tongues strut across the earth like they own the place.

Comparison makes Asaph unstable. Envy tells him that somebody else’s life has the shalom he was supposed to receive. That lie gets louder when the heart stares at what it does not have, whether that is money, health, a family situation, freedom, status, or just somebody else’s apparently easy life. The wicked may possess wealth and power, but wealth and power also hurt the people who chase them and never get them.

Asaph’s frustration turns transactional. His clean hands and faithful effort seem vain because trouble keeps showing up while corrupt people keep increasing in riches. The transaction says, “If God is good, and if a person does A and B, then C should happen.” God refuses to become a commodity managed by human expectations. Doubt grows when the desired outcome becomes more important than God himself.

God’s presence becomes the turning point. The sanctuary gives Asaph something more than information, money, or a better explanation. God gives him a new vantage point. The wealth of the wicked becomes a dream, a phantom, something that looks solid for a moment and then disappears. Their apparent security is actually slippery ground.

Asaph’s desires change in God’s presence. His bitter, beast-like heart becomes humble as he realizes that God holds his right hand, guides him with counsel, and will receive him to glory. God becomes the rock summit of his heart and his portion forever. “Whom have I in heaven but you?” becomes the answer to the ache beneath envy.

Jesus stands as both singer and subject of this Psalm. Christ knows corruption, abuse of power, false accusations, and injustice from the inside. Christ endured the cross without making comfort, vindication, or escape his treasure. Jesus brings people into the presence of God, where contentment becomes possible even when the thing remains unfixed.

Contentment does not deny that something beautiful, painful, or deeply wanted exists somewhere else. Contentment looks at it honestly and says, “Wow, that’s amazing. And I don’t have to have it.” God’s goodness, faithfulness, counsel, shelter, and eternal promise become enough.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Comparison always bends the heart wrong [15:08] Comparison either feeds pride or feeds shame. A person can always find somebody to look down on or somebody to envy, but neither direction creates peace. The heart becomes discontent when it keeps looking over the fence instead of receiving the actual life God has given. [15:08]
• 2. God is not a transaction machine [23:58] Faithfulness does not purchase a trouble-free life. God does call people to obedience, and choices do have consequences, but suffering is not always proof that somebody failed the formula. God remains good even when the expected C never arrives after A and B. [23:58]
• 3. God’s presence changes the whole view [32:59] Asaph cannot solve his puzzle by staring harder at the wicked. God’s presence gives him clarity about their end, his desires, and his actual security. Corporate worship, honest life group connection, and quiet time in God’s Word place the heart where contentment can grow. [32:59]
• 4. God himself is the real portion [36:36] God holds the right hand, gives counsel, and receives his people to glory. Physical strength can fail, circumstances can remain messy, and desired things can stay out of reach. God remains the rock summit of the heart, not moving when everything else does. [36:36]
• 5. “I don’t have to have it” frees [44:04] Contentment is not pretending that loss does not hurt. Contentment releases the demand that a good thing must be possessed in order for life with God to be good. God enables a person to see beauty in another life without making that beauty an idol.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:33] - Grace Life Core Values
• [02:58] - Returning to Psalm 73
• [03:36] - “That’s Great, I Don’t Have to Have It”
• [05:50] - Asaph’s Question About Wicked Prosperity
• [07:10] - Psalm 73 and the Turning Point
• [09:25] - Feet Slipping Through Envy
• [13:42] - Pride, Violence, and False Shalom
• [20:48] - The Danger of Craving Wealth
• [23:06] - When Faith Feels Vain
• [31:16] - Doubt and Christ’s Presence
• [32:59] - Into the Sanctuary of God
• [35:26] - A New View of Wealth and Desire
• [38:16] - God’s Presence Is All He Needs
• [41:47] - Fixing Eyes on Jesus
• [43:37] - Praying Psalm 73

1. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. [09:41]
2. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. [10:00]
3. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. [11:44]
4. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. [13:44]
5. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. [14:04]
6. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. [14:10]
7. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. [17:34]
8. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. [18:26]
9. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. [18:39]
10. Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. [19:35]
11. And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” [21:35]
12. Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. [23:03]
13. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. [23:34]
14. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. [23:34]
15. If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children. [32:35]
16. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, [32:59]
17. until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. [34:07]
18. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. [35:38]
19. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! [35:46]
20. Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. [35:50]
21. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, [36:36]
22. I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. [36:45]
23. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. [36:52]
24. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. [36:56]
25. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. [37:05]
26. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. [37:35]
27. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. [38:08]
28. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. [38:35]

1. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. [20:48]

1. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, [42:21]
2. looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. [42:31]

1. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. [31:35]
2. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. [31:33]
3. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [31:16]
4. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [31:16]
5. teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” [32:00]

1. What specific qualities and actions make the wicked look powerful in Psalm 73:4–12, beyond simply having money?
2. What words describe Asaph’s inner condition before he enters God’s sanctuary—his feet, heart, and thoughts? [10:35]
3. What changes in Asaph’s view of the wicked after he enters God’s presence in verses 17–20? [35:38]
4. In Psalm 73:23–28, what does Asaph say God does for him, and what names does he give to God? [40:59]

1. Why does envy make Asaph’s feet “nearly slip”? What does his focus on the prosperity of the wicked reveal about what he believes would make his life whole? [13:10]
2. Asaph says that keeping his heart clean feels “in vain.” How does this show a transactional view of God—doing A and B in order to receive the desired C? [24:02]
3. Matthew 28 says that some disciples doubted, yet Jesus still sends them and promises to be with them. How does Jesus’ presence address doubt differently than simply giving more answers or better circumstances? [31:51]
4. Hebrews 12:2 points to Jesus, who endured the cross for the joy set before him. How does Jesus’ response to injustice reshape a believer’s expectations when obedience is painful or costly? [43:17]

1. What is most likely to stir comparison in your heart right now—someone’s money, health, family, freedom, home, work, relationships, or reputation? What story do you tend to tell yourself about their life and your own? [16:48]
2. What are you regularly looking at that feeds discontentment: social media, advertisements, conversations, news, or something else? What would it look like to put your eyes more intentionally on God’s goodness this week? [12:07]
3. Is there an area where you have quietly expected God to reward your faithfulness with a particular outcome? How might you honestly bring that disappointment to God without treating him like a transaction machine? [30:24]
4. Think of one good and beautiful thing you want but do not have. What would it sound like to say, truthfully, “That is amazing, and I do not have to have it in order for God to be good to me”? [44:04]
5. When doubt or envy rises, which way of entering God’s presence would be most helpful for you right now: gathering for worship, being honest with a small group, or spending unhurried time alone in God’s Word? What practical step could you take this week? [34:57]
6. Where does life currently feel unfixed or disappointing? How does the promise, “I am with you always,” give a different kind of hope even if the situation does not change soon? [32:12]
7. Psalm 73 ends with God as refuge, strength, and portion forever. What would change in your week if you treated God himself—not a changed circumstance—as your deepest security? [37:35]