Finding God's Goodness When Life Doesn't Make Sense

Psalm 73 opens with the anchor: “Truly, God is good.” Asaph does not begin as an atheist, an agnostic, or some man taking shots at faith from the outside. Asaph is a Levite, a worship leader, a priest, a believer, and he has hit that hard place where what he knows about God does not seem to match what he sees in life.

Asaph says his feet almost slipped because comparison got hold of him. The prosperity of the wicked looked easy, fat, sleek, rich, loud, and untouched. The arrogant had pride for a necklace, violence for clothing, mouths set against heaven, and tongues strutting through the earth. Asaph looks across the fence and starts doing bad math: they seem to have everything, and faithfulness seems to have gained him nothing.

Psalm 73 lets Asaph vent, and the venting is real, but it is not the whole truth. Venting tells a one-sided story from a tight little field of vision. Asaph says “all day long” and “every morning,” and that kind of language shows how pain stretches reality until “sometimes” starts sounding like “always.” Yet Asaph catches himself. If he spoke that way out loud, he would betray a generation of God’s children.

The turning point comes with one word: “until.” Asaph cannot figure it out until he enters the sanctuary of God. The sanctuary does not change his circumstances, but it changes the place from which he is looking. Prayer, worship, sacrifice, fellowship, and above all the presence of God pull his eyes off the wicked, off the neighbors, off the Joneses, and back onto the Lord. The horizon widens, and eternity comes into view.

God shows Asaph that the wicked are standing in slippery places. Their ease is not security. Their stuff is not freedom. Their end is sudden ruin unless grace rescues them. The difference is not that righteous people avoid trouble and wicked people suffer it. The difference is that the wicked go through trouble without Christ, and the righteous go through trouble with Christ.

Asaph comes full circle. God holds his right hand. God guides him with counsel. God will receive him into glory. Asaph’s portion is not land, stuff, status, or the easy life. God Himself is his portion forever. The good life is not measured by what can be kept. The good life is knowing the One who can never be lost.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. God is good right now God’s goodness is not waiting on circumstances to look pretty. Psalm 73 anchors faith in “God is,” not “God was” or “God might be if life straightens out.” The soul starts to slip when the present tense goodness of God gets judged by a painful moment instead of by His revealed character. [57:30]
• 2. Comparison bends the soul crooked Comparison turns another person’s driveway, money, body, ease, or image into false evidence about God. Asaph’s trouble begins when what he sees in the arrogant starts rewriting what he knows about the Lord. A disciple cannot follow Christ while staring sideways at everybody else’s life. [58:55]
• 3. The sanctuary widens the horizon The sanctuary does not first fix Asaph’s problem; it fixes Asaph’s perspective. Prayer, worship, offering, fellowship, and the presence of God move the soul from staring out and around to looking up. Eternity makes the “easy life” of the wicked look far less solid than it seemed from the porch. [79:46]
• 4. God Himself is the portion Asaph was a Levite, and the Levites did not receive land like the other tribes. Their portion was God, and that changes the meaning of every loss and every lack. When God is the inheritance, the heart can lose possessions, status, even flesh and strength, without losing the deepest treasure. [104:01]
• 5. Nearness turns into witness Asaph ends by saying it is good to be near God so that he may tell of all God’s works. Nearness to God does not produce private comfort only; it produces testimony. Love for God cannot stay silent about Christ when lost people are stepping toward eternity without Him. [106:04]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [42:05] - The Missing Phone Story
• [45:11] - Introducing Psalm 73
• [47:05] - The Road Map of Asaph’s Struggle
• [53:38] - Reading Psalm 73
• [57:30] - God Is Good When Life Is Not
• [58:55] - The Trap of Comparison
• [64:22] - Faith When Everything Falls Apart
• [66:22] - Asaph Vents About the Wicked
• [79:21] - When Comparison Questions God
• [79:46] - Until He Enters the Sanctuary
• [81:21] - Prayer, Worship, Offering, Fellowship
• [89:24] - God’s Presence Changes Perspective
• [95:38] - Peace, Grasp, Guidance, Glory
• [103:00] - God as Portion Forever
• [111:15] - Deathbed Faith and God’s Goodness

Bible Reading

Psalm 73
“Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. And they say, ‘How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?’ Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 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.” [45:11]

Habakkuk 3:17-18
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” [01:04:31]

Luke 12:15
“And he said to them, ‘Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.’” [01:19:07]

Psalm 27:1-6
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war arise against me, yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the LORD.” [01:38:23]

Observation questions

1. In Psalm 73, what specific things does Asaph notice about the wicked that make him envious of them?
2. What words or phrases in Psalm 73 show that Asaph feels worn down and frustrated, especially before the word “until”? [01:18:23]
3. According to Psalm 73, what changes for Asaph after he enters the sanctuary of God? What does he begin to understand then? [01:19:46]
4. In Psalm 73:23-28, what does Asaph say God is doing for him, and what names or descriptions does he give to God at the end of the psalm? [01:36:00]

Interpretation questions

1. Psalm 73 begins with “Truly God is good,” but then quickly moves into doubt and envy. What does that reveal about how a real believer can struggle without abandoning faith? [46:08]
2. Asaph says his feet almost slipped because he envied the arrogant. Why is comparison so dangerous to the soul, especially when it starts to reshape what a person believes about God? [01:19:21]
3. Asaph’s circumstances do not immediately change in the sanctuary, yet his understanding does. Why does being in God’s presence change perspective even when the problem is still there? [01:30:23]
4. Asaph says, “God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” What does it mean for God Himself to be someone’s portion, and how does that challenge the way people usually define the good life? [01:44:01]

Application questions

1. When has comparison recently bent the heart crooked—money, family, health, comfort, appearance, success, or something else? What was being believed about God in that moment? [58:55]
2. Pain often makes “sometimes” start sounding like “always.” Where has there been a habit of using words like “all day,” “every morning,” or “nothing ever changes”? What might be true, and what might be venting? [01:16:04]
3. The sanctuary widens the horizon through prayer, worship, sacrifice, fellowship, and the presence of God. Which of those has been most neglected lately, and what would it look like to step back into it this week? [01:21:21]
4. Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. What kinds of “stuff” or visible signs of ease have been quietly treated like proof of freedom, blessing, or security? [01:19:07]
5. “The good life” is not an easy life but a life near God. In this season, what would nearness to God look like in a concrete way during an ordinary weekday? [01:47:26]
6. “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Where is weakness, disappointment, or fear exposing a need to find strength in God rather than in circumstances? [01:43:51]
7. Nearness to God is meant to become witness. Who is one person that could hear a clear word this week about the goodness of God and the hope found in Christ? What would be natural and honest to share? [01:46:04]