Asking the Right Question When Everything Goes Wrong
At this stage in my life, a lot things seem to be working against me. Every calorie I eat goes to my hips, my hair is turning gray faster than I can cover up my roots, and things that used to stay in place are starting to jiggle.
Compared to my silly list, many godly people are going through much more extreme circumstances that are working against them. You know the laundry list…sickness, financial issues, and family problems to name a few.
There are seasons in life where it feels like we have been punched in the gut and then the left-hook follows through to the jaw for the knockout.
It is in this season that we begin to ask the “why” question. It is human nature. To make matters worse, we look around and see other people flourishing, people who aren’t nearly as faithful to God as we have been (in our humble opinion). It makes us want to put a question mark after the phrase “He’s a Good, Good Father” rather than an exclamation mark.
Asaph did it and he was a well-known worship leader during David’s time. He was like the Chris Tomlin or Travis Cottrell of the Old Testament. Twelve Psalms are attributed to him, including Psalm 73.
I feel ya Asaph! As he looked around at who was prospering (the arrogant, the wicked, the prideful) it made him question why he was serving God at all. Asaph was facing tremendous trouble himself and he could not make sense of the seeming unfairness of it all. In verse 16, he was basically asking the “why” question and was coming up with nothing!
So what is the right question to ask when we are barely treading the troubled waters? Well, Asaph finally figured it out. In verse 25, Asaph asked, “Whom have I in heaven but You?”
You see, Asaph had taken his eyes off of God and put them on his circumstances. But when he “came into the sanctuary of God” (v. 17) it completely changed his outlook. In my head, when I get to this verse, I imagine angels singing and the dark clouds lifting! It truly is a turning point in the Psalm.
Asaph realized that God is going to take care of the wicked, the prideful, the fill-in-the-blank. “Whom have I in heaven but You?” was not only the right question, but it was the yearning of Asaph’s newly set-right heart. He knew the answer to this inquiry too – our only true hope is God the Father. He makes all things “right”.
Do you know what I love about Asaph? He was upfront with God (and us as the reader) about his internal struggles. He let God minister to the broken places in his life. He tells us right up front in verse 1 that “Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart!” That is what he learned from going through his struggle.
If we want the answer to “why” bad things happen to good people in this life, we will be disappointed almost every time. We trust the goodness of our God even in the midst of our worst of times.
For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison…2 Corinthians 4:17