Open the Bible UK Daily

Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:57 1 Corinthians 15 is a marvellous chapter, where the apostle Paul lays out the transforming power of the resurrection. This chapter is very practical and full of hope. Where do you find hope when your body is failing? Where do you find hope when your ministry is discouraging? You have been labouring for th...

But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge. Psalm 73:28 Asaph began Psalm 73 saying, “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart” (73:1). What does it mean to say that “God is good to Israel?” The ancient philosophers —Plato, Socrates, etc.—used to debate what was the highest good in life. They used an old Latin phrase —the summum bonum—which is the h...

I [will] tell of all your works. Psalm 73:28 This shows how far Asaph has come. In verse 15, the best thing Asaph could do for God’s people was to keep his thoughts to himself: “If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ I would have betrayed… your children.” Now he has something to say, a story of God’s grace to share that will bring strength to other believers. Every Christian has a story of God’s grac...

I [will] tell of all your works. Psalm 73:28 If you have been wounded by a version of Christianity that makes the gospel seem like an endless list of demands and expectations, you need to take in the grace of God from Psalm 73. Asaph wrote out his story under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit and it has been preserved for our encouragement in the Scriptures. God has given us this psalm bec...

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. Psalm 73:27-28 Psalm 73 ends with Asaph making a clear commitment to live near to the Lord, and to tell his story of what God has done. Some folks think Christianity is about commitment. If...

There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. Psalm 73:25 Asaph is not saying that there are no other legitimate desires on earth. He is simply saying that, besides the Lord Himself, all other desires are secondary. This is the same thing the apostle Paul said: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Phil. 3:8). Knowing Jesus is what rea...

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. Psalm 73:25 Imagine Tom and Mary, a young couple engaged and about to be married. The wedding is just five days away, and Tom takes Mary out for a candlelight dinner. “Five days to go,” Tom says, “I can hardly wait for Saturday to come.” Mary smiles as she looks into his eyes across the candles, “Tell me why yo...

Whom have I in heaven but you? Psalm 73:25 The first thing you need to know about heaven is that it is God-centred. When the Apostle John was given a vision of heaven, he saw that the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) was at the centre (Rev. 5:6; 7:17). God wants you to know that He is the centre of all things in heaven, and that is why a person who lives wisely will make Him the centre of all things on...

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 strengt...

When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. Psalm 73:16 In the first half of Psalm 73 (verses 1-14), Asaph was completely absorbed with himself. “Why are things going wrong in my life? Why is God blessing other people more than me? What’s the point in pursuing a godly life?” Asaph was convinced that his problem was with God. He thought his biggest problem was the unhap...

Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. Psalm 73:23 What would you expect the outcome of Asaph’s confession to be? “My spirit was bitter, my heart ruled my head, and I was acting on impulse… Therefore, I am a total failure”? Or “Therefore, God has no place for me”? No! Look at the outcome of Asaph’s confession: “Nevertheless, I am continually with you” (73:23). True confes...

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Psalm 73:21-22 “My soul was bitter. My heart ruled my head. I was acting on impulse.” This is a serious confession of sin. Asaph’s confession goes beyond anything that he said or did. It uncovers the hidden movements of his heart. There really is an appropriate sense of shame here....

I was like a beast toward you. Psalm 73:22 The point about the beast is that animals act on impulse. One of the great gifts God has given to men and women is the gift of reason, logic, reflection, and analysis. This gift was not given to the animals. Animals act on impulse. Asaph says, “That’s what I was doing! When my heart was grieved, I was being pushed around by the impulses of bitterness, unb...

I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Psalm 73:22 “Ignorant” is a word that describes the mind, so Asaph was saying, “When my heart was grieved, everything I knew and believed about God seemed to fly out of the window.” In other words, Asaph was talking to his friends in gloomy terms, as if there was no God, no help, no hope, and no future. He was senseless and ignorant. His h...

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart… Psalm 73:21 These verses open up what was going on in Asaph’s heart before he came to the sanctuary. These things were hidden from Asaph himself. He didn’t understand what was going on. But when God met with him, the light went on. He saw clearly and so he was able to make this confession. There are particular sins to which you may be espec...

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant. Psalm 73:21-22 Confession has always had a central place in Christian worship. Catholics confessed their sins to a priest. Protestants confessed their sinfulness to God. But it seems that confessing our sins is disappearing from worship altogether. We celebrate God, and we celebrate ourselves, but if we do not co...

I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Psalm 73:22 This is a godly man’s confession of sin, and confession is a normal part of a healthy Christian life. The Apostle John says: “If we confess our sins, he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). If you cannot see anything in your life that you might appropriately...

When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Psalm 73:21-22 This is Asaph confessing his sins to God. He is admitting to things that are wrong in his life. As soon as Asaph gets his thinking straight, he begins to pray. Prayer flows out where truth flows in. We hear the truth every Sunday as we listen to the Word of God preach...

I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Psalm 73:22 Asaph’s story tells us how God brought this man through a crisis of faith by taking him through a number of turns. The first thing Asaph discovered was that he needed to STOP. “If I had gone where my thoughts were leading me at that time, I would have let everybody down” (see Psa. 73:15). He made a decision to stop. He refused...

My feet had almost stumbled. Psalm 73:2 Asaph was a godly man. He was a spiritual leader. This is the kind of man we would all look up to with great respect. Asaph didn’t just read the Scriptures, he was chosen to write some of the Scriptures under the direct inspiration of the Spirit of God. Perhaps there is not a deeper experience of the Spirit than that. This was a man who walked with God. But...

Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. Psalm 73:20 Asaph uses a second picture here, waking up from a dream, to show us what he discovered in the sanctuary about the ultimate outcome of the wicked. Imagine a beggar who has a dream. And in his dream, he wins fifty million pounds in the lottery! He dreams about the home he will buy and the car he...

Surely you set them in slippery places. Psalm 73:18 When Asaph came to worship, he remembered God’s truth, and he met with God’s people. That was where God straightened out this man’s thinking. Remember, Asaph’s problem began when he wondered why the wicked prosper (73:3). So how did God straighten out Asaph’s thinking? He reminded Asaph of the ultimate outcome of the wicked. Here Asaph uses the p...

When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God. Psalm 73:16-17 You see what Asaph is saying: “Here I am struggling with my problems. But my questions and struggles are part of something much bigger.” It’s a great thing to have personal faith, but behind your faith there is the faith. Behind your little struggle to believe, there stan...

When I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task. Psalm 73:16 Asaph was saying, “When I looked at the problems in my life and at the problems in the world, I kept asking, “Why is this happening?” My mind went around and around, trying to figure it all out, but I couldn’t. It was oppressive to me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it! It is a terrible thing when your mind is con...

I would have betrayed… your children. Psalm 73:15 Asaph knew that if he were to give up, he would betray God’s children, and that stopped him in his tracks. Now, there is more to climbing out of a black hole than that, but this is where it begins—with a decision, a commitment: Lord, I will not betray your children. On the night when He was betrayed, John tells us that Jesus prayed. He was about to...