The guy who almost gets it all wrong s30e10

Asaph, the writer of Psalm 73 almost gets it all wrong.  His spiritual feet almost make a fatal mistake with a slip: He desires the wrong thing.

If you desire the wrong thing, then you make decisions and behaviors that are the wrong thing.  This leads only to destruction ultimately.

Listen 7 minutes as the knucklehead Asaph almost gets it wrong.

https://youtu.be/R2RAb62cpH8

Transcript

The guy who almost gets it all wrong s30e10

The Psalms of My friends. Psalm 73 is about a guy who ALMOST GETS IT WRONG 

Have you ever almost toppled over, and realized if you did, you’d be in big trouble-like I would have fallen a great distance and hurt myself terribly?

That is what happens.  This guy Asaph has a “come to Jesus moment”. Oh my goodness, I ALMOST GETS IT WRONG. I almost lost it all. I almost made a fatal mistake.  I was ½ way there.

There is a great word in Ps 73: BUT…He catches Himself. He unstumbles.  He gets it right.  He goes from almost getting it wrong to getting it right.

There is so much to learn in the story of a guy who almost gets it wrong

73 A Psalm of Asaph. 

1    Truly God is good to Israel, 

to those who are pure in heart. ---HERE THE SPALM STARTS WITH THE GOAL THAT IS ALMOST FAILED: A PURE, UNDIVIDED, IN TACT, WHOLE HEART THAT IS DESIRING THE WRONG THING. 

2    But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, 

my steps had nearly slipped. –HERE IS THE FIRST BUTT. 

3    For I was envious of the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I WANTED WHAT THEY HAD. I WANTED WRONG THING.THEN HE WILL DESCRIBE THE WICKED, UNTROUBLED, RICH, HEALTY, PRIDEFUL

SETTING THEMSELVES AGAINST HEAVEN

4    For they have no pangs until death; 

their bodies are fat and sleek. 

5    They are not in trouble as others are; 

they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 

6    Therefore pride is their necklace****; 

violence covers them as a garment. 

7    Their eyes swell out through fatness; 

their hearts overflow with follies. 

8    They scoff and speak with malice; 

loftily they threaten oppression.

9    They set their mouths against the heavens****, 

and their tongue struts through the earth***. 

SETTING THEIR MOUTHS, AGAINST GOD

10    Therefore his people turn back to them, 

and find no fault in them. 

11    And they say, “How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?” 

12    Behold, these are the wicked; 

always at ease, they increase in riches. THERE IS A LOT TO ENVY HERE. WHO DOESN’T WANT TO BE HEALTHY WEALTHY ENTERTAINED SELF-DIRECTED, SELF-CONFIDENT, AND PROSPEROUS? OF COURSE I AM ENVYOUS. 

NOW BACK TO THE PSALMIST ASAPH;

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. 

15    If I had said, “I will speak thus,” 

I would have betrayed the generation of your children. 

16    But when I thought how to understand this, 

it seemed to me a wearisome task, 

17    until I went into the sanctuary of God; 

then I discerned their end. I SOURCED MY ASSESSMENT IN THE HOUSE OF GOD. 

THE PERSON OF GOD, THE PEOPLE AND PREACHING OF GOD

18    Truly you set them in slippery places; 

you make them fall to ruin. RE-LOOK AT THE SO CALLED PROSPEROUS

19    How they are destroyed in a moment, 

swept away utterly by terrors!

20    Like a dream when one awakes, 

O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. 

21    When my soul was embittered, 

when I was pricked in heart, 

22    I was brutish and ignorant; 

I was like a beast toward you. CONFESSION. REPENTANCE. REGRET. LORD, I WAS A BRUTE.

MY SOUL WAS EMBITTERED. I ALMOST GOT THIS WRONG

23    Nevertheless, I am continually with you; I AM BACK NOW.

you hold my right hand.

24    You guide me with your counsel, I GOT MY COUNSEL RIGHT

and afterward you will receive me to glory. I HAVE ETERNITY AHEAD

25    Whom have I in heaven but you*******? 

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 

26    My flesh and my heart may fail, 

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. WHO ELSE DO I HAVE BUT YOU.

WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE, I GET YOU. LORD, TO WHOM ELSE CAN I GO?

27    For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; PERISHING! DISTANCE

you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. CONSEQUENCES

28    But for me it is good to be near God; BETTER TO BE NEAR THAN ANYWHERE. BETTER TO BE NEAR THAN HEALTHY WEALTHY ENTERTAINED SELF-DIRECTED, SELF-CONFIDENT, AND PROSPEROUS?

I have made the Lord God my refuge, 

that I may tell of all your works.

MY feet almost stumbled. My steps almost slipped. I almost lost it all.

I was envious of the wrong people.  

I almost set the ladder of my heart against the wrong building

I nearly took pride in those who have a horrible thing: Pride against God.

I almost stood before God, elevating a type of person who thinks they do not stand before God.

I almost modelled a rebellious, prosperous, anti-God person who in the end will be destroyed in a moment. In the blink of an eye. Swept away like in a Tsunami

Oh, I almost got it wrong.

Here is the conclusion of Ps 73:  Whom have I in heaven without you?

         You are my only hope.  You are my only trust.

         I almost bet on the wrong horse. I almost put my trust in the sleek, rebellious sleek prideful guy rather than you

Wait a second: you are what I really desire. There is nothing on earth I desire besides you.

What is there to learn in the guy who almost gets it totally wrong. 

I almost slipped.  I almost desired, and then did the activities of that desire, towards the wrong thing.  I almost was unfaithful to my 1st love.

WHO DO I HAVE BESIDES YOU? NOBODY