Psalm 73 begins the third of five sections in the book of Psalms, and it describes the journey of a believer who finds himself nearly destroyed by the confusion and heartache of being surrounded by wickedness. In the midst of his confusion and frustration, he ultimately finds refuge and understanding in the presence of God, whom he says is “the strength of my heart and my portion forever”.

Humanity has lived in troubling times, surrounded by wickedness, since the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Since then, the human race has never known what it is like to live untainted by the presence of wickedness and rebellion. I am certain that everyone who hears this message has experienced the heartache, the frustration, and the confusion that comes with seeing wickedness abounding, even as those who commit such wickedness seem to abound in earthly prosperity.

The spouse who abandoned their partner, ignored the vows promised before the Lord, now flaunts around with a younger, better looking, partner on their arm while talking trash about the ex. The coworkers who get promoted while using deception and manipulation to get on the boss’s good side while also painting the faithful, God-honoring, coworker as being stuck in the mud for refusing to employ the same tactics.

The parent who abandoned a child at a young age and told them that it is their fault for being too much to handle, who is now remarried and posts pictures all over social media of the new family. The person who abused their spouse or children, was never held accountable by those who sit in seats of power, who now seems to be experiencing all the success this life has to offer.

Wickedness, and the people who practice it at the expense of the godly and vulnerable, possess no boundaries and sometimes they seem to grow like weeds on a hot summer day. This is exactly where the author of Psalm 73 is at today. The heading of this Psalm in the ESV entitles the Psalm: “God is my strength and portion forever” and it names the author as a man named Asaph who “was one of the musicians and song leaders appointed by David for the temple worship (1 Chron. 6:31 – 39; 15:17; 16:4 – 7)” but is most likely written by a descendant of his during the time of Israel’s exile and captivity in Babylon.2

What significance does this hold for us as we study Psalm 73? Understanding who the author is as well as the unique circumstances he was facing, helps us to identify more closely with what God wants us to apply to our own lives. If this Psalm was written by a worship leader who is doing everything he can to serve God and love God’s people well, but now finds himself on the slippery ledge of doubt and despair in the face of wickedness abounding all around him, then I think we can relate with him.

I am sure we have all struggled with finding solid ground for our hearts to rest on when wickedness abounds around us. What do you do when wickedness abounds and you are just trying to live in a God honoring way but barely making it, barely able to move forward in this life? The first step our Psalmist takes in the midst of his confusion, heartache, and pain, is to simply confess his own sin.

God is My Strength and Portion Forever: A Psalm of Asaph.

1Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 3For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4For they have no pains until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. 5They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 6Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. 7Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. 8They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. 9They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. 10Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. 11And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” 12Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. 13All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 14For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. 15If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

16But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, 17until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. 18Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 19How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! 20Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

21When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, 22I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. 23Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 25Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 28But 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.

#1: A CONFESSION OF SIN (VV. 1 – 3)

In verses 1 – 3, we can see our Psalmist in a very desperate state as he confesses not only his own weakness, and confusion, but also his sin as he surveys the wickedness all around him. One commentator seemed to be slow to see a confession of sin in these opening verses as he merely touched on the author’s temptation when he confesses in verse two that his “feet had almost stumbled” and that his “steps had nearly slipped”.3

But I see a confession of sin that nearly destroyed our Psalmist all together when he says in verse three that he “was envious of the arrogant” when he “saw the prosperity of the wicked”. In short, our Psalmist did not prove to be a faithless, unregenerate man who went from one sin to the next without a care in the world for his relationship with God.

Instead, our Psalmist recognized that something he saw – the earthly prosperity of the wicked – did in fact cause him to sin as he envied their worldly prosperity. That Spirit-led recognition saved him from leaping off the edge of his heartache, confusion and despair. This confession of sin by our Psalmist is made in light of verse one where he describes the goodness of God to all who belong to God when he says, “Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart”.

That recognition, that God is good to those whom he has purified by his saving power, is where every legitimate confession of sin must begin. No one who has truly experienced the goodness of God in salvation, who now possesses the indwelling Spirit of the Living God, can remain arrogantly in pursuit of sin while shaking their fist at God.

It is the goodness of God in Christ Jesus that becomes the bedrock of a new life of continually confessing sin so that we can find refuge and restoration in the presence of God. So, when you find yourself bewildered, shocked, heartbroken, and confused by the seeming prosperity of those who seem to multiply in practicing wickedness, start by recognizing God’s goodness and confessing your own sins first, so that you might truly bring your heartache to him in full honesty and humility.

To truly come to grips with the heartache of living in a world where wickedness abounds and the godly face trials of all kinds, we must be in a place of humility and honesty over what troubles our souls.

#2: A DESCRIPTION OF WICKEDNESS (VV. 4 – 15)

The second thing we see in this Psalm, is an honest description of the wickedness that is abounding all around our Psalmist and the effect it has had upon his very soul in verses 4 – 15. We need to remember, that when we try to excuse or minimize or justify wickedness, we are speaking the language of the enemy who wants us to be comfortably numb to wickedness.

Our Psalmist refuses to become comfortably numb with the wickedness that is abounding all around him; he fights to remain upright in relationship with our redeeming God by being brutally honest about what he is seeing and experiencing.

This is why he says in verse four that the wicked around him seem to “have no pains until death” and that their bodies look like they are in perfect shape without a health concern in the world. In verse five he says that the wicked do not seem to endure the same “troubles as others are” because it does not look like they are “stricken like the rest of mankind”. Furthermore, in verse six, these wicked people are noticeably proud of their wicked lifestyles because they flaunt it like an expensive necklace.

And not only that, but these wicked people practice their violence against all who oppose them and especially against those whom they should protect; they flaunt their violent harm for the entire world to see, just like someone who proudly shows up in an expensive suit (v. 6). These wicked people flatter you with their beautiful eyes, while they are filled to overflowing with foolishness, according to verse seven.

If it is true as the Bible states, that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks, and therefore you will know these wicked people by the fruit of their lips (Lk. 6:45; Mat. 7:15; 12:34), then verses 8 – 11 puts the nail in the coffin of the Psalmist’s description of these wicked people who seem to have surrounded him.

Everything our Psalmist says here in these next four verses are centered on what these wicked people say. Now, it is true, that not every wicked person will outright say these things explicitly, but I have learned that even the best manipulators give themselves away and will eventually, effectively, say the same things these wicked folks are saying in our text.

So, what do these wicked scoundrels say in verses 8 – 11? For starters, according to verse eight, “They scoff” or belittle and they “speak with malice” because they are filled with malicious intentions – they are wolves inwardly – and they want to do harm to God’s people, so they make threats to oppress and hurt and belittle those who are trying to be faithful to God.

They do not submit to God or to the authority he has given to his people, so according to verse nine “they set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth” like a noisy little banty rooster without a care in the world, although their days are numbered. The danger of this that really troubles our Psalmist’s heart according to verse ten, is that some of God’s people have begun to follow these wicked people, as though they “find no fault in them” because they are blindly worshipping whatever they perceive can be gained from following after these wicked wolves.

If only those who had strayed after these wicked people could see with the same eyes as our Psalmist, they would recognize how destructive it is to live a life that essentially says, as verse eleven states, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” Oh, how many lives have been completely spiritually shipwrecked from turning a blind eye to wickedness and following after someone whose life communicates a belief that God does not see, know, or really care about wickedness, because he is a loving and gracious God – if a loving and gracious God even exists!

“Behold”, our Psalmist says in verse 12, “these are the wicked” they are “always at ease”and “they increase in riches” to the extent that they have totally rejected God and have set themselves up as their own gods – they are their own arbitrators of what is right and wrong, based upon the pleasurable appetites of their big fat bellies. This picture of the wickedness that is abounding all around him, has deeply affected our Psalmist – as it does all of us at times!

Notice how our Psalmist is teetering on the edge of total despair and discontentment and even bitterness towards God’s apparent absence in the midst of this all-consuming black cloud of wickedness in verses 13 – 15. He is teetering on the edge of seeing his life and pursuit of godliness – keeping his heart and hands pure from being enslaved to sin – as something that is “vain”, or a waste of time, in verse thirteen.

Every day, he endures abuse, according to verse 14. He has nearly broken down and spoke in an ungodly manner because of his confusion, hurt, and disillusionment, but his desire to not lead God’s people astray has kept him in check, according to verse 15. Simply stated, our Psalmist, is a leader who is responsible for helping God’s people understand God’s Word and to worship God with their entire lives and he has nearly derailed his ministry because of the severe amount of pressure he has experienced as he has witnessed the wickedness of the ungodly around him.

But his responsibility to God and to his people has been a restraint – like a seatbelt – that has stopped him from being ejected from the presence of God. He has been honest about the wickedness that has nearly entangled him and now he has the solution to his dire situation.

#3: A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF WICKEDNESS (VV. 16 – 20)

In verses 16 – 20, we can see the solution to our Psalmist’s confusion, and bitterness, and hurt as he literally takes this problem of wickedness to church! So far, we have seen that our Psalmist has mis-stepped for sure. He has found himself on a slippery slope. He has even sinned in his envy and possible bitterness towards God.

But he has not shipwrecked his faith. He is fighting with every ounce of Spirit-Filled strength he has, to hold onto God, to claw his way back into the full presence of God where his confusion can be dispelled, and his hurt can be healed, and his heart can be set free.

And where does our psalmist take his problems? He takes them to church, quite literally. According to verse sixteen, our Psalmist has tried “to understand” all of the discouraging aspects of wickedness abounding and even being rewarded with worldly prosperity while the godly are barely making it by, and he admits that trying to understand these things on his own has been “a wearisome task”.

He is simply worn out from trying to make sense of this on his own so in verse seventeenhe says that he “went into the sanctuary of God” where he “discerned their end” or that he finally figured out – as the Spirit of God spoke to him during his time of worship – that the end is coming very soon for the wicked.

Commentators are quick to point out that those who allow the cares of this world to interrupt their regular participation in the weekly gatherings of the church as it worships, are in fact, starving themselves of the antidote they need to cure the problem of being surrounded by wickedness and all of its troubles.4

It is among the gathered people of God, in the midst of self-abasing worship of the God who Created all things, and sustains all things, and who ultimately rules over all things in righteousness and justice, in the midst of worshipping this God and moving the eyes of his heart from the problems of wickedness to the all-sufficient God of the Universe, it is in this place that our Psalmist finally has an epiphany.

In that place, that place of worshipping among the gathered people of God, our Psalmist is reminded in verses 18 – 20, that the Lord sets the feet of the wicked “in slippery places”and that he makes “them fall to ruin” where they will be “destroyed in a moment” and “swept away utterly by terrors” at the very moment when the Lord decides to “rouse”himself and pour out justice on the wicked because he despises “them as phantoms” who are here today and gone tomorrow under his mighty right hand of justice. Simply stated, the days of those who practice wickedness are numbered by the Lord and he will destroy their seemingly prosperous lives when he sees fit!

#4: A CONFESSION OF FAITH (VV. 21 – 28)

With that revelation in his mind’s eye, our Psalmist cannot help himself but to wrap up thisPsalm with another confession of sin that resolves into a full confession of faith in the just and redeeming character of our God in verses 21 – 28.

He begins with another confession of sin in verses 21 – 22 where he says that his “soul was embittered” towards the Lord, and that he “was pricked in heart” or hardened against the Lord, and that he was “brutish and ignorant… like a beast” towards God when he was trying to find understanding to the issue of wickedness on his own.

But in the final six verses, our Psalmist resolves everything with an astounding confession of faith in our redeeming God who is also full of justice. He says in verses 23 – 24 that he is “continually with” God because God has kept a tight hold on his “right hand” and that he has given his steps guidance “with [his] counsel” and that he looks forward to the day when God will receive him “to glory” in eternity.

Speaking of eternity, our Psalmist now shifts the eyes of his heart towards heaven in verses 25 – 26 where he confesses that God is all he has that is worth holding onto on this earth because even though his body and his heart will ultimately fail him, he proclaims that “God is the strength of [his] heart and [his] portion forever”. Our Psalmist has literally found that God is the only portion that will sustain and nourish him throughout all of eternity.

In light of that eternal truth of God sustaining those who belong to him, our Psalmist concludes resolutely in verses 27 – 28 that “those who are far from” God “shall perish”because God will “put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to” him, while at the same time, he confesses that “it is good to be near God” and to make “the Lord God my refuge”so that he “may tell of all” his wonderous works.

Trusting in God through thick and thin will always result in you and I becoming bright lights for the Lord in a dark and perverse world that is consumed with wickedness.

Ultimately, this confession of sin and faith, is the Psalmist’s recognition and trust in God’s ultimate plan to deal with wickedness and to preserve the faithful. This where our Psalmistrests his weary heart, in the safety of God’s justice against the wicked and in God’s mighty power to save those who belong to him.

KEY TAKE AWAYS…

So that is Psalm 73! Our Psalmist, a worship leader, began with a confession of sin that moved into a description of the problem of wickedness contrasted with the suffering of the godly, and then he found the antidote to his confusion and pain in the presence of God among the gathered people of God, which then resolved into a confession of sin and faith that ultimately surrendered in peace to the God who will destroy the wicked and save those whom he has rescued from the darkness of Satan, Sin, and Death.

What can we take away from this passage that will help us as we try to endure the effects of a dark world that abounds in wickedness while the godly struggle just to make it? I think the key for us to think about what it means to make God our portion forever. When the Psalmist says in verse 26 that even though his body and his heart will fail, he has found strength for his heart and has been sustained by making God “my portion forever”. How do we make God our portion forever? I suggest three things briefly.

#1: CONFESS YOUR SIN DAILY

Just as our Psalmist confesses his sin multiple times in our passage (vv. 3, 21 – 22), we too need to confess our sins often. The Bible is clear that we are supposed to confess our sins to one another so that we might be healed of the sickness of sin (Js. 5:16). We are also told that those who confess their sins will be forgiven and renewed into the image of Jesus (1 Jn. 1:9). Don’t let the wickedness of this world overshadow your need to confess your sins daily.

#2: LET YOUR TESTIMONY BE YOUR SEATBELT

Just as our Psalmist restrained himself from totally destroying his ministry and fellowship among God’s people by letting his testimony be his seatbelt (v. 15), we too need put a seatbelt on our temptations and sin. The Bible calls us to live our lives like bright lights, shining in the darkness, rather than being like the darkness (Phil. 2:15).

Our testimonies – the story of character lived out in front of everyone we come across – should be protected and developed and utilized like a seatbelt that restrains our sinful impulses. Don’t let the wickedness of this world cause you to become numb and therefore dim in your testimony; let your testimony be a seatbelt that shines brightly in this dark and wicked world – no matter what it costs you!

#3: DON’T FORSAKE THE GATHERINGS OF THE SAINTS

Just as our Psalmist found comfort and theological clarity for his soul among the gathered people of God (vv. 16 – 17), we too should not forsake the gathering of the saints. The Bible is clear that it is actually sinful to forsake the gathering of the saints (Heb. 10)because in those gatherings, we are to spur one another on to love and good works. God did not create us to be Lone Ranger Christians; he created us to follow him and to become more like Christ among the community of his redeemed people.

CONCLUSION…

In conclusion, we have learned that we can remain faithful to the Lord amidst wickedness abounding, as we find strength for our weary hearts, by making God our portion forever. We make God our portion by confessing our sins daily, letting our testimonies become our seatbelts, and by not forsaking the gathering of the saints.

When I think about making God my portion, I am reminded that the portion that had filled our Psalmist’s stomach at the beginning of the passage was his confusion, dismay, and bitterness about the wicked. But then he changed his diet and found a portion in the Lord that would sustain him, nurture him, and heal him.

As I think about that, I am reminded that Jesus did not skimp out on the portion he provided for us to find salvation, healing, and strength to endure, when he went to the cross of Calvary. Jesus withheld none of his blood, none of his broken body, and none of his suffering. Jesus gave every last drop of his life so that you and I could be saved from the penalty, presence, and power of sin, and be transformed by the renewing of our minds as we become lights of righteousness in a dark and perverse world.

Hold on to Christ crucified, risen, and returning my friends. Make Christ your daily portion forever and you will withstand the darkness of this world. Make Christ your portion as you come to him confessing your sin, restraining your impulses to jump off the cliff of Satan, Sin, and Death. Make Christ your portion as you join with the gathered saints to spur one another on to love and good works in a dark and perverse world.

Hold fast to Christ in this way, and you will find yourself at the foot of a bloody cross, in the doorway of an empty tomb, in light of the promise of eternity, where Christ is your portion forever. – Amen!

1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).

2 Christopher, Brian, Garton, Ash, The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary, Volume 3, Psalms 51 – 100, (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2024), 285.

3 Ibid., 286.

4 Richard, Philips, Psalms 73 – 106, Reformed Expository Commentary, (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2020), 7 – 8.