Drawing Near to God (Psalm 73:28)
Usually, when we want to find out the message of a Psalm, we should include the first verse and the last verse in order to see its point. It is possible to take a verse in the middle of a Psalm and use it in a manner not intended by the author. That way of reading it will prevent us understanding its message.
If we take Psalm 23 for example, we will see that God the shepherd will eventually ensure that all his people will dwell in the house of the Lord. The answer to the question in the first verse of Psalm 22 is found at the close – the reason for the abandonment of the Saviour was so that posterity would serve him.
In Psalm 73, the author takes a general truth that God is good to Israel and shows how he came to the assurance that this was true of him even although he was in a state of confusion. He discovered that he could know God and his benefits in the current crisis he faced. His experience of puzzlement is very common.
The contrast
In this psalm, the author recounts a period of difficulty that he had gone through. He had been envious of the lifestyle of some people who continually disobeyed God and yet enjoyed a good life. Thinking about their temporary happiness had made him feel bitter and jealous and puzzled. But then, after going into the house of God, he realised that they did not have everything and that one day they would have nothing. It would be better to have something that would last, or Someone who would always be there.
That problem is one that is faced by believers in every generation. Why do the wicked prosper, or at least seem to do so? Yet we know that often the outside positions of an individual are an illusion, and often a contradiction, of where they really are. They have no foundation, so their life will collapse; they have no spiritual life, so their hearts are empty of divine grace; they have no charts by which to guide their lives, therefore they are drifting rapidly to disaster. A simple question is enough to assess the situation: how many persons have you known who seemed to have it all, but now they have left it through death or lost it through some action, whether by themselves or others.
One of the saddest words is godless. Have you ever thought what it means? Often, we use it to describe behaviour. But it is a word that explains the behaviour. People are like that because they are without God. Paul links together the ideas of being ‘without God’ and ‘without hope’ because only God can provide hope for the future.
The closeness
The psalmist mentions that he is near God. He does not mean by this description the doctrine of divine omnipresence, the belief that God is everywhere. In that sense, everyone including the wicked are equally near God. Rather, the psalmist has in mind what we can call a gracious nearness. How do we get close to God in this sense?
The first way is by coming to him as a sinner. We might think that sounds strange, since God is opposed to sin. Yet it is sinners whom he invites to draw near to him. One well-know invitation is found in Isaiah 1:18: ‘Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.’ We can draw close to God and ask him to forgive us because of what Jesus did on the cross. Of course, we come sorrowful for our sins, all of which have offended him. Yet we can still draw near to ask for mercy.
The second way is by coming to him as sons or members of his family. We may wonder at times why the New Testament uses the male term at times and the answer is that the authors are stressing the idea of privilege, which at that period was usually limited to males, and especially the firstborn. The point they make is that every child of God is like a firstborn son, with each one having all the privileges of the sons of God. One of those privileges is that all of them have equal access to the presence of God at all times. Indeed, because they are his children, they are always in his presence and therefore can sense nearness.
The third way we can draw near is as supplicants. This was the aspect that the psalmist stresses here. He went and spoke to God at the temple. Attending the temple is not always like coming to church because it was possible to go to the temple as an individual and interact with God without speaking to or listening to another person. The fact is that it is possible to draw near to God and speak to him about whatever is on our hearts. Yet we can only do so if we follow the order that I have just described. We must first come as sinners asking for mercy through Jesus, become members of the divine family, and then bring issues of concern to the Heavenly Father. We cannot reverse the order.
A fourth way we can draw near is as searchers, not in the sense of looking in the dark, but of exploring a field full of guaranteed treasure. The field we can search is God – we can explore his attributes, think on his promises, and focus on his grace. When we do so, we will discover amazing truths about God. This will enlarge our awareness of reality.
The comfort
What kinds of comfort did the psalmist discover when he went into the presence of God? No doubt, there are many, but I will highlight three. The first is that he was reminded that the Lord is the God of providence. Far from letting the wicked prosper, their apparent security was actually a slippery place from where they would quickly slide down and be no more. No doubt, we are concerned about the prominence of wicked people today. Where are they? They are either in line for divine mercy or else he has placed them on a very slippery slope and it will not be long until they are gone.
The second comfort is that the Lord strengthens his people. Often they find themselves being oppressed by their own sins, by the apparent power of the wicked, and by the temptations of the devil. That is normal in the Christian life. Indeed, if we are not experiencing them, we should question if we are Christians. How does the Lord strengthen his people? He does it always in the present (often his people think of the future and how they will survive then), and reminds them that he will provide his grace when they need it.
The third comfort is that believers get assurance about eternity. This is very important. After all, where will some of us be in ten or twenty years time? We may not be walking on planet earth, but if we are not we will be somewhere in the eternal world. As we look ahead, we should not only focus on our needs for this life, but should be very concerned about where we will be in the world to come. The psalmist here realised in the presence of God that life here may always be tough, but in the midst of it all he knew that it was well with his soul. When someone possesses that assurance, he or she can face spiritual and other conflicts because they know that their eternal destiny is sure.
The commitment
Having discovered those spiritual comforts, the psalmist resolves to use his tongue in a positive way. Earlier, in verse 15, he had expressed his reluctance to speak about his circumstances: ‘If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.’ But now he had something important to say. Basically, what he could now say was similar to Paul’s words in Romans 8: ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?’ We have a duty to comfort one another, and it is not right to fail to do so. The psalmist shows us how important it is to remind one another of the Lord’s providence, presence, power and plans. May that be our commitment as we live today and tomorrow.