But As For Me . . .

Psalm 73:1-3  Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

It's good for us to admit when we have less-than-ideal feelings.

I read this psalm and I must admit that sometimes I have felt the same way that Asaph (the author) felt. I see the prosperity of the wicked and sometimes, on a certain level, I have envied them. At the very least, sometimes I have envied their prosperity. Why, just the other day, I heard about somebody winning the lottery, and I found myself thinking about all the good things I would do if I won millions of dollars.  While I am not proud to admit that, I think it is helpful to get those feelings out into the open.

So many times we can live in denial that we are less-than-perfect, and that denial gets us nowhere. In Psalm 73, Asaph goes on for quite a bit about how he feels about his situation in comparison to the wicked, but then he gets to the point where he realizes, that they are not so well off after all.  I would venture to say that he might not have gotten to that point unless if he had not vented his frustrations.

I heard somewhere that negative thoughts and feelings are like mold.  They grow when they are kept in the dark, and die off when exposed to the light. I'm not advocating going around burdening everyone else with all of our problems, but we should bring them to the Light, for that is the only way that we will truly be rid of them.