Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

In the first half of Psalm 73, the Psalm's Aesaf bemoans the prosperity of the wicked.

He's watching their lives and he sees them flourishing.

As I was reading this, I wondered about Aesaf's life as he was

putting pen to scroll. Is he thriving too or is he struggling? Is he comparing himself

to the wicked? Frustrated that they're getting all the things he thinks he deserves?

Is this jealousy? Or is it a desire for justice? What's happening in his heart?

Aesaf does some digging in his heart and his perspective shifts as soon as he goes to

worship God.

That's when Aesaff remembers what has eternal value.

An earthly prosperity isn't on that list.

He remembers that nearness to God is what truly feeds his soul.

Aesaf had to take his eyes off others and possibly off himself as well,

before his heart could shift. He confessed to God that before his

heart changed he was a bitter man and it shaped the way he viewed God. In verses 21 through

22 he says, when my soul was embittered when I was pricked in heart I was

brutish and ignorant I was like a beast toward you in Hebrews the phrase when I was

pricked in heart,

actually says something more along the lines of,

I felt stabbed in my kidneys.

It's less poetic and more graphic,

but you can probably relate.

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