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 psalmist Asaph bemoans the prosperity of the wicked. He's

watching their lives and he sees them flourishing.

As I was reading this, I wondered about Asaph'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? Asaf does some digging in his heart, and his perspective shifts as soon as he goes to

worship God. That's when Asaf remembers what has eternal value, and earthly prosperity isn't on that

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

Asaph 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. I've certainly felt stabbed in my kidneys before.

What Asaph says in a roundabout way is that when he was bitter, his view of God was not a good one.

He was like a beast toward God he couldn't be reasoned with. Do you know someone who's like that toward God?

There's a good chance that their bitterness is the result of some deep wound, something they feel

is lacking in their life. Otherwise, they'd probably be more nonchalant and matter-of-fact

about their lack of interest in God. Their response wouldn't be brutish and beastly, like Asaph's.

The good news for those people is that Asaf became a psalmist.

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