Psalms 73:17: “Until I went into the sanctuary of God. Then understood I their end.”

Asaph was a close friend of King David and collaborated with him on much of his poetry and music.  Asaph was also a seer.  The Bible does show a difference between a seer (ra’ah) and a prophet (nebim).  Simply put, people would go to consult with a seer but a prophet would go to consult with the people.  As a Levite who functioned in the role of a seer, Asaph would have had many people come to him for counsel as people would go to their pastor or priest today.   As a seer, like many pastors today,  Asaph saw the sufferings and anguish of God’s people and he could not help but contrast this with the prosperity and problem free life of the wicked. In Psalms 73 Aspah is only repeating the question that he was most likely asked by the many who came to him for counsel.  That question would be: “I have served God, sacrificed for Him, lived for him and yet I am suffering.   God has made many promises but it seems like He has not kept them.  Why?”  On top of that there is the issue expressed in verse 13: “I have cleansed my heart in vain.” In other words, what good is there in serving God if you get nothing in return?  Yeah, I know crazy talk, I am sure we Christians never think that way.

I have heard a number of people comment that they tried Christianity but it just does not work.  What they are saying is that they bought into the all the hype of Christianity that God will solve all their problems, restore their marriages, relationships, finances and then when they accept Him, things seem to only get worse.  These people are really saying like Asaph: “I have cleansed my heart in vain.” In other words: “I tried Christianity, but it doesn’t work for me.”  Well, I hear you, it doesn’t work for me either, I prayed for healing, just got worse.  I prayed for restoration, too far gone to be restored. I mean I can keep you up all night telling you about my unanswered prayers.  But you know what, that is not what I signed on with God for. I signed on for  better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health.

This matter of why the righteous should suffer and the wicked get a pass on suffering is an age old question that usually goes unanswered.   It goes unanswered because few who ask this question go into the sanctuary like Asaph where they discover the answer.

The word sanctuary in the Hebrew is a mysterious word.  It is mikodeshi which is literally: my place of separation or my place of holiness.  The Masoretes ended the word with a Sere Yod which would give it a plural ending and thus be an allusion to the Holy of Holies.  Some say it is in the plural because there are three divisions to the sanctuary: the court, the holy place and the Holy of Holies. However, I question this as Asaph was not a high priest and could not have entered the Holy of Holies.  As a seer, however, he would have a holy place or separate place that he would enter to receive his revelations from God.  Thus, I would take issue with the Masoretes and like many rabbis do I would end the word with a Chireq Yod which would create the pronoun my.  This is important because it shows that when Asaph needed an answer from God, even as a seer, he had a special place, a quiet place where he would go to pray and meet with God.

It was in this special quiet place  his mikodeshi that God revealed his secrets to him and it was here that Asaph found the answer to that age old question of why the righteous should suffer and the wicked prosper.

Many translators render the last word in this verse, ’achar as end.  However, its primary meaning is after, behind, or to tarry.  Stretch the meaning and you can get end. If we say end then that suggests that in this quiet place Asaph saw the end of the lives of the wicked which is in everlasting torment. The righteous, however, will end up in heaven after a life of suffering.  In other words the translators wanted to answer the question of why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper in word “achar.“  It will all pan out in the end.

However, let’s just stay with the general meaning of achar which is to tarry and not try to stretch it to fit our agenda or personal bias. If we say tarry, then what Aspah would have been saying is that in this quiet place he understood why the wicked continue or tarried in prosperity.  What Asaph came to understand is that it was the presence of God he felt in his quiet place, that peace and joy in the presence of God which answered the question for him.  Let the world have their wealth and prosperity, for in the presence of God it means absolutely nothing. They may have their prosperity but we have the presence of God, good for us.  Yeah, I know pie in the sky sweet by and by and all that, let’s get real.  My thought exactly until I entered my quiet place or mikodeshi.

I just got an email newsletter from Voice of the Martyrs and read yet another story of a Christian who was shot to death by ISIS. The only crime this Christian committed was to love Jesus and try to share that love with others and for that he was murdered. Like Aspah I went to my mikoseshi, my quiet place, my sanctuary where I sought an answer from God as to why He did not save this faithful servant.  As sometimes happens in my mikoseshi, my quiet place, I find I enter the heart of God and when I did He let me feel what this Christians felt when that terrorist pointed his gun to this Christian’s head. It was like I was looking into the face of Jesus and all I felt was peace, serenity and joy. I felt the longing to reach out and hug Jesus and believing at any moment my arms would be around Him and His around me.  Then I heard a bang and suddenly I stepped outside the heart of God. I felt such a letdown that I almost  wept. I actually began to feel depressed that I did not get to physically hug Jesus. I had to return to my world, my life, my problems and frustrations without being able to hug Jesus in His world. My instant thought about that Christian martyr was; “You lucky son of —“  That is when I understood the last words of Psalms 73:17 “then  understood I their end or continuing.”   I sensed God saying, “I will be there when you need Me.”  I knew and understood that those who seemingly prosper when we who are faithful get the short end of the stick, we have something they don’t have, our ace in the hole, the very living, loving life of Jesus when we need it. Nothing this world has to offer can come close to that. God will be there when we need Him, not out jobs, bank accounts, or anything else in the crazy physical world.  We can’t depend upon any of that, but of God we can.