Leaving the pity party behind

We touched on this yesterday, but the best way out of the "life is not fair," pity party is to look at things with God's perspective if we can. 

I'm not going to gloss over it. It's a difficult problem. But we need to begin by remembering the words of our Father:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

It's easy for us to get caught up in these thoughts. For us, a few years can seem like an eternity. But Peter reminded us (II Peter 3:8) that for God, a thousand years can be like a day! 

Also, God's ways are often mysterious to us. There is no way for our finite minds to comprehend unless we study His Word. To understand His ways, we must pray for the Spirit to open our eyes and then open His book. (Check out I Corinthians 2:6-13 when you have a chance today, and this will help guide us in our studies.)

Asaph gave us some "action items," in the language of today - he told us some things that the psalmist did to leave his distress behind. The first one is found in verse fifteen:

If I had spoken out like that,
    I would have betrayed your children. (Psalm 73:15)

Asaph suddenly realized he had a responsibility to others. If he had stopped at verse fourteen, and if he'd gone around grousing about the "unfairness" he perceived, he would have betrayed God's children. He would have been increasing the size of the pity party! He realized that he couldn't just tell everybody what he'd been thinking about the prosperity of the wicked (and the trials of the godly) without also telling everyone about the solution that he had reached. So, he turned away from his self-focus and decided to live up to his responsibility.

We, too, are responsible not just to God, but to each other. The things that we say can impact our families. Our remarks can influence folks in the family of believers. What we say can also influence those who are outside the family of God - influence for good or for evil. Think about what happens if we grumble about God's "unfairness" in front of our kids or our grandkids! We may turn them against following the Lord! That is a thought that should really impact us and make us think about what we say. We may not be in a leadership position in the Christian family, but there are those around us who watch our example, and they also listen to our words. So, before we "spout off" we must realize our responsibility to other believers and to unbelievers, too.

Asaph had another "action item" for us: we need to take time to think biblically about matters before we act. 

Yep. That's an important one!

When I tried to understand all this,
    it troubled me deeply (Psalm 73:16)

Another translation says that he "pondered" to understand this. This was not a quick discussion with himself, or a fast consultation with his favorite verses. He had to think long and hard. (In fact, the next verse says he didn't get the full answer until he went into the sanctuary, but we'll cover that later.) The point is, he took the time to think carefully about things and to compare his thoughts with God's Word.

Wow, if we would do this consistently, we would avoid so many problems! I don't guess very many people would get drunk or high, if they stopped to think about what they're doing! Especially if they think about it in light of scripture! After all, God tells us in His Word that our bodies are His temple, and that we must be good stewards of His gifts . . . why use drugs or get drunk? It may give a few moments of relief from pain or problems, but those things will destroy us, impoverish us, and enslave us. 

The same can be said about many sins; if we would take the time to think biblically about where the sin will take us, we would avoid it! 
We'll look at Asaph's other action items next time, so we can leave the pity party behind us!