God is My Good
by Joey Carroll Corinth Missionary Baptist Church
We have a lot of sayings in the South. In fact, I am quite sure if someone moved here from any other place in the world, they would need an interpreter for many of the things we say. Many people have amassed a large number of followers on social media just by interpreting some of our crazy sayings.
We pretty much have a saying about everything, even when it comes to God. For instance, you could probably shout out at a ballgame, “God is good,” and someone would answer “all the time.”
And if you followed with “and all the time,” they would respond with “God is good.”
Many say God is good. We sing about the goodness of God. But do we really believe that God is our personal good?
Psalm 73 helps us work out whether or not “God is good” is just another saying for us or our personal testimony.
I love the transparency of the Psalters, and Psalm 73 is an unashamed confession of the heart.
The Psalmist confesses that he almost fell headlong into deception.
He looked a little too long in the direction of the world and saw something shiny.
What he was drawn to was prosperity.
In fact, he confesses that he was envious of all that he saw.
The people of the world seemed to have it much better than the individual who was fully committed to God.
It seemed to him that they never had any problems.
They always appeared well fed and at ease.
They seemed to be always increasing in wealth. It even looked as though death was easy for them.
The Psalmist confesses freely, “I was envious” (Psalm 73:3, NASB).
He says that he considered in his heart that he had wasted all his time trying to pursue godliness rather than prosperity (v. 13-14).
In fact, he almost made the grave danger of opening his mouth and leading other people astray by telling them to forget pursuing godliness.
That it was a painful waste of time, and you would be better off pursuing prosperity and ease.
The psalmist carefully pondered his “new religion of prosperity” and gathered himself before God.
Thankfully, by grace he was kept from falling and gained an understanding that we all desperately need. What he was reminded of in those moments before God was that life has an end.
If you are like me, you have a tendency to live life at breakneck speed.
Absolutely convinced that you help make the world go around, you do as much as you can as fast as you can.
But for some strange reason, you fail to recall that every day has its end.
And many times, at the end of each day you find yourself frustrated.
You were so busy doing many things that you failed to do well at the things that really matter.
You wasted most or all of your day without ever giving yourself to growing in godliness.
Life is no different. It has an end. And at the end of life, just like at the end of every day, it will be plainly evident what or who you valued.
If you valued prosperity and the things of the world, you will leave behind quite a mess for your family to fight over.
Not to mention you will be tempting them with all sorts of shiny things that will distract them from eternal things.
But if God was what you truly treasured, you will leave behind both a testimony and an example of faithfulness.
The Psalmist recorded his wrestling as a testimony for us.
In fact, it’s a warning for us.
We live in a day just like the Psalmist.
There were those who were convinced that you could have both.
You could pursue the prosperity of the world and God all at the same time.
There are many in our day who deceive millions by saying prosperity and God go hand in hand.
But if we would ponder things in the presence of God, we would see the lie.
It takes time to pursue something.
And if you spend all your time in pursuit of one thing, you have little to no time left for another thing.
We cannot escape the reality that something or someone is our personal good.
The Psalmist figured it out. “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good” (Psalm 73.28, NASB).
