Wednesday, June 13, 2012

The Confession & Correction of Asaph


Why the Psalmist Asaph holds to God’s justice & wrath against sinners: faithfulness to God’s covenant people. “If I had said, ‘I will speak thus,’ behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children” (Psalm 73:15).

Where the Psalmist Asaph found re-affirmation in biblical truth against the temptation (73:2) of the false belief of the world (that God ignores sin just like we do, see 73:11): the gathering of God’s covenant people. “When I pondered to understand this, it was troublesome in my sight until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end” (73:16,17).

What the Psalmist Asaph confesses after remembering his place among God’s covenant people: the presence, protection, and testimony of the works of God (including His judgment against sin, see 73:18-20,27). “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works” (73:28).

Saint, do not forget your place & responsibility among the gathering of the covenant people of God. Do not pridefully and ignorantly (73:21,22) reject how God uses them to correct your vision of Who He is and the fullness of His work and character, including the first truths we reject when imbibing of a worldly, Scripture-less view of God: His just wrath and judgment against sin.

Don't neglect the gathering, beloved Church!

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