It’s Right Time to Draw Near to God When in Doubt of His Justice and Love

In my evening devotional reading tonight, I truly enjoyed reflecting and meditating upon Psalm 73 of the Holy Scriptures. This particular chapter of the Psalms was written by King David’s chief temple singer, Asaph the Levite. All throughout the chapter, Asaph painfully grappled with the problem of evil, injustice and oppression that are present in the world. Psalm 73 contained Asaph’s “theodicy”—his endeavor to reconcile his firm belief in an All-Merciful God with the evils and injustice he saw around him. Read Psalm 73 and you will feel the sincerity of Asaph in his struggle to understand the suffering of the innocent and the apparently fortunate circumstances of evildoers. In his effort to resolve the seeming injustice with the way how God deals with humankind, Asaph’s faith was terribly shaken; but all throughout Psalm 73, he endeavored to encourage his sagging faith by acknowledging God’s goodness despite overwhelming circumstances proving the contrary.

Asaph began his reflection by declaring: “You, oh Lord, are Ever-Good… (verse 1)”. However, he cannot understand why evil people who are oppressors of the poor are better off in life (in his own estimation) compared to the lives of the righteous people.

Asaph observed: “… these unrighteous ones are always at ease, and they increase in wealth, power and fame (verse 12)”. We can sympathize and commiserate with Asaph’s feelings of despondency and frustration over this “apparent injustice of God”. For instance look at these cruel politicians, corrupt officials, trapos and oppressive political warlords of our country—they are living in ease, comfort and prosperity at the expense of the poor and oppressed masses. Apparently, everything is going well with the oppressors’ lives while the poor and the oppressed go about their lives in abject poverty, sufferings, and miseries!

Asaph sincerely believed in the eternal goodness of the Lord; and this “faith-commitment” became the starting point of his search for answers as to why evil triumphs while the good succumbs to the oppressions of the unjust. Then, it came to a point wherein Asaph began to doubt God’s goodness including His very existence. He became adversely affected by his doubts; and his inward pain in not being able to answer his question of God’s justice weighed so strongly and heavily upon his soul so much so that he finally complained to God all the injustices he felt around him (See verses 13-16). Asaph was honest before God—he never denied his doubts, his fears and angst before God; but he faced these headlong, and honestly told God about how he repulsively felt about the “injustices committed against the weak on the face of the earth (verse 14)”.

God respected Asaph’s ranting against Him and patiently listened to his complaints, ravings, and accusations. In fact God was silent—he patiently heard out Asaph’s rants and complaints against Him. God never defended Himself by intimidating Asaph with fearful thunders of Sinai, nor did God zap Asaph with bolts of lightning. God allowed Asaph to challenge His divine sovereignty and better judgment. This shows to us the wideness and sympathetic depth of God’s tolerance with, forbearance for, and patience to us, doubting humans. God allows us to rant, rave, shout and complain before His Face. Psalm 73 tells us that it is fine and alright with God that at some critical junctures of our lives, we question His existence or His goodness for as long as we are sincere about our feelings with Him, and for as long as we are truly honest about our doubts to the extent of acknowledging these adverse feelings of skepticism before Him. I am very happy to note that Psalm 73 shows us that God respects, tolerates and even honors our being honest as to how we feel about Him—be it good or bad.

When Asaph heard no audible reply from God, and when his doubts having reached their highest zenith, he finally decided to sit still before God inside the temple of the Lord. There, at the sanctuary, while being silent before God, Asaph was ultimately enlightened. He exclaimed: “When, I went into the sanctuary of the Lord; there I understood the end of the wicked (verse 17)”. In the inner sanctum of the Lord’s temple, Asaph saw the final end of all the wicked and the grim future that awaits all the unjust oppressors of the poor and the weak. He continued relating his vision: “Surely, the future of the unrighteous is slippery and their future is pathetic destruction. Oh, Lord, You will avenge the oppressed and the unjust will be brought to utter desolation! The unjust, You will consume with the terrors of Your justice (verses 18, 19)”. God’s revelation of the final and eternal judgment of all wicked and oppressors came to Asaph when he finally sat still in the midst of the sanctuary. It was in the Lord’s sanctuary where Asaph glimpsed of the grim and gloomy future that awaits the unjust! When Asaph saw the whole picture of what God will be doing with all doers of evil, when he began to understand the present situation in the light of God’s eternal point-of-view, he began to praise the Lord for His divine justice and His absolute goodness. He declared: “It is good for me to draw near to the Lord, for I have put my trust in the goodness of the Lord God, so I may declare His righteous work (verse 26)”.

The precise moment when Asaph was in doubt, he “drew near to God (verse 28)” and “went into the sanctuary of the Lord (verse 17)”; “to seek out the guidance and counsel of the Lord (verse 24)”. It was there in the sanctuary where God upheld Asaph’s tottering faith by showing him the future impartial judgment of the wicked and the evil-doers. It was in the Lord’s sanctuary where Asaph realized that God’s goodness will eventually triumph over all malevolence and injustices in the universe. What does the entire Psalm 73 tell us? It is this: we need to confess our failure of not seeing our earthly situation in the light of God’s eternal perspective. We are so unlike Asaph; for oftentimes, when we begin to doubt God, we then stop taking our doubts to Him in an honest prayer, we stop baring our souls before Him! The moment we begin doubting God’s goodness, we likewise cease to enter into the sanctuary of our hearts to honestly inquire of our doubts and our misgivings to the Lord.

May the Lord have mercy upon us: that by God’s grace, we will be genuinely honest and authentic before the Lord, and dare to open up our hearts and our troubled souls before Him in the inner sanctuary of our very being. The moment we enter into the depths of God’s temple hidden deep within the inner recesses of our being, we will be enabled by His grace to hear Him speak words to comfort and assure us of His all-abiding Mercy and Goodness. By taking our complaints to God within the inner sanctum of our spirit, we will be able to hear His voice and thereby assuage our deepest doubts, troubles, and fears. Like Asaph, we will then be able to cry out in praise to the Lord: “Oh Lord, You have guided me with your intimate counsel and You will lead me to Your righteous ways and thereafter receive me to Your abode of glory (verse 24)”. Amen, a thousand times Amen!