My relationship with God sometimes wears similar labels that I use to describe relationships with parents, friends, or coworkers. Labels like “distant”, “frustrating”, “dry”, or “patient” describe my limited perspective with God over the last couple of years. Candidly, I lost the zeal or fire in my belly each day to know God more and tell others about the love of God. In attempts for the Holy Spirit to pull me out of a dry season, I continue to memorize God’s word. I believe the Holy Spirit is powerful to transform hearts, like my distracted heart, with the discipline of learning God’s word.

In June of 2024, I leaned on a friend for advice, some direction, on a passage of God’s word to memorize. My friend shared Psalm 73 as a passage she holds fast to in her life doing the best to be obedient to God with a willing heart. A year later, guess what happened? The suggestion of a friend spurred me on to persevere in my faith like the author of Hebrews talks about. God continues to show me new things in Psalm 73 all these months later. I continue to revisit the words for many reasons. Let’s talk about a few of them.

Initially, the psalm opens with how God is good to Israel, to the collective people. He speaks in the most general sense like he is looking out to a sea of people. But then, we move into verse 2 and the sea of people turns into one face, Asaph, the psalmist. (For more on Asaph check out 2 Chronicles 29:30). Asaph’s vulnerability gets me every time I read Psalm 73. He exposes the inner depths of his heart to confess; I was so close to giving up on God because it no longer felt worth it. And where Asaph lands by the end of the psalm can be summed up by Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:4-7 which says, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

Before we jump to the end, take a minute to read Psalm 73:3-12. There is a false perception that things in this world can fully satisfy our hearts. This entices us to leave God and revolve everything around our selfish desires. We deserve to feel good. We should get everything we want. And pretty soon, we start to act like the defiant people Asaph describes in verse 11 that live in sinfulness as a direct punch in the face of God. The sad part is they convince themselves that they will escape punishment, but what happens to them is depicted in verses 18-20. The judgement of God on their defiance is just because they do not repent. God is good and faithful to repentant hearts. People who turn from their pride and sinfulness receive the strength of God as their refuge. This is the place Asaph finds himself in the closing verses of the psalm. He goes into the temple to be near God. He asks for discernment. And guess what happens? God answers. I love how God is really kind to remind us of the darkness we lived in before God, how God pulled us out of the darkness, and the faithfulness of God to live out his character even when we are not always faithful to God. We are going to fall short like it says in 73:26, but the good news is God will always be there.

Even though Asaph holds onto bitterness against God for a little while, the second part of his confession in verse 23 is, “nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.” Do you see what happens? God does not leave when our faith runs dry during times of doubt or frustration. He is right there with Asaph. And God is right there with you and with me too.

What is good for me? I can confidently say it is to be near God. Chasing the lesser things of this world leaves me exhausted and longing for more. God keeps me near him and that is exactly the best place for me. After spending time in Psalm 73, ask yourself the question: how would I label my relationship with God today? Maybe it’s thriving, which I would say keep going and share the encouragement with others around you. Maybe you are in a dry season of going through the motions, but your heart is focused elsewhere. I hope the words of Asaph draw you toward God because you will find God is right there to be your refuge. And my prayer is, like me, you too will be pleasantly surprised how quickly the fire in your belly returns to love God more than the lesser things in this world. It’s really good to be near God. Find refuge in Him today.

Additional reading: 2 Chronicles 29:30; Ecclesiastes 5:1-2; Matthew 6:33