WHERE YOU STAND DETERMINES WHAT YOU SEE!

Psalm 73:1-28

Intro:
 One day, six blind men decided to go to the zoo.
 They hired a guide to tell them about all the exotic animals they couldn't see.
 When they came to the elephants, the zoo keeper wanted them to have more than a verbal description, so he
allowed them each to feel the elephant.
 Since the elephant was large, and since the zoo keeper had limited time, he let each man touch one part of the
giant mammal.
 The first blind man reached out and his hand grabbed the elephant's tail. "Aha," he exclaimed, "the elephant is
LIKE A BIG ROPE."
 The next man felt a massive elephant leg. He looked strange, no rope was that big. "No, the elephant is like a
LARGE LOG OR TREE." He was sure of this.
 The third blind man walked forward and ran straight into the elephant's side, whereupon he pronounced that,
"The ELEPHANT IS REALLY A BIG WALL."
 Next, another of the blind men reached out and took hold of one of the elephant's ears.
 It must have tickled, because the elephant wiggled the large ear, causing the fourth man to exclaim, "Oh, see
this, the ELEPHANT IS LIKE A BIG FAN."
 The fifth blind man decided that the first four were all slightly stupid and they couldn't be describing the same
creature, so he carefully walked up and put out his hand, the elephant raised his trunk to the man who felt it
and grinned in wonder. "My friends, it is obvious the ELEPHANT IS LIKE A HUGE SNAKE."
 The final man was totally confused, he walked forward and reached out, hoping to find the truth, and
encountered a tusk. He paused and brightened, "I understand, the true nature of the elephant is this, he is a
SWORD."
 The zoo keeper and guide smiled at one another, knowing that none had seen the big elephant’s picture.

 This was the problem which confronted the writer of this Psalm.
o Psalms of Asaph are the twelve psalms numbered as 50 and 73–83
o Psalms 78 - It is the second-longest Psalm, second only to Psalm 119 in length.
o wrote more of the Bible than the Peter, James, Jude,minor prophets…
o Asaph was David's music director
 Asaph was a young priest from the tribe of Levi when David brought the Ark of the Covenant up
to Jerusalem.
 His father, Berekiah was appointed Doorkeeper of the Ark, and Asaph was so talented that
David put him in charge of the music before the Ark of the Covenant.
 He was assisted there by his brother Zechariah.
 Asaph was in charge of the music in Jerusalem where the Ark and the King were.
 Asaph served in Jerusalem for all of David's reign and no doubt set to music, many of the Psalms
that God gave David.
 He was in Jerusalem when God gave David the great promise that David would have a son who
would be the Messiah, and reign forever.
 He had to have been very close to David.
 He also heard David tell the people and elders of Israel that his son Solomon was the answer to
God's promise of a son who would build God's temple and establish a kingdom that would last
forever.
 He saw the death of David, the accession of Solomon, and the building of the Temple.
 He thought he was standing on the verge of Israel's Millenium.
 He was on the mountaintop!
 After Solomon's dedication of the Temple, Asaph saw Israel's "golden age" turn into something
quite apart from what he expected.
  After a promising beginning, Solomon turned his back on God and pursued power, wealth,
luxury, and human wisdom,[3] as well as worship of other gods.
 To finance these pursuits the people were oppressed with slavery and taxes.
 Asaph saw Solomon become a wicked man who entrusted the administration of his Kingdom to
other wicked men.
 During Solomon's reign, Asaph's brother Zechariah was assassinated in the Temple by Solomon's
agents.

 He was looking at his situation from the wrong vantage point.

 How often are we guilty of the same thing?
 There are times when terrible things come our way during the course of our lives.
o When this happens, we tend to only look at what we can see.
o However, there is far more to the picture than what these mortal eyes can behold.
o TIP OF THE ICEBERG
o What you see is what you get or what you see is what you are, as far as eternity is concerned
 This Psalm teaches us how to get our eyes off of our circumstances and place them squarely upon the Lord.
 Our friend Asaph was ready to quit.
 He was ready to throw in the towel and just walk away from God.
 However, he learned to look at things, not from a faulty human perspective, but from the perspective of God.
o Our challenge is to “finally see as God sees”
o We are seeing things as we believe they are—not so much as things really are, but rather as you are.
o Asaph used another spiritual eyeglasses to be able to see clearly.
 Illustrate different grades of eyeglasses(wrong prescription,own prescription)

 You see, like those 6 blind men, where a person stands determines what that person sees.
 That is the thought I would like to develop this morning.
 Let's spend some time together in this Psalm as we consider the thought “WHERE YOU STAND DETERMINES
WHAT YOU SEE.”

I. V. 1 - HOW ASAPH HAS BEEN EDUCATED

Truly God is good to Israel, To such as are pure in heart.(KJV)
Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure. (NLT)
 In this first verse, we see Asaph standing on Solid Ground.
 He has been taught about the goodness of God.
 He has been taught that the Lord is nothing but good.
 This is true! Jesus, Himself, testified to the goodness of God, Matt. 19:17, "...“Why do you ask me about what is
good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, KEEP THE COMMANDMENTS.”
 Asaph has been taught two great truths...

A. God Blesses His People - This is a true statement - "For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and
glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly." Psalms 84:11

B. God Blesses The Pure - This is another true statement - Matt. 5: 8

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.

II. V. 2-16 WHAT ASAPH HAS EXPERIENCED

 Asaph had learned the truth about God, but what he experienced in life seemed to contradict what he had
learned.
 This brought him to a place of confusion and doubt concerning God.
 In this section of this Psalm, we see Asaph standing on Slippery Ground, v. 2.
o But as for me, I almost lost my footing. My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.
 The problem for Asaph is the same problem we all face from time to time.
 We misinterpret the goodness of God!
 We often think that goodness translates into blessings.
 Why not ask JOB ABOUT THE LOGIC OF THIS?
 Do you think, even for a minute, what Job endured was a fun thing?
 Well, it wasn't!
 However, in the end, he had been brought closer to the Lord and he was blessed by God for his faithfulness!

 For too many years, a kind of "health and wealth Gospel" has been preached in our churches.
 People have been lead to believe that if they live the right kind of lives and do the right things, then the Lord is
obligated to bless them and give them good things.
 That kind of teaching is a lie!
 Often, the Lord will allow things in our lives that are hard to bear.
 He will place loads on our shoulders that will literally knock us down!
 This isn't a pleasant thing, but it is a necessary thing!
 What we forget is that the Lord is molding us into His image.
 And, for a lump of clay as badly disfigured as I am, that takes a lot of squeezing.
 Asaph had learned the truth about God.
 But, what he had learned about God did not go along with what he had experienced in the world.
 As a result, he was confused by several things. Notice what Asaph was confused about:

A. V. 3 - By The Prosperity Of The Sinner

 It bothered Asaph that the wicked prospered while the children of God did without.
For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
B. V. 4 - By The Peace Of The Sinner
 He watched the wicked live their lives in sin and slip off into eternity with no problems at all. He was amazed
at the peace they had in death.
They seem to live such painless lives; their bodies are so healthy and strong.
C. V. 5 - By The Pleasure Of The Sinner
 He was astounded that the wicked could live lives of such sin and do so without trouble. Their good times
just seemed to roll on and on!
They don’t have troubles like other people; they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.
D. V. 6-11 - By The Pride Of The Sinner
 Because they live the lives they do, and there is never any opposition from God, they are filled with pride
before Him.
 They say, "God doesn't know!
 Even if He does. He is weak and unable to do anything about it at all"
They wear pride like a jeweled necklace and clothe themselves with cruelty. These fat cats have everything their hearts
could ever wish for! They scoff and speak only evil; in their pride they seek to crush others.
They boast against the very heavens, and their words strut throughout the earth. And so the people are dismayed and
confused, drinking in all their words. “What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s
happening?”
E. V. 12-16 - By The Progress Of The Sinner
 When Asaph took all this in, it caused him to become bitter in his heart.
o Look at these wicked people enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.
1. He looked at the life he had been living for the Lord, v. 13.
o Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
2. He looked at his own share of sorrow, v. 14.
o I get nothing but trouble all day long every morning brings me pain.
3. He looked at a life lived for the Lord and it broke his heart, v. 16.
o So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!
 4. Yet, he was afraid to admit how he felt, because he did not want to lead others down the same path of
despair he was walking on, v. 15
o If I had really spoken this way to others, I would have been a traitor to your people.

 When Asaph saw these things, he felt like quitting on God.

 He felt as though he had actually wasted his time in serving the Lord.
 HOW MANY HAVE TRULY FELT THAT WAY?
 When the trials of life begin to pile up on us, we are tempted to think that we would have been better off
living like the rest of the world.
 That there is no benefit in serving the Lord.
 The problem with this line of thinking is THAT LIFE IS VIEWED FROM A HUMAN PERSPECTIVE.
 When we look at life and its problems from a human perspective, we will always focus our ATTENTION ON
SELF.
 Everything will always come down to, "How does this affect me?" "What problems will I face now?" "When
will I ever have relief?" "Who cares about what I am facing?"
 Natural thinking always results in disaster because it allows you to stand in the wrong place and see things
from the wrong angle.
 If you allow yourself to fall into the trap of looking at life from a human perspective ,like Asaph, you will find
yourself in a place where you will begin to doubt what you know to be true about the Lord.
 Friends, that is a dangerous place to be!

III. V. 17-28 - WHAT ASAPH ENCOUNTERED

 Beginning in verse 17, the mood of the Psalm changes.
 Asaph moves from the Slippery Ground of a Human Perspective and steps squarely unto Stable Ground of a
Heavenly Perspective.
 It seems that Asaph made a trip to the Temple.
 There, he talked with the Lord, and he allowed the Lord to talk with him.
 As he did, he was able to get his eyes off of himself and the problems he faced.
 He was able to lose his Human Perspective and replace it with a Heavenly Perspective.
 Notice what became clear to Asaph when he went to the Temple.

A. V. 17b-20 - The Future Of The Sinner

Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.
Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction.
In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors.
When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.
 Asaph came to realize that the wicked may have the best here.
 They may live it up and enjoy life to the fullest, but that ends when they die!
 All they have to look forward to is an eternity in Hell to be separated from the Lord forever

B. V. 21-22 - The Foolishness Of Self

Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed
like a senseless animal to you.
 Now, Asaph confesses the fact - that he has been looking at everything through a faulty set of lenses.
 He deals with the matter of his own heart.

 There are many of God's children who would have to admit that they have looked at life the wrong way.
 Instead of trusting the Lord and believing His Word, we have been guilty of looking at our circumstances and
doubting the Word of God!
We have been guilty of saying:
1. God doesn't care! - He says - 1 Peter 5:7
2. God doesn't hear! - He says - Jer. 33:3
3. God isn't even there! - He says - Heb. 13:5

 Instead of doubting the Lord, we all need to come to the place where we take God at His Word!
 It is foolish to forget God in the middle of our trouble! He is still God no matter what we face in life, Eph. 3:20!

C. V. 23-28 - The Fulness Of The Savior

 As Asaph communed with the Lord, he began to see everything more clearly.
 He not only looked into the future of the sinner and the foolishness of self, but he was able to SEE CLEARLY
the Fullness Of The Savior As Well.
 He came to realize that as a child of God, he possessed spiritual blessings that towered above anything
enjoyed by the wicked!
 Notice some of the things Asaph discovered.

1. V. 23 - The Presence Of God

Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand.
 Asaph realized that even in the midst of his trials, he had never been alone! Even when he could not see
God, the Lord had been holding to his hand. God had always been there.

2. V. 24 - The Protection Of God

You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny.
 Asaph recognizes that even though the storms of life may rage all around him, his life was under the control
and direction of God.
 He knew that God would guide him through this life and would eventually bring him home to heaven.

3. V. 25-26 - The Person Of God

You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
 Asaph comes to the conclusion that the Lord is all he needs in this life or in the life to come.
 He has forgotten about the pleasure filled lives of the wicked and names the greatest blessing that he
enjoys: a personal relationship with God Himself!
 Asaph had come to realize that his flesh was weak, but his Lord was strong!

4. V. 27-28 The Perception Of God

Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you.
But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the
wonderful things you do.

 Finally Asaph arrives at the place where he can see things from God's perspective.
 No longer does he look upon the wicked with envy.
 Now he knows that they are doomed.
 Now he knows that the saints have reason to shout even when things look their bleakest.
 Asaph has come to the place where he knows that Gods way is the only way.
 He now knows that it pays to be a child of God!

 We get to the place where we can trust the Lord by trusting the Lord.
 In other words, the more we allow ourselves to believe that God is Who He says He is and that He can do what
He says He will do, the easier it becomes to trust Him with all of life!
 It is the first step that is always the hardest!
Conc:
 Do we have any Asaph's present today? Sure we do!
 There are people in this room who feel like giving up from time to time because of the load you are carrying
through life.
 I would like to challenge you this morning to do what Asaph did.
 Go to God and commune with God about the situation.
 Ask Him to give you His eyes so that you can look at things His way.
 Ask Him to bring you to the place where you, like Asaph, can say, "I have put my trust in the Lord God."
 It all boils down to where you are standing!
 Don't be like the blind men who started our study.
 Don't be guilty of merely looking at what is right in front of you.
 Don't be guilty of just adopting the human perspective.
 Make the effort today to get the heavenly perspective on your problems, and come to see things the right way:
God's way!

 Some are lost here this morning. You can get that big problem solved right here right now, if you will come to
the Lord and allow Him to come into your life.

 This altar is open! God is here and He is meeting needs this morning.

 Will you allow Him to meet your? Remember, Where you stand determines what you see!