Earlier this year, as part of the ongoing contemptible reality programing, a public misadventure claimed the headlines for more time than it was worth. Who wants to marry a millionaire? was the tawdry presumption. In the same vein, did you know, there was a special school somewhere on the eastern left coast that for a suitable fee would prepare young debutantes for finding, meeting and landing a wealthy husband. One of my students once wanted the address for that particular school. She was disappointed that I had only read of the facility and did not have an address.

I also remember a young man who won a law suit after loosing an arm in an agricultural accident. Suddenly, he had a very large sum of money in the six figure range. Instead of saving and investing the money he attracted a young gold digger, to whom he immediately gave a fancy sports car and entertained her wildly until the fortune was gone and she with it! Later on, he attempted to sue another person for trumped up charges, trying desperately to find another ship to come into his harbor! He was fortunate to escape that case without being criminally charged for extortion.

One last example on this theme, I had heard of a down and out couple who suddenly had a large sum of money which they spent quickly and ended up further in debt than before their ship came in and sank at the dock! Finally, a realistic look at the people who have "won" a lottery will find recorded more bankruptcies than millionaires.

I say all of this to highlight a theme in this seventy-third psalm written by Asaph. Calvin Beisner, comments on this topic in his commentary on The Psalms of Promise:

"Just as one who marries for money is contemptible, so also is one who serves God for money, or comfort, or safety, or health, or power. Whoever serves God only to gain a reward from Him actually holds the reward more precious than God. The sole reward we should seek in serving God is God Himself. And whoever seeks and serves God only for Himself, and not for any other reward, will always be content in Him, for God has promised to reveal Himself to those who seek Him with their whole hearts."

In our study of this psalm, we will divide the text into three portions. Looking at the worldly concerns, the world's end and growing closer to God in that sequence. Our survey today covers the first twelve verses.

Asaph begins with a confession. "Truly God is good to Israel", he begins wisely, then he cuts to the chase and admits that he "was envious of the boastful, when" he "saw the prosperity of the wicked." And what is the most popular show on television this summer? Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, of course, we should not be surprised. Earlier this spring, one of my students asked me why I didn't get on that show. I told her that according to my calculations, my wife and I had just made our first million the hard way, by modest wages and hard labor over the last thirty-seven years. Now the fact that I knew what week in May that was accomplished tells you how I am related to Asaph, as are we all!

Look carefully at the sin of Asaph, and remember that the while worldly wallow and revel in their apparent prosperity, so do the remainder of the population covet the same experience. Little is the world instructed on the aspects of this forbidden sin any more! I can almost hear my worldly charges hoot, if I even tried to explain the tenth commandment in the last year of this second millennium after Christ. Asaph, as we read through these verses almost sounds like he is following the "five hundred" channels of the modern American entertainment media. Derek Kidner describes the scene well: "The whole passage is a masterly picture of these darlings of fortune; overblown, overweening; laughable if they were not so ruthless; their vanity egging them on to hector the very universe"

Let us explore the worldly experience described here verse by verse. Verse four is difficult to translate. Generally translators imply that the worldly generally have no pains because their bodies are healthy. However, the subtleties of the Hebrew text indicates, like the NKJV, that the death of the worldly is not tied to the common ails that plague the less fortunate. Prosperity of a minimal sort does indeed protect people from certain diseases and conditions that poverty all to often engages.

One of the reasons for the heavy casualties to sickness and disease in the American Civil War was the removal of large numbers of men from shelter, solid food and common sense family medicine. Filth and exposure to the elements have always lowered mankind's general health. The worldly wealthy at the very least are not homeless, but well-fed and protective in their communal relationships.

The trouble in verse five is that of the common crowd who have not gated communities nor protective security officials. The city ghettos in our time are still dangerous places to live and move around in. And the death rate per thousand is much higher in these poor areas than in the any suburbs. I have said it often and I will say it again, the greatest gain in public health was when wooden floors were introduced and the once common dirt floors were left behind. The poor did not have cleanable places to live as have the well to do.

But there is more to the differences than public health and well being. Verse six tells us that the worldly of Asaph's time suffer from the sin of pride. "The garb of violence (injustice or cruelty) covers them" as the classic commentary of J.A. Alexander describes the scene. There is economic exploitation hinted at in the phrases here. That is still the common problem in the Muslim countries of the Middle East. Those in power want to maintain their edge by keeping the impoverished in the proper place. The once "Christian" Lebanon was an embarrassment to the power brokers and over the years it had to be eliminated as a possible model to those whom the Palestinians would keep imprisoned in their refugee camps. The ongoing tirade against Israel is not only a political onus, but also economically directed to lessen the competitive materialism associated with the western world.

Verses seven and eight reinforce the theme of the last verse to maintain the worldly well off in their position of superiority of wealth and power. They will share neither with the down trodden, the poor and the distressed. Interestingly enough, one of the major problems facing the democrats in this year's election is that the general prosperity has lifted almost every ship, boat, dingy and inner tube to a higher economic level. There are no longer enough down and outs who vote, to enshrine the ethics of covetedness as a means to political power. You have to go well beyond our borders to use class economic boundaries as political fuel.

Verse nine however, does point to a universal problem. The worldly still "set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongues walks through the earth." Their interests, their passions, their world view remain earthy and they lack a heavenly vision of how things ought to be and what the God of heaven demands from men. Thus, Asaph returns to the most important question of theology, which is still king of the sciences, even though the world would have it remain dethroned until the end of time.

The worldly do not even have a cup of cold water to share, they would drink it all in if they could. "How does God know?", they ask. And yet, the people of God, who are hinted at in verse ten, must deal with the problem that caused Asaph to sin. It is not the riches and power that sets the worldly apart, but the hardness of their hearts. "Behold, these are the ungodly, who are always at ease; they increase in riches."

The focus of that comment is on verse eleven where we see the popular doubters installed like the proverbial dog in the oxen's hay trough, barking to keep the draft animal from getting his supper. Oh, there is a great wickedness at loose in the land, and the worldly power brokers more than anything else will drive any public knowledge of our High and Holy God as far from common knowledge as it is possible. And the tensions in our culture between those atheistic power brokers and the general evangelical community is the greatest source for conflict that we are likely to see in the near future here in America.

Like Asaph, we really truly covet the power and authority that is being misused in our land today. So, let us meditate upon our own sinful condition as we review the contrite heart of this ancient and honorable psalmist. As we have seen, Asaph began by affirming the true goodness of God to His own covenant people. Their name here is Israel but the second phrase qualifies and limits the grace to those who would be pure in heart. As the psalmist notes, that limitation to those who have a clean heart he is moved to confess his own battle with sin. There in the first words of verse two we may find ourselves as well: "But as for me ..."

He has admitted that the Lord is good to His saints, but momentarily he wonders "Am I one of them?" He has seen the depth of his own depravity and is frightened just as we all should be on occasion! Can we hope to share in God's grace? Yes, we can if we will but learn from Asaph. You see there the "almost and nearly" of verse two, Asaph thus noted his own fearful situation. What was it that tormented Asaph so? We continue to see that Asaph had violated in Spirit the tenth commandment against covetousness! Many people today would laugh at such a peculiar concern. After all we have almost forgotten this particular commandment. In fact we are regularly encouraged to wild binges of covetousness by the advertising media in our land today.

Do we feel the anguish of Asaph as we really ought to feel it? Haven't we wanted and desired the worldly goods hawked at every single opportunity? There we are most certainly in verse three. "For I was envious of the boastful," or as an older translation has it "For I was envious of the foolish". And who are the arrogantly foolish? I wonder what Asaph would have to say if he had a turn at hosting that once popular television show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous?

Isn't it a pitiful situation when a son of heaven should have to admit that he was envious of the prosperity of the wicked? Indeed it is sin, and like Asaph we too must repent of our own coveting as well. Just look at the long list Asaph has collected. he has meditated long on his envy. He notes that they do not have the same struggles of the less prosperous! They rise above the common problems of working men and women. They pride themselves in jewelry and are complacent with evil, violence and oppression. They even think to have a first claim on heaven and by that claim they lord it over the powerless peoples of the earth. They are even feted and sought by the weak and powerless who desire their protection and security.

Let us recant any politics of envy and examine our hearts to see if Asaph is truly in tune with our own spirit. And may we understand that the goodness of God is indeed different from the good things of this life and time. Amen.