From Beast to Beloved: The Great Reversal Text: Psalm 73:21-26
Introduction: The Acid of Envy
There are certain sins that are respectable, or at least sins that can be dressed up in respectable clothes. Pride can masquerade as dignity. Greed can call itself ambition. But envy is a gutter sin. It is the rot of the bones, as Proverbs tells us. To admit to envy is to admit that you are small-souled, petty, and consumed with a bitter resentment that someone else has what you believe you deserve. It is the sin of Cain, who murdered his brother not because Abel had done him wrong, but because Abel had done right and was blessed for it.
This entire psalm is a masterful dissection of this soul-killing sin. Asaph, the psalmist, begins by stating the bedrock truth: "Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart." But then he immediately confesses that his feet almost slipped. Why? Because his heart was not pure. It was polluted with a toxic slick of envy. He saw the wicked prospering. He saw their bodies well-fed, their lives free from trouble, their pride worn like a gaudy necklace. They blasphemed God and got away with it, or so it seemed. And Asaph, looking at his own life of painstaking obedience, began to think it was all for nothing. "All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence."
This is the logic of the flesh. It is transactional scorekeeping with God. It is the older brother in the parable of the prodigal son, standing outside the feast with his arms crossed, stewing in his own self-righteousness. This kind of thinking, this bitter accounting, is a spiritual acid. It eats away at the foundations of your faith until the whole structure is ready to collapse. Asaph was right on the edge of that collapse. He was about to curse God and walk away. What saved him? He "went into the sanctuary of God." There, in the place of worship and divine perspective, he understood their end. He saw that the wicked were standing on a slippery slope, set for ruin. Their prosperity was a greasy slide into destruction.
And it is at this point, having seen the truth in the sanctuary, that Asaph turns the diagnostic lens on himself. And he is appalled at what he sees. Our text for today is his confession. It is the moment a man stops looking at the prosperity of the wicked and starts looking at the wickedness of his own heart. And what he finds there is not a pretty sight. But in this raw, honest confession, he finds not despair, but the very gateway to the deepest comfort a man can know.
The Text
When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within,
Then I was senseless and ignorant;
I was like an animal before You.
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.
With Your counsel You will lead me,
And afterward take me in glory.
Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
My flesh and my heart fail,
But God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:21-26 LSB)
The Brutish Confession (v. 21-22)
The psalmist begins with a raw description of his internal state.
"When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within, then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like an animal before You." (Psalm 73:21-22)
The word for "embittered" here is the same root used for leavened bread. His heart had become sour, puffed up with the yeast of resentment. He was "pierced within," or literally, "pierced in my kidneys." In Hebrew thought, the kidneys were the seat of the deepest emotions, the conscience. This was not a surface-level irritation; this was a deep, internal wound, a spiritual agony. And what was the result of this envy?
He says he was "senseless and ignorant." He lost his mind. Envy makes you stupid. It robs you of all spiritual perspective. You see a man on the gallows, and because the gallows is high and you are low, you envy his view. You see a fatted turkey in early November and congratulate him on his fine physique. This is the insanity of a worldview that is limited to what the eye can see. When you refuse to factor in eternity, your conclusions about this life will be, of necessity, idiotic.
And then comes the climax of his self-assessment: "I was like an animal before You." The Hebrew word is behemoth, a beast. This is a crucial confession. What is the primary difference between a man and a beast? A man is made in the image of God, designed for fellowship with God, capable of understanding spiritual realities. A beast lives entirely on the plane of instinct and appetite. It sees food, it eats. It sees danger, it flees. It operates entirely within the closed system of this material world. Asaph is confessing that his envy had de-humanized him. He had reduced himself to the level of a cow in a field, looking at the other side of the fence where the grass seemed greener, capable only of chewing his cud of bitterness. He was living by sight, not by faith, and so he had become no different than an ox, which has no thought for the slaughterhouse to which its fattened life is leading.
The Divine Contradiction (v. 23)
After this devastating self-appraisal, we get one of the most glorious and abrupt turns in all of Scripture. It is a gospel pivot, a "but God" moment, wrapped up in one beautiful word: "Nevertheless."
"Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand." (Psalm 73:23 LSB)
This is the logic of grace, not the logic of the beast. The beast's logic would say, "I was an ignorant animal, THEREFORE you cast me away." But the gospel's logic says, "I was an ignorant animal, NEVERTHELESS you held me fast." Asaph's grip on God was slipping, his feet were almost gone. But God's grip on Asaph was not slipping at all. "I am continually with you." This is the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, stated from God's side of the equation. Our continuance with God is not based on our white-knuckled grip on Him, but on His sovereign, unbreakable grip on us.
"You have taken hold of my right hand." The right hand is the hand of strength, of action, of covenant. For God to hold your right hand is a profound statement of His electing love and preserving power. It means He is leading you. It means He is strengthening you. It means that even when you are acting like a senseless beast, stumbling toward the cliff of apostasy, He has you firmly in His grasp and will not let you go. Your salvation is not contingent on your spiritual intelligence, but on His covenant faithfulness. He is the one who keeps you, even from yourself.
The Gracious Guidance (v. 24)
This divine grip is not static. It is directional. God holds on to us in order to lead us somewhere.
"With Your counsel You will lead me, and afterward take me in glory." (Genesis 73:24 LSB)
How does God lead the man who was just recently senseless and ignorant? "With Your counsel." This is the Word of God. The Scriptures are God's counsel to His people. When Asaph went into the sanctuary, he was putting himself under the authority of God's perspective, God's revelation. God guides us through His revealed will. He doesn't give us secret whispers or mysterious road signs. He gives us a book. He gives us preaching. He gives us the corporate wisdom of the saints gathered for worship. The antidote to brutish ignorance is not a mystical experience; it is faithful submission to the counsel of God's Word.
And where does this counsel lead? It leads to a glorious destination. "And afterward take me in glory." The path of obedience, the path of being led by God's Word, does not terminate in this life. It has a destination beyond the grave. The word "take" here is the same word used of Enoch, whom God "took" (Gen. 5:24). It speaks of a divine reception, an assumption into God's glorious presence. This is the ultimate answer to Asaph's envy. The wicked have their portion now. Their glory is fleeting, their end is destruction. But the righteous man, led by God's counsel through this life, will afterward be received into an eternal, unshakable, unimaginable glory. Why would you envy the man in the penthouse of a burning building when you have been given the keys to a mansion in the New Jerusalem?
The Supreme Treasure (v. 25-26)
This new, sanctuary-born perspective culminates in one of the greatest declarations of faith in the entire Psalter.
"Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth." (Psalm 73:25 LSB)
This is the great reversal. The psalm began with Asaph desiring everything the wicked had on earth. Now, having seen the end of the wicked and the steadfast love of God, his desires have been completely reoriented. He looks up to heaven and sees that God is the supreme treasure. Nothing and no one else compares. He looks around on earth, at all the trinkets and baubles that the wicked chase after, the very things that had so recently enticed him, and he declares them to be worthless. "I desire nothing on earth besides You."
This is not poetic hyperbole. This is the confession of a man whose heart has been truly converted. It is the logic of the pearl of great price. When you find the ultimate treasure, you gladly sell all the lesser treasures. The power of envy is broken when you realize that in God you possess a treasure so infinite, so satisfying, that the wealth of the wicked looks like a pile of garbage by comparison. The only cure for desiring what they have is to desire God more.
The psalm concludes with a final, realistic, and triumphant confession.
"My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever." (Psalm 73:26 LSB)
Asaph is under no illusions about his own strength. He knows his own frailty. "My flesh and my heart fail." This is true physically; our bodies are decaying. It is also true spiritually; our hearts are prone to wander, our resolutions are weak, our faith can falter. We will fail. But his confidence is not in his own heart, but in the God who is the rock of his heart. When his heart feels like shifting sand, God is the unmovable bedrock beneath it. God is his stability. God is his strength.
And finally, "my portion forever." In the Old Testament, the Levites, the priestly tribe to which Asaph belonged, received no territorial inheritance in the promised land. Why? Because the Lord was to be their portion (Num. 18:20). Their inheritance was not a plot of dirt, but God Himself. Asaph is here claiming his priestly inheritance. The wicked have their portion in this life. They get the cash, the real estate, the fleeting pleasures. But the believer gets God. And because we get God, we get everything. He is our inheritance, our possession, our treasure, our satisfaction, not for a fleeting moment, but forever. This is the only durable answer to the problem of envy.
Conclusion: The Grip of Grace
This psalm is our story. Every one of us has a little Asaph in our hearts. We look out at the world, we see the ungodly prospering in their rebellion, and the green-eyed monster of envy begins to stir. Our feet begin to slip. We start to think that holiness doesn't pay.
When this happens, we must follow Asaph's example and run to the sanctuary. We must get into the presence of God, under the preaching of the Word, and regain an eternal perspective. We must look away from the slippery places where the wicked stand and look to the cross where our Lord stood firm for us.
There at the cross, we see the ultimate refutation of envy's logic. There, the only truly innocent man who ever lived suffered the greatest injustice. He kept His heart pure, and for it, He was pierced, not just in His kidneys, but in His hands and feet and side. He was surrounded by the prosperous wicked, who mocked Him and jeered. And in that moment, His flesh and His heart did fail. He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
And yet, God had hold of His right hand. He was led by the counsel of His Father's will. And afterward, God took Him in glory, raising Him from the dead and seating Him at His own right hand. Jesus endured the cross because He knew that God was His portion, and He despised the shame for the joy that was set before Him.
Because of what He did, the "nevertheless" of God's grace is extended to us. Though we are brutish and ignorant, He is continually with us. Though our hearts fail, He is the rock of our hearts. He has taken hold of our right hand in the grip of His grace, and He will not let go. He will guide us with His counsel through this life, and He will afterward receive us into glory. Therefore, let us say with Asaph, and mean it from the bottom of our reoriented hearts: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you."