So God has disappeared on you, you say. He’s playing hide and seek with you. You can’t find him anywhere. What do you do?

A writer named Asaph experienced that, and he wrote about it for us in Psalm 73. How did he get through that ‘dark night of the soul’? The first thing he did was pour out his heart with honesty to God. If God dries our tears, then that means it’s okay to weep before him.

The second thing he did was stay close to God’s people. In fact, the breakthrough he was looking for came while he was in church. When God seems to disappear on you, running from God – i.e. ‘sticking it to him’ – is the worst thing you can do.

Asaph did a third thing that helped. He looked back at all the times in the past when God had been faithful to him. This encouraged him to believe that God would do so again.

There’s a fourth and final thing Asaph did while in his spiritual funk that brought him through it:

He recounts the blessings of being a believer.

The final section of the psalm are among the most beautiful in all of Scripture, as Asaph writes out some of the benefits and blessings he enjoys as a worshipper of God.

  • Nevertheless I am continually with you, he writes. So God never really abandons us. We have his presence.
  • You hold my right hand. God actively supports us when we struggle, though we may not feel it right at the moment. We have his power.
  • You guide me with your counsel. Through his Spirit, his Word and his people, the Lord will give us wisdom to get us through that season. We have his guidance.
  • And afterward you will receive me to glory. The hope of eternity with him is no idle fancy. In fact, it is the strongest hope a believer can have when the goodness of this life wears thin or wears out. We have God’s salvation.
  • Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish. The world is too broken and I am too sinful for this life to satisfy my every longing. Without God in my life, I am truly lost, even if I possess all the world’s riches and comforts.
  • You put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. God will put an end to evil upon the earth. Not every wrong will necessarily be put right in this life, but when all is said and done, the Lord – his truth, his values, his ways, his kingdom – will be fully vindicated.

But for me it is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works. By recounting all the blessings of faith that are his, Asaph ends the psalm in a far better place than he began it.

Why don’t you take ten minutes today and do what Asaph did. Make a list of the good things you enjoy because you are a follower of Christ.

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,” Scripture tells us Psalm 103:2. Better have a big sheet of paper handy. That list of benefits might get rather long.

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