Bible Study That happens? O Lord change my heart, please

[Shekinahglory]

A psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.[a] 5 They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. 7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity[b]; their evil imaginations have no limits. 8 They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. 9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. 10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.[c] 11 They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?” 12 This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. 13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. 14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishment 15 If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Psalm 73

Many things intrigue about this Psalm but two especially hold my focus. The Psalmist gives God praise which is only right. Then he moves in verse speaking about how he nearly lost his foothold and slipped. What caused his slipping and being about to fall? The wicked. Its real easy to function in this mode the wicked or those who are called evildoers and other quaint descriptive terms are easy targets. Unbelievers are difficult to be around at times and there is the danger for believers. We try and understand the wicked and all we come up with is foot slipping stuff about why we should be hard towards the lost. But then the Psalmist had a second experience he entered into the Temple of God and he was shown the end of the wicked and it transformed his understanding and his compassion for the lost. And a whole new view of myself:
21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Ps. 73

What a horrible way to see our self in front of the Lord God as a brute beast. As Paul asked Who can save me from this body of death. Jesus the Christ of God can and does. Amen Lord, come please.

What does this Psalm say to your heart? There is more Psalm I left un-transferred if you wish to look at it.

 

[for_his_glory]

This is written by Asaph who wrote twelve of the Psalms. He was a priest who headed the service of music. In vs 3 he was envious of those who were foolish wicked men who had great prosperity. This is what almost caused him to slip away from God.

It's only when we envy others is when we can slip into the flesh lusting after what others have. It's like money as they say it's the root of all evil, but this is not true. It's the love of money that turns a man heart wicked as they lust after worldly possessions as they damn themselves.

Just like Asaph going into the Temple as God showed him their end, we need to recognize our end. Needs and wants are two separate things as we travel through this world as we need to know the importance of God in all things here on earth which is not our final destination.

 

[daninthelionsden]

A psalm of Asaph.
1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. 3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.[a] 5 They are free from common human burdens; they are not plagued by human 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. 7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity[b]; their evil imaginations have no limits. 8 They scoff, and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. 9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth. 10 Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.[c] 11 They say, “How would God know? Does the Most High know anything?” 12 This is what the wicked are like—always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. 13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and have washed my hands in innocence. 14 All day long I have been afflicted,
and every morning brings new punishment 15 If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. Psalm 73

Many things intrigue about this Psalm but two especially hold my focus. The Psalmist gives God praise which is only right. Then he moves in verse speaking about how he nearly lost his foothold and slipped. What caused his slipping and being about to fall? The wicked. Its real easy to function in this mode the wicked or those who are called evildoers and other quaint descriptive terms are easy targets. Unbelievers are difficult to be around at times and there is the danger for believers. We try and understand the wicked and all we come up with is foot slipping stuff about why we should be hard towards the lost. But then the Psalmist had a second experience he entered into the Temple of God and he was shown the end of the wicked and it transformed his understanding and his compassion for the lost. And a whole new view of myself:
21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you. Ps. 73

What a horrible way to see our self in front of the Lord God as a brute beast. As Paul asked Who can save me from this body of death. Jesus the Christ of God can and does. Amen Lord, come please.

What does this Psalm say to your heart? There is more Psalm I left un-transferred if you wish to look at it.

Having been an outcast in my own family and having bounced around neighborhood friend's homes, I found myself slowly becoming a people pleaser. I began compartmentalizing my life by keeping work people away from my family and not mixing friends/family/work together. That way when one group turned on me the other two were left largely untouched. I remember being in junior high school and having to deal with a bully. He picked on 3 of us. I had art skills and quickly devised a way to get Big Harold off of me by writing a little comic strip called Super Harlod where he beat up the other two and left me alone....it worked. At 16, I desperately tried to get my older brother to quit abusing me and found that if I could do a demented little comedy sketch to his liking I might get him to leave me be. It took about a year but it too worked. This went on for decades. I found myself in complete contradiction to my Christian beliefs while performing more and more perverted comedy routines for him. Compromising your beliefs for anyone is wrong and will turn on you in the end. I often wished I had it as easy as the wicked and at times tried to act like them to be accepted and keep them appeased. After my baptism, I dumped anyone who didn't accept God and didn't have my best interests at heart. I'm not like them and never want to be like them.

 

[Shekinahglory]

What a tremendous story. I am so sorry any of this took place. What a great idea of the comic strip. You already know in the O.T. Men were pictured as trees. The trees of the field will clap their hands. Trees = men, the field= the world. The Lord, in my opinion did a very interesting action involving trees and men when He healed the blind man taking him to seeing “Trees” walking around to the second part that showed them to be men. I believe this was the Lord showing us the shadows of the O.T. Had moved on and the N.T. Was not in shadow form. But the trees are used to teach and we know from modern science things that were probably not known in those ancient days. One had to do with the rings that develop internally. During droughts, fires and other hard times the rings become much denser with less space between them than under normal situations. It is during these hardships the wood becomes strongest. Does this make the hardships any less hard to endure? Probably not but it toughens the tree/person. Droughts cause trees to sink their roots in deeper for more stability and strength. I can only imagine how these things have been used by the Lord to strengthen you and it’s spoken about in Hebrews 12. How is this thing with your brother? Are you able to avoid the abuse without abasing yourself? You are in my prayers. God bless

 

[daninthelionsden]

What a tremendous story. I am so sorry any of this took place. What a great idea of the comic strip. You already know in the O.T. Men were pictured as trees. The trees of the field will clap their hands. Trees = men, the field= the world. The Lord, in my opinion did a very interesting action involving trees and men when He healed the blind man taking him to seeing “Trees” walking around to the second part that showed them to be men. I believe this was the Lord showing us the shadows of the O.T. Had moved on and the N.T. Was not in shadow form. But the trees are used to teach and we know from modern science things that were probably not known in those ancient days. One had to do with the rings that develop internally. During droughts, fires and other hard times the rings become much denser with less space between them than under normal situations. It is during these hardships the wood becomes strongest. Does this make the hardships any less hard to endure? Probably not but it toughens the tree/person. Droughts cause trees to sink their roots in deeper for more stability and strength. I can only imagine how these things have been used by the Lord to strengthen you and it’s spoken about in Hebrews 12. How is this thing with your brother? Are you able to avoid the abuse without abasing yourself? You are in my prayers. God bless

Thank you for your insightful viewpoint. No. I have no contact with any "family". My half-brother took $50k to start recording me and try and manipulate me to Met Disability's direction. I count it as no big loss as I would've gladly paid him that much to just go away. I would've had to pay him off sooner or later anyway. Just glad to finally be free of him. He kept abusing us even after I married. I was going to have to say "goodbye" to him at some point.

 

[Shekinahglory]

Thank you for your insightful viewpoint. No. I have no contact with any "family". My half-brother took $50k to start recording me and try and manipulate me to Met Disability's direction. I count it as no big loss as I would've gladly paid him that much to just go away. I would've had to pay him off sooner or later anyway. Just glad to finally be free of him. He kept abusing us even after I married. I was going to have to say "goodbye" to him at some point.

Definetly some lions den experience glad you survived and I am getting to know you. You will remain in my prayers