Psalm 73:22-24 (NASB)
22  Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.
23  Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand.
24  With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory.

All of God’s men and women have great struggles of faith. In the section of Ps 73 above Asaph is coming to the end of a struggle and concludes that his reasoning, which was the cause of his great struggle of faith, was senseless, ignorant, and more like an animal than a man. It is as he reflects on the foolishness and sinfulness of his reasoning that he makes four astounding observations about his relationship with God. 1) In spite of his foolishness Asaph has a relationship with God based on grace and faith 2) The Lord has had a hold of him the whole time so that he did not go further than he did, like a father grabbing a son who is headed for the street 3) In the future Asaph could count on the Lord to lead him 4) When  life is over, by the grace of God, the Lord would receive Asaph into His own presence and Glory. Each of these observations about the Lord is astounding in and of themselves but when you take the circumstance into account; they are especially marvelous statements of faith.

When things are going along well in your Christian life, you are praying, reading your Bible, sharing your faith and you feel good about your relationship with the Lord to consider these 4 things is a matter of grace and faith. What about when you are in a dark time, doubting God’s justice and goodness. For instance if something happens in your life that really shakes your faith so much so you are afraid to talk about it because you are afraid it will cause someone to stumble in their faith. (Ps 73:15) This was the situation with Asaph. At this dark moment Asaph recalibrated the compass of his soul to the truth about God. These four statements are remarkable statements of faith. There is great power for living in the “nevertheless.” We are all desperate sinners in constant need of a Savior. When we look in and truly take stock of what is inside we have to admit with Paul, there is nothing good inside. We must look away from ourselves and look to Christ. We have a Savior who has set his love on us, reaches down, takes us by the hand, leads us along, and promises to receive us to Glory. Recalibrate the compass of your soul with “nevertheless” followed by these four remarkable facts. (Thoughts for this Selah moment came from a sermon by C.H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon #467.) Dick Fellars