They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
Psalm 73:5 describes transgressors and open sinners as allowed to receive blessings and favors and to live free from the troubles, difficulties and perplexities that compass those who really love God. They often appear to be prospered in their way while they forget God, even for an hour or a moment. Seeing that prosperity made David envious of the foolish until his feet were almost gone and his steps had well-nigh slipped. At the same time he himself was failing and tempted to doubt God and to think God's ways were not equal.
His trouble did not mean God had abandoned him; he had separated himself from God, and the danger came from his own backsliding. He could not understand the prosperity until he went into the sanctuary of God and understood their end. There it is seen that God sets them in slippery places and casts them down to sudden desolation and destruction. That freedom from trouble does not mean safety or divine favor, for the wicked are in a dangerous path, God despises their course, and His blessing does not attend them.
They may not realize the peril, but evil tampered with soon forms a habit that holds like an iron band in subjection to evil and passes them into the ranks of those serving Satan. Workers in any branch of God's cause who become careless and inattentive to their eternal interest fall under the same peril and meet great loss. Such carelessness gives the tempter access to spread nets for their feet and lead them in uncertain paths, so only those whose hearts are garrisoned with pure principles are safe. The understanding led David to confess his grieved, foolish ignorance before God, to be holden continually by God by the right hand, and to find it good to draw near to God and put trust in the Lord God to declare all His works.
Psalm 73:5 describes transgressors and open sinners as allowed to receive blessings and favors and to live free from the troubles, difficulties and perplexities that compass those who really love God. They often appear to be prospered in their way while they forget God, even for an hour or a moment. Seeing that prosperity made David envious of the foolish until his feet were almost gone and his steps had well-nigh slipped. At the same time he himself was failing and tempted to doubt God and to think God's ways were not equal.
His trouble did not mean God had abandoned him; he had separated himself from God, and the danger came from his own backsliding. He could not understand the prosperity until he went into the sanctuary of God and understood their end. There it is seen that God sets them in slippery places and casts them down to sudden desolation and destruction. That freedom from trouble does not mean safety or divine favor, for the wicked are in a dangerous path, God despises their course, and His blessing does not attend them.
They may not realize the peril, but evil tampered with soon forms a habit that holds like an iron band in subjection to evil and passes them into the ranks of those serving Satan. Workers in any branch of God's cause who become careless and inattentive to their eternal interest fall under the same peril and meet great loss. Such carelessness gives the tempter access to spread nets for their feet and lead them in uncertain paths, so only those whose hearts are garrisoned with pure principles are safe. The understanding led David to confess his grieved, foolish ignorance before God, to be holden continually by God by the right hand, and to find it good to draw near to God and put trust in the Lord God to declare all His works.