Overcoming the Battle With Discouragement
The Nearness of God is Good for Me
Let’s look at Asaph, whom we first meet in 1 Chronicles Chapter 6.
1 Chronicles 6:39 ESV:
and his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, namely, Asaph the son of Berechiah, son of Shimea,
Then it goes on with a list or description of the Levites. Asaph was a Levite, a singer and musician in the time of David. Asaph’s father’s name, Berachiah, means “to bless the Lord.” Berechiah’s job was as the doorkeeper to the Ark of the Covenant. His sons would follow in his footsteps, and their job would be to praise and sing before the Ark of God. So, Asaph’s job, from the time he was very young, was a singer and a praiser.
1 Chronicles 15:16–17 ESV:
16 David also commanded the chiefs of the Levites to appoint their brothers as the singers who should play loudly on musical instruments, on harps and lyres and cymbals, to raise sounds of joy. 17 So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari, their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;
We find out later that after Asaph went through a battle with discouragement, he was able to set up a school of music, which carried on all the way till the time of Hezekiah and Ezra.
2 Chronicles 5:12–13a ESV:
12 and all the Levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kinsmen, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with 120 priests who were trumpeters; 13 and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord….
Asaph was a key person in temple worship for years during the time of David.
Asaph wrote several Psalms: Psalm 50 and 73–83. We’ll look at one of them today. Psalms 73 is a description of what Asaph went through.
Psalm 73:1–3 ESV:
1 Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. 2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. 3 For I was envious of the arrogant [from the Hebrew word for “praise”] when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
He became envious of those who were not ministers in the temple and of the Ark.
Psalm 73:4–7 ESV:
4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. 5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. 6 Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. 7 Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
Psalm 73:7 KJV:
Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.
Psalm 73:8–10 ESV:
8 They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. 9 They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. 10 Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.
Those same people are drawing even the believers to follow that same path.
Psalm 73:11 ESV:
And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
This reminds us of Job and the question about why bad things happen to believers.
Psalm 73:12–15 ESV:
12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. 13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. 14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. 15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
To Asaph’s credit, he writes this Psalm so that for generations people can read what he was really thinking—but he didn’t speak it out loud!
Psalm 73:16 ESV:
But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
Discouragement can come from very different sources and directions.
Psalm 73:17 ESV:
until I went into the sanctuary [presence] of God; then I discerned their end.
When Asaph went into God’s presence, God showed him the end of those people.
Psalm 73:18–20 ESV:
18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. 19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! 20 Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
He started to understand, but then went back to the broken record.
Psalm 73:21–23 ESV:
21 When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, 22 I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.
23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.
Asaph realized that, even when he was complaining, God was continually with him.
Psalm 73:24 ESV:
You guide [cause me to rest] me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
This is like the picture in Psalm 23. His guidance is His advice, but where He guides us is to the green pastures, the place of rest.
Psalm 73:25–26 ESV:
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
It is at this point in our understanding that the praise starts happening.
YouTube: Gaither Vocal Band, I Don’t Know About Tomorrow:
Habakkuk went through a similar experience as Asaph.
Habakkuk 3:17–19 ESV:
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:19 AMPCE:
The Lord God is my Strength, my personal bravery, and my invincible army; He makes my feet like hinds’ feet and will make me to walk [not to stand still in terror, but to walk] and make [spiritual] progress upon my high places [of trouble, suffering, or responsibility]!
In the release of praise in the face of difficulty and confusion, we have a way, a road prepared along which we may walk into the salvation or deliverance that God has prepared for us.
Imagine encampments where rocks keep rolling down into the camps. The people in one camp are asking, “Where are these rocks coming from, and what do we do with them?” Another camp looks at the rocks, sighs, and says, “This is my cross to bear. These rocks are teaching me things about how God is testing me.” Another camp sees the rock coming and says, “Oh, there’s no rock.” That third group will tend to become bitter like Asaph. Another camp knows that God didn’t throw the rocks; the evil rock throwers did, but they try to rebuke the rocks. When the rocks don’t go away, people will tell them that they just didn’t have enough faith. So they start “mask wearing.” They never admit that they got hit by a rock.
A believer who’s endeavoring to walk by faith recognizes that there are rocks, must first control the fear. Go into God’s presence. God is the conqueror of the rock throwers. God gave us Holy Spirit so that we could go to Him and He could guide us.
Psalm 73:28 ESV:
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.
Psalm 73:28a NASB:
But as for me, the nearness of God is good for me;
From this point on, Asaph praises and ministers. And that’s how we can overcome the battle with discouragement.
Scripture References
Scripture quotations marked (AMPCE) taken from the Amplified Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)
Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked (NASB) taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Audio teaching also available from the Acts Now Fellowship website.
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