Psalm 74 reads as follows from the NIV version of the Bible:
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 ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity [b];
the evil conceits of their minds know 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 punishments.
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.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors!
20 They are like a dream when one awakes;
when you arise, Lord,
you will despise them as fantasies.
21 When my heart was grieved
and my spirit embittered,
22 I was senseless and ignorant;
I was a brute beast before you.
23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
27 Those who are far from you will perish;
you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
28 But as for me, it is good to be near God.
I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge;
I will tell of all your deeds.
This psalm contrasts the inordinate trust in prosperity to the point where the temporal overshadows the eternal presence of God and the constant available provision of His counsel through the means of prayer.
The dramatic theme here, for the psalmist, is that despite his keen envy of those who don't pay attention to God, he can't seem to shake that he does seem to see that they are prospering in just about every possible way.
In observing what he doesn't have, and comparing himself to those that do have, he becomes embittered. In the later part of the psalm, he sees that others are attracted to people who are prospering, yet at the same time these prospering people are also oppressing others.
Despite these felt shortfalls, the key for the psalmist is that he is coming to realize that his closeness to Lord is what is best for him as he evaluates his life and his available paths. Ultimately, he is seeking that determination for himself. Part of his current failure is his own envy of the rich.
Verse 9 says," Their mouths lay claim to heaven and their tongues take possession of the earth."
These evildoers who are prospering on the earth, are even going so far as their overreach as to lay claim to heaven and the things of heaven.
A little frailty might have done them some good.
The preceding verse 8 says," They scoff and speak with malice, in their arrogance they threaten oppression." Threats alone carry a heavy weight in that those that are threatened don't know for sure whether these threats will be carried out and indeed are burdened by that possibility.
Their arrogance and pride, has them self situated in a position where they feel they not only speak for matters on the earth but also in heaven.
It takes form as having a degree of condescension and outright hostility towards others who in their eyes aren't privy to what they are privy to.
Verse 13 says,
"Surely in vain, I have kept my heart pure, in vain, I have washed my hands in innocence. "
Here basically he is saying that his prayer life hasn't been fruitful, and his approach of following the path of prayer and praying to God has not done him any good.
But that is only his misguided perception, as in many cases we do not know the effects of our prayers, especially those of intercession and those prayers for far off lands and times. In the psalmist case, his perceptions feel to him like reality and it is affecting his decisions.
On top of everything else, the wicked seem to have every advantage.
In the latter part of the Psalm, in verse 19 and 20 it says," How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors, as a dream when one awakes, so when you arise of Lord, you will despite them as fantasies."
These verses are particularly hard hitting as to the ultimate exclusion of the wicked. The image of the Lord arising can be applied to any situation. The wicked might be whisked away, and regarded as just fantasies. They are completely lost as to retaining any position which still enables them to plead to the Lord. Even if they are remaining for the moment in their prosperity, to be regarded as a fantasy to the Lord is the abject beginning of the end.
One related verse is from Proverbs 21 verse 16," A man who strays from the path of understanding comes to rest in the company of the dead."
A related verse in the new testament, which is correlated with the idea of the Lord suddenly arising, is from Colossians 3 verse 4 which says" When Christ who is your life appears, then you will also appear in glory."
The contrasting point here is the key lesson of the psalm as being applied to prayer. As someone loses out in the prayer realm, they ultimate risk they face are being regarded as fantasies. Someone may not be getting their prayers answered in the ways they wanted, but the available contrast being in play is that they are still considered as real by the Lord, not a fantasy, then they still are on the ground they need to be on. and they still have a ball field to play the game on, and the game is still on. Those still on the in with God, whether on shaky ground or better ground, are still dealt with by God as real people and lot's of great connotations just come with that, and that in itself is a privilege. The goodness and greatness of the Lord is there, but not to be presumed upon. And it was certainty a presumption on the psalmist's part at first that the wicked would just continue to prosper unabated which is what he first assumed when observing them. He at first didn't realize that some confrontation or even an even an ultimate standoff would take place and those on the wrong side of this would find themselves maybe suddenly in a place or position would involve a fade into a vision of a fantasy in the Lord's eyes, the only eyes that ultimately matter. Keeping the relationship with God real by continually going to Him in prayer and shifting the prayers around a bit and not focusing on what amounts to what I always want is the helpful path in avoiding this.
In the remainder of the psalm, he pours out his heart to the Lord. As he does this, a larger and more final picture emerges. In verse 21 and 22 he says." When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant, I was a brute beast before you.'
It is amazing how right after this verse, the psalm does springboard into saying that now I know this and this is what my relationship will be with God in as evocative and power packed words that have ever been written. So while he first admits a dearth of intelligence, he is now saying, here is what smart is all about, and that involves as he describes nearness to the Lord to the utmost of salvation and everlasting life and essentially this is all that matters both now and in the end.
Here he is saying he wasn't all that smart nor conducting himself knowledgeably as he was focusing on his bitterness rooted in envy of others. So it wasn't only a matter of being embittered, but also not being as smart or discerning as he could have been even at that point. He hadn't entered into the depth of understanding that he could have. One of the things to ask for in prayer especially when and if someone finds themselves on a similar road is for intelligence and wisdom regarding the matters at hand. If someone is bitter, they can ask for intelligence from the Lord about the matter they are bitter about. Because obviously the psalmist here retrospectively sees that he was lacking in wisdom and intelligence as part of the problem. Put the whole situation on hold and your interpretation of it as you first ask for the Lord's wisdom before making any conclusions.
Verse 23 says," Yet I am always with you, you hold me by my right hand, you guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me to glory."
This is what he is saying as he smartens up. The big picture is, that the Lord holds him by the right hand, has His counsel right there for him, and saves him for eternal glory. It is among other things, the Lord's counsel and wisdom that will hold him up.
From now on, he will wholeheartedly rely on the counsel of the Lord, until the Lord takes him home. The Lord's counsel is something both to refer to and defer to and something that upholds and keeps one up and standing.
These extremely powerful and poetic verses continue with verses 25 and 26." Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you? My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever."
This is what he is saying, as he has gotten past the misunderstandings of the earlier verses. He is wrong to be looking at anyone else on the earth as to what they have, either those prospering that are evil, or even those that are doing well that are deserving of this from the Lord. Then he shouldn't even be looking to his own strength as his portion as this might fail him later on. He can keep the focus on God alone and his relationship with Him, and this is his portion, both now and forever and leave it at that. All the council he needs and indeed all his needs are met from the hand of the Almighty.
The last two verses are contrasting, Verse 27 again talks about those that are far from the Lord, but verse 28 says, "But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge, I will tell of your deeds."
Ultimately he sees the choices as two, either being far from or near to the Lord. Everyone and everything falls on some part of this spectrum, and if someone says that aren't dealing with the Lord, then whether they think about that or not at all, they are on the spectrum of farther away from the Lord rather than nearer, even though they don't quite realize it.
He will tell of deeds and there will be deeds, actions, that are directly from the Lord and that they can be told means that they will be of a recognizable form. The Lord's council comes with deeds.
In this larger picture, what is best for him is nearness to the Lord, and although he had seen those far from the Lord doing quite well, he has firmly settled his position, that his relationship with the Lord is paramount, and whatever he has to let go off to preserve that relationship, he will. Anything else that happens will emanate from that nearness to the Lord, which is first and foremost in his approach to all from here on out.
All his considerations of his bitterness and jealousies have also faded into a fantasy for him, as the larger picture emerges, he explains himself in the last few verses, and he will follow the Lord's counsel all the way to glory.
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