This is a bit long, but worth the read, bear with me!

Today my reading was in Psalm 73, very appropriate for me, because the author, Asaf, worship leader of the temple, was also angry with God, just like me, and therefore had lost his first love.

He was not angry about suffering, but because the wicked were prospering while he was not. And he complained about this injustice. “ This is what the wicked are..always free of care, they go on amassing wealth. Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure!” And in his struggle, he whined, “When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply.”

However, a breakthrough came for him when he, “entered the sanctuary of God’” for “then I understood their final destiny.” In worship he was taken from a tiny focus on the present to a wide view of God’s plan. “Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin.” God is just and will judge righteously.

With that revelation, Asap realized what a fool he’d been to envy and accuse God of injustice: “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I  was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.”

And, then he realized that God had been there all along in Asaph’s rebellion and unbelief: “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 into glory.”

With this new surrender and focus on God, Asaph’s first love was restored and he proclaimed: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

Asaph went from totally natural, carnal thinking to fully spiritual understanding, to surrender and a renewed love for God! So, it can be with us, too, as we process our anger, disappointment, unbelief and rebellion as he did. Remember the point at which Asaph turned the corner: worship. One big key to renewe our first love for Jesus is to remember who He is, how great, powerful, wise, faithful and loving He is, getting the big picture.

I find I can experience this powerful processing best by writing down my thoughts about what was bothering me—just as Asaph did—so we can have a breakthrough as he did. So ,check out Psalm 73 and follow Asaph’s example.

Picture: Asaph leading worship at the Temple