Year 5, Day 212: Psalms 73-74

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Ambition

• Ambition: We all need a goal to which we can strive.  When our ambition comes from God, we find fulfillment in our obedience into that for which we have been equipped because our Out is in proper focus.  But when our ambition comes from ourselves, we find ourselves chasing after our own dreams and trying to find fulfillment in accomplishments of our own making.

I can completely resonate with the opening of Psalm 73.  I know what it feels like to look at people who are living in complete disregard of God’s ways and succeeding in life.  I know what it feels like to watch other people prosper through ungodly means.  I know what it feels like to look at other people seemingly coasting through life and I can’t help but feel the twinge of jealousy.

I know I’m in good company, because the author of Psalm 73 is right there with me.  For the record, so is the author of Psalm 74.  The opening of Psalm 74 is largely about the same issue.  Pslam 74 is about people who pay no heed to God and prosper.

The issue that the author of Psalm 73 wrestles with is ultimately an issue of ambition.  What is it I am pursuing?  If I want to thrive in the world, then I have to play by the world’s rules.  If I want to be on top in the world, I have to aspire to the world’s priorities and live as the world expects me to live.

That’s really where the crux of the issue rests.  To be a success in the world, I have to be worldly.  But that’s not a worthy ambition to chase.  That’s the conclusion that the psalmists both come to as they close out their psalms.  That’s the point of Psalm 73:16-17.  The end is just not worth it.

It’s not worth selling out to the world so that I can be a success in the eyes of the world.  I want to be successful at what the Father sets before me – regardless of whether or not the world values it or not.  That’s godly ambition.

Of course, while I know this, I have to confess again that it’s easier said than done.  I know this, yet I still look around at the world and wonder how it is that the godless can prosper so much.  Ambition is a constant enemy of mine – a constant temptation.  It is important to remember to make sure that our ambition is located in God and His ways.

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