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PSALM 73:1

"BASIC FOUNDATIONS"

I. THE PSALM BEGINS WITH A FOUNDATIONAL TRUTH, "GOD IS GOOD."
        A. I know this is true.
                1. It is important to know this.
                2. I will not always understand it.
                3. I will just have to fall back on it when I cannot understand my
                   circumstances.
        B. The importance of strong foundations.
                1. In our lives we will face severe storms.
                2. We may feel we are going under.
                3. As I am going down my foot hits a rock, and I find I can stand.
                        a. Basic foundational truths will keep you from going under.
                        b. How many times have I been held up, by knowing that "All
                           things work together. . ."

II. THE PSALMIST WAS IN PERILOUS WATERS.
        A. "My feet were almost gone."
                1. He was going down.
                2. He was slipping fast.
        B. He had become envious of wealthy wicked people.
                1. Perhaps he had been watching Dallas on T.V.
                        a. They never seem to get sick.
                        b. They are never in trouble or plagued.
                        c. Their eyes bulge with fatness.
                        d. They have more than their hearts could wish.
                        e. Their cups are full.
                        f. They prosper and get rich.
                2. Yet.
                        a. They are filled with pride.
                        b. Covered with violence.
                        c. They are corrupt.
                        d. Their speech is filthy.
                        e. They speak contempteously of God.
                                1. They say, "How does God know."
                                2. There is no higher knowledge.
        C. This led him to false conslusions.
                1. It doesn't pay to try to live right.
                2. It doesn't pay to serve God.
                        a. He chastens me every morning.
                        b. I have trouble all day.
        D. Trying to understand was too painful.
                1. There are things that will happen to you in life that you will
                   never understand.
                2. Your thoughts will torture you if you try to figure it out.
                3. You as the psalmist will almost be destroyed.
                4. There is always a fallible area in our reasoning.
                        a. We measure the events of our lives as they effect me presently.
                        b. God measures as they effect my eternally.
                                1. "What should it profit a man if..."

III. THE PLACE OF UNDERSTANDING "I WENT INTO THE SANCTUARY OF GOD."
        A. "I understood their end."
                1. Corning into the sanctuary should always bring us into the consciousness
                   of the eternal.
                2. It should always give to us a new perspective.
        B. The truth about the wicked.
                1. The are in slippery places.
                2. The shall go down to destruction in a moment.
        C. The truth about me.
                1. God is continually with me.
                2. He holds me by my right hand.
                3. He will guide me through life.
                4. He will bring me to his eternal glory.
                5. When I am weak, He is my strength.
        D. Conclusion.
                1. It is good for me to draw near to God.
                2. To place my trust in Him.