The first two psalms I read did nothing for me. But giving God His "third chance", I turned to Psalm 73 and had an encounter that has forever marked my life. I had no idea that the God of the universe could interact through His Word in such a personal and powerful way with a mere human being. As I read the psalm aloud, the Spirit of God brought thoughts and pictures to my mind of what had occurred that night and the words I'd said while walking across campus. Then He answered in His Word the very questions I had so angrily asked Him.

Reading Psalm 73 was like reading my biography. The psalmist had my same problem. The wicked he described acted just like my teammate, and talked about God in the same way. My efforts to remain pure also seemed in vain. And I had worried in the same way about how my quitting the faith would have impacted some of God's children - those I met with in Bible study, five of whom I had led to Christ.

As the psalmist began to get a little of God's perspective, so did I. I thought of all God had done for me. As my anger and hurt began to subside, I realized with the psalmist that God is my only real security in life. The Holy Spirit seemed to be dictating the psalm to me to help me in a way I had never imagined possible. God had heard my agony, and He spoke clearly. He reminded me of His sovereign power and His sovereign love. He gave me hope.

After studying Psalm 73 extensively, I see four major life lessons that flow from this psalm. There are four things God wants us to do in order to work through the raw deals we've experienced.

Life Lesson #1: Pour Out Your Heart To God

Asaph, the writer of this psalm, illustrated the first principle by pouring out his heart. Even godly people struggle with doubts and confusion when God's truth and their experience don't match. Life doesn't always make sense. At times, God's truth (God is good) and our experience (life stinks) don't mesh.

Asaph was one of three directors of King David's choir and a key Old Testament worship leader. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, he wrote a number of psalms we still read today. When God's truth and his life experience didn't mesh, this mature man of God poured out his heart to the Lord. His experience is preserved for us in Psalm 73.

Job did exactly the same thing. The most righteous man on earth lost his possessions, his children, and his health. He said, "God, I am angry! I don't understand what is happening or why it is happening!" He poured out his heart as he wrestled with the conflict between God's goodness and sovereignty and the tragic loss he experienced. What I love about this story is God never gets angry with him for honestly sharing his frustration and anger. God can handle our accusations, our overwhelming fear, and our blazing anger. We must remain reverent, but we are free to pour out our hearts to God.

God wants us to bring our anger, hurts, and doubts to Him. When we do, He enables us to reach the point Job did of being able to acknowledge that the interplay of God's goodness and His sovereignty is a mystery. We can't always make logical sense of the tough things we go through. But we can know the One who is in charge of it all and tell Him honestly how we feel.

In fact, God calls us to argue our case before Him. He so longs for a relationship with us that He invites us to tell Him anything and everything we're thinking and feeling. In all of my life I'd never been that angry with God, and that's when He met me like never before. To my amazement, He met me with compassion.

Life Lesson #2: Carefully Consider Your Choices

One of the most important decisions we will ever make is how we respond to life's raw deals. Few things are as difficult to deal with emotionally and spiritually as injustice. And when we're victims of injustice, we're greatly tempted to walk away from our faith. Asaph was angry, but he realized his actions might weaken other people's faith in the Lord. It's a fact of life that we never do anything in isolation. Our actions always affect the network of people around us.