“Your leechcraft ere long would have had me walking on all fours like a beast.” Théoden King of Rohan to Gríma Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien.
In Psalm 73, the psalmist considers the prosperity of the wicked. However, as God’s people we, like the psalmist, need not envy them, for they will enjoy the prosperity of this life only for a short time. They have no hope in eternal life for they have treasured the things of the world and not considered Christ.
And yet, even as believers, we often fail to consider Christ. Verses 22-24 of Psalm 73 speak to me particularly well in this regard: “22Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 23Nevertheless I am continually with You; You have taken hold of my right hand. 24With Your counsel You will guide me, And afterward receive me to glory.” Verse 22 echoes my feelings when I have sinned: I feel like “a beast,” without the ability to reason. I have acted as if Jesus had not taught me the things He has, like my own good sense to follow what has proven to be true and good has just fallen away somewhere. I feel like I deserve to be led like a beast- on a leash.
But the psalmist helps us understand that Jesus does not treat us the way we might think we should be treated. He takes us by the hand, as verse 23 reveals, and counsels us. He does not restrain us or control us; He treats us with love and mercy. He is not distant from us; we are close enough to touch Him. He takes our hand to guide us and receives us in the same gentle, loving manner, as verse 24 states. Though we might feel like beasts, unworthy of anything but restraining, in truth, Jesus deals with us in a way that frees us like our wickedness can never do.
When I am broken hearted because I have been “senseless and ignorant,” when I feel like a beast, it is Jesus that reminds me that I am still valuable to Him by treating me with care and good counsel. It is then that I consider Christ; I consider Him my treasure, worth more than the entire world and everything in it; I consider Him my salvation, freeing me from bondage from which it is impossible for me to free myself. There is nothing to envy in the way of the wicked and the prosperity they enjoy in this life; they are slaves to sin. Our treasure, our freedom and our hope is Jesus, who will be our reward in eternity.
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What a great picture of our own beastly hearts being restrained, subdued, and restored to our former glory. I am reading a book by James Jordan called "Primeval Saints" in which he talks about how God clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins to remind them that they had worshipped the beast (the snake) instead of the Creator and therefore became more like the animals than the image-bearers of God's glory. Good words, my friend!
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