"Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart."
Psalm 73:1
“Truly God is good to Israel…”
This is a powerful statement that should bring much comfort to God’s people, the Children of Israel. Even though they had faced in their past, times of great hardship, the psalmist has come to understand that God is good to His people. The Hebrew word translated here as “truly” is used two more times in this psalm. In verse 13 it is the first word, “verily.” And in verse 18 it is the initial word translated as, “surely.” The Old Testament commentators seem to translate this word a little differently from each other. It seems that Keil and Delitzsch have captured the thought well, they say, “Yea good, assuredly good, God is to Israel,” or: “Only good, nothing but good, God is to Israel,” – Keil and Delitzsch.1
God is not just good, in a passive sort of way, but He is actively good in His treatment of Israel. I believe God treats all His children with good, in this day and age as well—and only with good. As with Israel, we may not always understand what God is doing, but we know that He works all things for our good (Romans 8:28-29), and for His glory (Psalm 19:1; Psalm 72:19; 2 Corinthians 4:15; Revelation 4:11). “God is good.”
“…Even to such as are of a clean heart.”
This next phrase shows to whom God is willing to “do good.” It isn’t just everyone! And it isn’t necessarily everyone who says, “I am a Christian.” The Word says here that God is actively good only to those who have “a clean heart.”
“A clean heart” should be the desire of each one of us, wouldn’t you say? To have a clean heart isn’t as easy to come by as it might seem. Solomon asks, “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” (Proverbs 20:9). The honest answer each person should give is, “No one!” None of us can say that we have made our hearts clean! In this area of dealing with our sin and cleansing our hearts, we are helpless. The Bible describes the heart of someone not walking with the Lord as:
a “hard heart,” Proverbs 28:14
a “deceitful and desperately wicked heart” Jeremiah 17:9-10
a heart of “evil and madness,” Ecclesiastes 9:3
a heart contains either “good treasure” and “evil treasure” Luke 6:45
a person may have a “heart of stone” Ezekiel 36:26
a man’s heart is a source of “evil thoughts” Mark 7:21-23
a heart may be an “unbelieving heart,” Hebrews 3:12
a heart may be “dull of hearing,” Matthew 13:15; Hebrews 5:11
How can I have a “clean heart?”
I want a heart that loves God and His Word. I want a heart that the Lord has cleansed.
The only One who can clean up a sinful heart is the Lord. He can do this for the lost sinner, and the saved sinner. Here’s what David said when was living in sin:
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me,”
(Psalm 51:10).
The only power on earth that can clean the sinful human heart is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul understood this when he said:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God
unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the
Greek,” (Romans 1:16).
If you do not know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, think about this:
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation,” (Romans 10:9-10).
In our verse for today, I see that My God is Good, and He Inspects My Heart!
1. Keil and Delitzsch, Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament, electronic version in eSword.