Introduction

The seventy-third psalm mirrors the life of faith for everyone who is honest enough to allow his or her faith to be pushed to the limit. It begins with a simple, Sunday School outlook which lifts up the clear virtue of a good God who is good to good people. We all like that sort of thing, and quickly say "Amen" to that.

It doesn't take long at all for the psalmist to "grow up" and realize that the simple theology of a good God smiling on good people doesn't hold much water. Just because that's what Mrs. Gray says in the primary Sunday school class doesn't mean that's the way it is in the real world. No wonder so many children barely make it through a junior high confirmation experience -- they're too smart to fall for the trite thinking we sometimes espouse in the name of r…