Psalm 73:11 English Standard Version (ESV) And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

This series has been about emotions. “They” in this verse refers back to the prosperous wicked.

What do the wicked think when their god is money? It does not talk to them. They use their god as they see fit. They are in control. This is one reason they do not see money as being their god.

Their comment is to us that believe the one true God. They do not hear, they do not listen, they do not believe. What we say falls on deaf ears.

The prosperous wicked do not worship wooden idols, they do not make golden calves. Their gold holds them in ways they do not understand because they determine how to use their gold.

The issue of having a little g god has at its core the idea that it does not talk back. They make these images because they do not want to hear what the one true God has to say. They do not want to listen.

When we say God speaks to us they call us insane. In the natural world hearing voices is psychotic. No one takes psychopaths seriously. When we say we hear by faith it has no meaning because they have placed their faith in money and what it can do for them.

Reframing Psalm 50:19 it reads like this; they give their mouths free rein for evil, and their tongues frame deceit.

As long as they prosper they will not listen to anyone beneath them. They are gods in their own minds. What happens when someone smarter, stronger and more ruthless than themselves takes their gold away? Their fall is as far as the angels that followed Satan in his fall.

Then there is nowhere to look but up.

Psalm 73:10 English Standard Version (ESV) Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.^[a]

Footnote ^[a] Probable reading; Hebrew the waters of a full cup are drained by them

Often there are meaningful maxims that are understood best by the generation to which those proverbs are written. We are Christians, not Hebrew in heritage and understanding. Christ was of the tribe of Judah and as God has a perfect understanding of all scripture, maxims and proverbs. We can derive meanings from His words.

John 4:14 English Standard Version (ESV) but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

If they, the wicked, are not drinking of the water of life, any drink will do. It will satisfy their thirst for unrighteousness.

Matthew 5:6 English Standard Version (ESV) “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

We are removed thousands of years from the utterance of these words. We have to check with the author of the Word, the Word Himself, to understand what He means.

This is as much about being satisfied in our relationship with our Lord, to know Him, to understand His Word, to be able to trust Him with our doubts and fear. We seek to lean on Him as John did.

When we place our ear to His chest, we can hear His heartbeat. His Word is life and satisfies us in ways nothing else can.

John 6:35 English Standard Version (ESV) Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.