(Psalm 73:1-28)-"WHERE YOU STAND DETERMINES WHAT YOU SEE!"
STORY:   One day, six blind men decided to go to the zoo. They hired a guide to tell them about all the exotic animals they couldn't see. When they came to the elephants, the zoo keeper wanted them to have more than a verbal description, so he allowed them each to feel the elephant.  Since the elephant was large, and since the zoo keeper had limited time, he let each man touch one part of the giant mammal.  The first blind man reached out and his hand grabbed the elephant's tail. "Aha," he exclaimed, "the elephant is like a big rope."   The next man felt a massive elephant leg. He looked strange, no rope was that big. "No, the elephant is like a large log or tree." He was sure of this.  The third blind man walked forward and ran straight into the elephant's side, whereupon he pronounced that, "The elephant is really a big wall."  Next, another of the blind men reached out and took hold of one of the elephant's ears. It must have tickled, because the elephant wiggled the large ear, causing the fourth man to exclaim, "Oh, see this, the elephant is like a big fan."   The fifth blind man decided that the first four were all slightly daft and they couldn't be describing the same creature, so he carefully walked up and put out his hand, the elephant raised his trunk to the man who felt it and grinned in wonder. "My friends, it is obvious the elephant is like a huge snake."   The final man was totally confused, he walked forward and reached out, hoping to find the truth, and encountered a tusk. He paused and brightened, "I understand, the true nature of the elephant is this, he is a sword."   The zoo keeper and guide smiled at one another, knowing that none had seen the big, elephantine, picture.
This was the problem which confronted the writer of this Psalm. He was looking at his situation from the wrong vantage point. How often are we guilty of the same thing?   There are times when terrible things come our way during the course of our lives. When this happens, we tend to only look at what we can see. However, there is far more to the picture than what these mortal eyes can behold. 
This Psalm teaches us how to get our eyes off of our circumstances and place them on the Lord.  This man "Asaph" was ready to quit. He was ready to throw in the towel and just walk away from God. However, as time went on he began to look at things, not from a faulty human perspective, but through the eyes of God. You see, like those 6 blind men, where a person stands determines what that person sees.
(1)-ASAPH'S TRUSTWORTHY EDUCATION-(v.1)  (SOLID GROUND)
This "solid ground" is simply faith in the truth that God does nothing but what is GOOD! (Romans 8:28)    Jesus himself said in (Matthew 19:17-"there is none good, that is, but God.")

(2)-ASAPH'S TRYING EXPERIENCES-(v.2-16)   (SLIPPERY GROUND-v.2)
Asaph had learned the truth about God, but what he experienced in life seemed to contradict what he had learned. This brought him to a place of confusion and doubt.   For too many years, a kind of "health and wealth Gospel" has been preached in our churches. People have been lead to believe that if they live the right kind of lives and do the right things, then the Lord is obligated to bless them and give them good things.   That kind of teaching is a lie! Often, the Lord will allow things in our lives that are hard to bear. He will place loads on our shoulders that will literally break us under their weight. This isn't a pleasant thing, but it is a necessary thing!
Asaph had learned the truth about God. But, I repeat, what he had learned about God did not go along with what he had experienced in the world. As a result, he was confused by several things. Notice what Asaph was confused about:
A. V. 3 By The Prosperity Of The Sinner - It bothered Asaph that the wicked prospered while the children of God did without.
B. V. 4 By The Peace Of The Sinner - He watched the wicked live their lives in sin and slip off into eternity with no problems at all. He was amazed at the peace they had in death.
C. V. 5 By The Pleasure Of The Sinner - He was astounded that the wicked could live lives of such sin and do so without trouble. Their good times just seemed to roll on and on!
D. V. 6-11 By The Pride Of The Sinner - Because they live the lives they do, and there is never any opposition from God, they are filled with pride before Him. They say, "God doesn't know! Even if He does. He is weak and unable to do anything about it at all", v. 11. All the while, they squeeze the last drop of pleasure from life, v. 10. It appears to Asaph that they have it made!
E. V. 12-16 By The Progress Of The Sinner - When Asaph took all this in, it caused him to become bitter in his heart. 
1. He looked at the life he had been living for the Lord, v. 13.              2. He looked at his own share of sorrow, v. 14. 
3. He looked at a life lived for the Lord and it broke his heart, v. 16.   4. Yet, he was afraid to admit how he felt, because he did not want to lead others down the same path of despair he was walking on, v. 15
When Asaph saw these things, he felt like quitting on God. He felt as though he had actually wasted his time in serving the Lord. How many have truly felt that way?  we are tempted to think that we would have been better off living like the rest of the world.   The Natural way of thinking always results in disaster, because it allows you to stand in the wrong place and see things from the wrong angle.
(3)-ASAPH'S TRIUMPHANT ENCOUNTER-(v.17-28)   (SHOUTING GROUND)
In verse 17, the mood of the Psalm changes. Asaph moves from the Slippery Ground of a Human Perspective and steps squarely unto Shouting Ground of a Heavenly Perspective. It seems that Asaph made a trip to the Temple. There, he talked with the Lord, and he allowed the Lord to talk with him. As he did, he was able to get his eyes off of himself and the problems he faced. 
*There are things you can understand by coming to church that you will not get anywhere else!!!  It was in the "Sanctuary" of v.17 that Asaph understood 3 things in particular:
A. V. 17b-20 The Future Of The Sinner - Asaph came to realize that the wicked may have the best here; but that dream existence they are living will end when the breath leaves their body! All they have to look forward to is an eternity in Hell to be separated from the Lord forever, 2 Thes. 1:8-9.  In other words, this is the only Heaven the lost will ever know.
B. V. 21-22 The Foolishness Of Self - Now, Asaph confesses the fact that he has been looking at everything the wrong way!  The apostle Paul said that the "natural man recieveth not the things of the spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, niether can he know them because they are spiritually discerned."!  The world is full of lost people trying to re-write the bible so they can understand it.......but Asaph began to see aright when he STOOD in the house of God!
C. V. 23-28 The Fulness Of The Savior - As Asaph communed with the Lord, he began to see everything more clearly. (Matthew 6:6-"when you pray enter into the closet and shut the door and talk to God about your life!")
*Notice some of the things Asaph discovered.
1. V. 23 The Presence Of God - Asaph realized that even in the midst of his trials, he had never been alone! Even when the could not see God, the Lord had been holding to his hand. God had always been there.  (John 14:16, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;")
2. V. 24 The Protection Of God - Asaph recognizes that even though the storms of life may rage all around him, his life was under the control and direction of God.
3. V. 25-26 The Person Of God - Asaph comes to the conclusion that the Lord is all he needs in this life or in the life to come.
4. V. 27-28 The Perception Of God - Finally Asaph arrives at the place where he can see things from God's perspective. No longer does he look upon the wicked with envy. Now he knows that they are doomed.
*Basically, it boils down to changing the place where we are standing. How do we get to this place?
1. By Prayer       2. By the Bible      3. By Grace     4. By Faith
Conc: Do we have any Asaph's present today? Sure we do!  I challenge you this morning to do what Asaph did. Come and commune with God about the situation.  Ask Him to bring you to the place where you, like Asaph, can say, "I have put my trust in the Lord God."
It all boils down to where you are standing! Don't be like the blind men who I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon. Don't be guilty of merely looking at what is right in front of you. If you live by the human perspective of "FEELINGS" you will never get the big picture!  And that BIG PICTURE is that the Lord is in control of life!  Remember, Where you stand determines what you see!