What is the meaning of Psalm 73:20? Like one waking from a dream • Dreams feel real but vanish when the sleeper stirs. Scripture pictures the prosperity of the wicked the same way—intense yet fleeting (Job 20:8; Psalm 90:5-6; Isaiah 29:7-8). • Asaph has just confessed envy at their apparent success (Psalm 73:3). Here he realizes it will evaporate as quickly as a night vision. • God’s people can trust what is solid and eternal, not the shimmering illusion of ungodly gain (Matthew 6:19-21). So You, O Lord, awaken • The Lord never actually sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4). The wording conveys His decisive moment of action—He rises to set things right (Psalm 44:23; Psalm 35:23; Isaiah 51:9). • When He “awakens,” human arrogance meets divine reality. • The righteous may feel God is silent for a season, but His timing is perfect; He intervenes precisely when His justice and glory demand it (2 Peter 3:9-10). And despise their form • “Their form” points to the outward show of the wicked—the status, power, and self-made image they flaunt. • Once God acts, that image is exposed and detested (Psalm 37:20; Psalm 2:4-5; Proverbs 3:34; 1 Peter 5:5). • His contempt is not petty dislike but holy opposition to all that resists His righteousness. • For believers, this is a sober reminder to evaluate success by God’s verdict, not worldly polish (James 4:14-16). summary Psalm 73:20 assures us that worldly pomp is as fragile as a dream. At the moment God “awakens,” He strips away the illusion and shows His disdain for every proud façade. The verse calls believers to rest in the certainty of His justice, confident that what appears solid outside of Christ will soon dissolve, while those who seek Him possess an inheritance that cannot fade. |
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