“Until I went into the sanctuary of God, Then I understood their end” (Ps. 73:17 NKJ).

This verse is an encouragement to attend the house of worship in order to receive answers about life. David had the same questions about good and evil that we do. In Psalm 73 he exposes his pondering thoughts and thus provides us insight into the truth of life and death.

In this psalm, David questions God about why sinners seem to prosper while the righteous are put to severe tests. He admits to having been envious of the boastful when he saw their prosperity as compared with his personal problems, (vv. 3,14). In verse thirteen he reveals his self-pity, wondering if he had made a mistake by following the Lord.

Reasoning carnally, David makes a foolish comparison between the ungodly and the righteous: “They have everything going for them, and we have everything going against us. Are we on the wrong side or the wrong team?”

It is at this point that he goes into the sanctuary. As he views the holy place in which children are dedicated to the Lord, couples are united in marriage, funerals and eulogies are conducted, truth is proclaimed, righteousness explained, holiness displayed. God magnified. His name praised, and His presence manifested, life and death come into proper focus for the psalmist.

In the house of God, David discovers the link between this world and the next. Here he gets the picture of the true believer whose destiny is eternal reward and the non-believer whose future prospect is only eternal condemnation and misery. In the sanctuary we learn so much about life that cannot be learned anywhere else.