To feel like that is to have something of the feeling of the writer of Ps.73. He acknowledges that he has been in a spiritual skid he has nearly lost all faith, because of the ‘prosperity of the wicked’ (3) 4-9 give a vivid description of the Mafia, of paramilitaries, drug dealers, pornographers, people who make money at the expense of others and always seem to get away with it. 'They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong. They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills. Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence. From their callous hearts comes iniquity They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression. Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.'

Perhaps worst of all is that they infect other people: 'Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.' or in other words: people are attracted to them, they drink it all in. They say, "How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?" It is no new thing, you see, for people to say there is no God or even if there is, it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t care, he can’t do much. It is nothing novel for faithful people to start to ask is it worth it? Have all my efforts to lead a decent life been in vain? (13) 'Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.'

But at v15 there comes the beginning of an answer, or at least a temporary answer. The Psalm writer is now able to give the whole story of his struggles because he has come to a new sense of God but in the middle of his worst doubts he kept them to himself '15 If I had said, "I will speak thus, I would have betrayed your children.' He realise that he owes it to those before him who handed faith to him. not to deny it to others of his own time or those still to come. To go back to an even older programme than Z Cars The ‘Lone Ranger’ may be a romantic idea for a cowboy film but it is useless as a model for the Christian life. We are not called to be solo pilots, we are called to fly in formation. I read recently that geese fly farther and faster when they fly in formation instead of on their own. Yes, we are to have an individual and personal faith but we receive that faith from a believing community and we grow in faith only by living in a believing community. If that faith has any value to us we will want to pass it on to others; and if we are struggling at times then we will hide our doubts not denying that we have them but not wishing to burden others with them, or undermine others but being willing rather to wait until the time when we shall meet God in a new and a deeper way and can speak constructively. as the song says: ‘Further along, we’ll know more about it, further along, we’ll then understand’

The Psalm writer has struggled deeply with this problem of the good suffering and the wicked doing well until he comes to worship God and then he understands. '17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.' Then he began to see things from God’s perspective, not his own. ‘Faith finds a path where speculation discerns none. Communion with God solves many problems which thinking leaves unresolved.’ McLaren

Worshipping God helps him see things as they really are and not as they appear to be on the surface. The fate of the wicked will be sudden and decisive, it will be like waking from a bad dream; one day we will know the nightmare is over. The choice before human beings is simple and awesome: it is to have God and to be content in fellowship with him or it is to be far from God and to know in the end the consequence of rejecting him. We read it negatively in 27 'Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.' We read it positively in 25 'Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.'

This is the simple answer to our confusion and our bitterness: come to worship, get to know God better. I know when things go wrong it is so tempting to stay away from church we don’t want people to bother us with well meaning enquiries or to give us all sorts of good advice, but get to the place where you can meet God, maybe on your own with an open bible, or out for a walk in the fresh air where you can cry out to God.

But if that does not work, and it does not always work then seek the company of God’s people at worship. I can think of times when I found help not from sermons but from people singing hymns around me and from the prayers. And I can think of times when God met me quietly but surely in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.

What’s the big deal, you may ask, about the Lord’s Supper? The big deal is that in an activity that is basic to human life and even to animal life, for ‘brute beasts’ also eat and drink we do more than simply eat and drink. We acknowledge that we are called to be different from the beasts; we acknowledge that we are invited into a relationship with God, for we eat and drink in remembrance of Jesus Christ and we proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

But that means that we must confess our grief and our bitterness. It is not wrong to have such questions and complaints, but it would be wrong and dreadfully foolish to refuse to meet God, for he alone can solve our questions and complaints. It is not that we have a complete explanation for everything that happens but the Lord’s Supper shows us in a way we can touch and taste that Jesus Christ loves us, forgives us, welcomes us and will be with us.

Come then to his table, with all your doubts and uncertainties, all your grievances and complaints all your difficulties and seemingly insoluble problems Come with the desire that Christ may be more real to you than all these things. Come to celebrate these great realities: 'Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.'

Lord, in the words of your servant Paul help us not to lose heart, but to affirm that though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So may we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Grant to us to eat and drink truly in faith and thanksgiving in the fellowship of Christ.

PRAYER AFTER THE SACRAMENT 'Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.' Lord, as we thank you for the quietness and confidence which we gain from being here; help us to be aware of the fate of those who are far from you give us a passionate concern that many shall hear a solemn warning about lives that are unfaithful to you and hear the good news that it is good to be near you to make you, O sovereign Lord, our refuge and to tell of all your deeds.

Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before his presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and for ever.