“Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.”
The confession that when the psalmist's heart was grieved and the spirit embittered articulates the emotional and spiritual toll of wrestling with the problem of evil. The reference to being grieved and embittered indicates profound psychological disturbance. This verse indicates that the crisis of faith was not merely intellectual but deeply emotional.
Church Fathers on Psalms 73:21
1. This Psalm has an inscription, that is, a title, “There have failed the hymns of David, the son of Jesse. A Psalm of Asaph himself.” So many Psalms we have on the titles whereof is written the name David, nowhere there is added, “son of Jesse,” except in this alone. Which we must believe has not been done to no purpose, nor capriciously. For everywhere God does make intimations to us, and to the understanding thereof does invite the godly study of love. What is, “there…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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