我們繼續來思考詩篇七十三篇第1節：「神實在恩待以色列那些清心的人。」詩人的懷疑令他受到很大的傷害，但奇妙的是：他的屬靈生命卻因此更加豐盛，他對神的良善更有信心。所以他以「神實在恩待以色列那些清心的人」這結論來開始，然後再告訴我們他如何得到那個結論。

這是詩篇其中一個重大的價值──它反映和分析了我們必須面對的經驗。斯特德曼（Ray Steadman）如此形容詩篇：「詩篇是關於我們大部分人在信心道路上正在經歷、已經經歷或將要經歷的規章。」我們能夠明白詩人的掙扎──以積極的信心開始，相信神的良善，然後事情的發生令我們充滿疑惑。問題是我們如何回到原來的起點。這正是詩人在這首詩裡面所做的──他向我們顯示如何回到靈魂那處可以找到真正平安的地方。

我們不應該忘記，最強的信念是在疑惑的劇痛中孕育出來的。「神恩待以色列」這句話是植根於經驗。以類似的方式，俄國著名小說家杜斯托也夫斯基（Dostoevsky）說：「我不是自小就相信和承認基督。我的和散那『孕育自疑惑的火爐。』」疑惑可能令人沮喪，但不要因此令你道德敗壞。重要的不是你身上發生了甚麼事情，而是你怎麼樣看那件事情。」

We continue meditating on the first verse of Psalm 73: "Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart." The psalmist has gone through an experience of crippling doubt but the great thing is this: he has emerged from it spiritually enriched and with a deeper confidence in the goodness of God. So he starts with that conclusion and then tells us how he got there.

This is one of the great values of the psalms - they reflect and analyse the experiences that we are called upon to face. Ray Steadman says of the psalms: "They are an enactment of what most of us are going through, have gone through or will go through in the walk of faith." Every one of us will be able to understand the psalmist's struggle: we start off with a positive faith in God's goodness and then something happens which causes us to be plagued with doubts. The problem then is how to get back to where we were. This is what the psalmist does in this psalm - he shows us how to return to the place where the soul finds true peace.

We should not forget that the strongest convictions are born in the throes of doubt. The statement "God is good to Israel" is a statement grounded in experience. In a similar vein, Dostoevsky, the famous Russian novelist, could say: "It is not as a child that I believe and confess Christ. My hosannah is 'born of a furnace of doubt." Doubts may discourage but they need not demoralise you. It is not what happens to you, but what you make of it that matters.