What does Psalm 73:5 mean?

Asaph continues his heartfelt complaint: some wicked people are happy and healthy, while more moral people seem to be in constant trouble. We do not know what hardships or afflictions Asaph had, but he must have had more than a few. Since he was in a position of leadership in Israel, he must have known many righteous individuals who were suffering. Modern pastors often bear the stress of hearing the burdens of people in the church; Asaph might have felt the same spiritual weight.

Part of the reason for this complaint is a restricted perspective. If all that matters is earthly life, we might be bitter about why evil people fare so well. Asaph's understanding would grow clear, as we will discover later in this psalm (Psalm 73:15–17).

To counter that exact complaint, Jesus told a story about a godless rich man who led a life of luxury (Luke 16:19). This was contrasted with a poor, sickly, God-honoring man who longed to eat what fell from the rich man's table. However, upon death the rich man's fate was horrendous. He ended up in the flames of Hades (Luke 16:23, 25), whereas the righteous man experienced the comforts of paradise (Luke 16:22, 25). What presently seems to us to be an unfair contrast between happy evil people and suffering good people will not be so in eternity.