Cling to the Rock
When we consider the activities and successes of the self-important who seem to be so carefree and uninhibited, it’s easy for our minds, our hearts, and eventually our lives to go off in the wrong direction.
We can relate to the psalmist’s angst when those who are so apparently opposed to God, to His word, and to anything that is morally right appear to flourish. They seem to do well financially. They seem to do well physically. They always look good. They travel in the right way. They use the right moisturizer. They look magnificent. Meanwhile, we’re trying to do the God thing, the Jesus thing—and nothing seems to go right. It can all feel so futile.
When he looked at the prosperity of the wicked, the psalmist began to entertain the idea that he had followed God in vain (Psalm 73:13)—until he adjusted his perspective:
“I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!” (Psalm 73:17-19)
As we learn to sit in God’s presence and have a view of this world that takes account of His divinity and our eternity, we come to understand, along with the psalmist, that there is a higher throne than all the thrones of this world. Justice will be served, though not in the courts of this world’s kingdoms, which will all be mere footnotes in history.
Do not become discouraged by those who seem to prosper unduly. Jesus Christ is King. He’s in charge of the great reversals, turning us from darkness to light, from sadness to joy, from death to life. God will achieve His purposes. He is holding you and guiding you—and, one day, you will stand with Him in glory (Psalm 73:23-24). There is nothing this world can offer that compares to Him and no reason to envy those who have everything here but nothing of ultimate value. When you are slipping into envy, look at Him, adjust your perspective, and say with the psalmist:
“Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:25-26)
How is God calling me to think differently?
How is God reordering my heart’s affections — what I love?
What is God calling me to do as I go about my day today?
Book Three
God Is My Strength and Portion Forever
A Psalm of Asaph.
1Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
3For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
5They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
7Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
8They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
9They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
10Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.1
11And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
13All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
14For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
15If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
18Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
19How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
20Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
22I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
23Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
24You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength2 of my heart and my portion forever.
27For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.
Devotional material is taken from the Truth For Life daily devotionals by Alistair Begg, published by The Good Book Company, thegoodbook.com. Used by Truth For Life with permission. Copyright © 2021, 2022, The Good Book Company.
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