Are you one who longs for what others have?TODAY'S SCRIPTURE:
Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins.
So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.
Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.
But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.
Psalm 73:21-28
TODAY'S WORD:
Growing up I felt like I needed to be cool. All through junior high school and high school I played organized basketball for our school and rec league. And you could tell who the cool kids were on the team based a couple of things: Their shoes and their drink. The cool kids wore Jordans' and drank Gatorade. At the time I wasn’t cool, I didn’t wear Jordans' and I drank water, not in fancy bottle either just the plain water provided by the trainers out of a paper cup. But I must confess at that awkward stage I really cared about what the cool kids thought of me. And I wanted to be just like the cool kids. So, I wanted the things that the cool kids had.
The writer of Psalm 73 also felt like he needed something that somebody else had. In Psalm 73:3, we see that he wanted other people’s wealth. In Psalm 73:4, we see that he wanted other people’s health. And in Psalm 73:5, we see that he wanted other people’s freedom from burdens. As he sums it up in Psalm 73:12, they’re “always carefree, they increase in wealth.” And he wants to be like them. But it’s more than that. In Psalm 73:3, the author tips his hand. He envies them.
Envying combines want with discontent. And we really see that discontent surfacing in the verses following. Psalm 73:13-15. The wicked have something. I want it. And I’m not happy until I have it. This is particularly true for the author of the Psalm because he feels that the wicked don’t deserve good things. By virtue of the fact that they’re bad, they deserve bad things.
He, meanwhile is good. So, he deserves good things.
And like that, wealth, health, and a carefree life turn into things he rightfully deserves. They’re well deserved rewards which he earned. But he doesn’t get them. Instead, they go to the wicked. And so, his heart turns to envy.
And that brings us to Psalm 73:16-17, the pivotal verses in the Psalm. He enters the sanctuary of God. And everything changes. Specifically, 1) his perspective changed in how he saw the wicked. And 2) he saw something better than what the wicked had.
First, the change in perspective. We see in Psalm 73:17-20 that he takes the longer perspective on the wicked. He sees their “final destiny”. He sees how the things that they have, the things he envied, are temporal in nature.
The second change, how he saw something better than what the wicked had, is actually where the bulk of the changed happened, at least if we were to look at the number of words he devotes to describing it. Three verses describe the longer perspective on the wicked, but the remaining eight, Psalm 73:21-28, go to describing what is better than wealth, health, and a carefree life. “Earth has nothing I desire besides you.” “But as for me, it is good to be near God.” In this Psalm, the realization of the sufficiency of God is the result of an encounter with the Lord. It wasn’t because he willed himself to increase His desire for God. It wasn’t because he reminded himself of the Lord’s promises. It wasn’t because he learned an objective truth. It was because of a subjective experience, meeting with God, that he came to truly understand that the Lord is better than what the world has to offer.
We need to encounter the Lord.
Recently, the Lord’s been highlighting a few tools to bring me to a place where I was ready to encounter Him. They’re no guarantees to having an encounter with Him though. Whether He shows up or not, well, that’s up to Him. But these few things have put me in a position to hear from Him when He does show up. I share them now with you.
Read the Bible.
This is a great tool to encounter the Lord. To have a direct relationship with Jesus. It’s been time tested. He’s spoken to people through the written word. And He can still speak to us today through the Bible when working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit in us.
Resolve sin issues.
I went through a desert experience where I felt like didn’t hear from or experience God. After receiving some guidance, I came to realize that I had a sin issue. The Lord had been telling me to forgive something or someone in my life but I was being disobedient. I knew what I was supposed to do but I always figured that the time for action was sometime later. Just not now. It wasn’t until much later that I finally realized the connection between it and my desert experience. I have been growing by leaps and bounds ever since I listened to the Lord and took action as He commanded.
Fast.
For me, fasting has been a way to reflect my need for the Lord. Basically, whenever I feel the hunger pangs, I use that then to drive me to prayer, asking the Lord two things: To give me a greater hunger for Him and to know that only He can satisfy me. There are a ton of variations of this that don’t involve food if that’s an issue for you. Regardless of what is fasted, the basic premise is the same: Foregoing something and weaning our dependency on it to greater highlight our need for and dependency on the Lord. Selah people' and friends let’s continue to make ourselves available to Him. Let us not give up that pursuit of Him because He will show up eventually.
OUR PRAYER FOR TODAY:
"The Lord is near. He is at hand. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Father we come with great anticipation that you will continue to move in our lives and the expectation of an encounter with you. May you help each of us to put aside things of the earth and place you first and declare you Lord of all."
Recent revival sermon:
http://selahchurch.tripod.com
Growing up I felt like I needed to be cool. All through junior high school and high school I played organized basketball for our school and rec league. And you could tell who the cool kids were on the team based a couple of things: Their shoes and their drink. The cool kids wore Jordans' and drank Gatorade. At the time I wasn’t cool, I didn’t wear Jordans' and I drank water, not in fancy bottle either just the plain water provided by the trainers out of a paper cup. But I must confess at that awkward stage I really cared about what the cool kids thought of me. And I wanted to be just like the cool kids. So, I wanted the things that the cool kids had.
The writer of Psalm 73 also felt like he needed something that somebody else had. In Psalm 73:3, we see that he wanted other people’s wealth. In Psalm 73:4, we see that he wanted other people’s health. And in Psalm 73:5, we see that he wanted other people’s freedom from burdens. As he sums it up in Psalm 73:12, they’re “always carefree, they increase in wealth.” And he wants to be like them. But it’s more than that. In Psalm 73:3, the author tips his hand. He envies them.
Envying combines want with discontent. And we really see that discontent surfacing in the verses following. Psalm 73:13-15. The wicked have something. I want it. And I’m not happy until I have it. This is particularly true for the author of the Psalm because he feels that the wicked don’t deserve good things. By virtue of the fact that they’re bad, they deserve bad things.
He, meanwhile is good. So, he deserves good things.
And like that, wealth, health, and a carefree life turn into things he rightfully deserves. They’re well deserved rewards which he earned. But he doesn’t get them. Instead, they go to the wicked. And so, his heart turns to envy.
And that brings us to Psalm 73:16-17, the pivotal verses in the Psalm. He enters the sanctuary of God. And everything changes. Specifically, 1) his perspective changed in how he saw the wicked. And 2) he saw something better than what the wicked had.
First, the change in perspective. We see in Psalm 73:17-20 that he takes the longer perspective on the wicked. He sees their “final destiny”. He sees how the things that they have, the things he envied, are temporal in nature.
The second change, how he saw something better than what the wicked had, is actually where the bulk of the changed happened, at least if we were to look at the number of words he devotes to describing it. Three verses describe the longer perspective on the wicked, but the remaining eight, Psalm 73:21-28, go to describing what is better than wealth, health, and a carefree life. “Earth has nothing I desire besides you.” “But as for me, it is good to be near God.” In this Psalm, the realization of the sufficiency of God is the result of an encounter with the Lord. It wasn’t because he willed himself to increase His desire for God. It wasn’t because he reminded himself of the Lord’s promises. It wasn’t because he learned an objective truth. It was because of a subjective experience, meeting with God, that he came to truly understand that the Lord is better than what the world has to offer.
We need to encounter the Lord.
Recently, the Lord’s been highlighting a few tools to bring me to a place where I was ready to encounter Him. They’re no guarantees to having an encounter with Him though. Whether He shows up or not, well, that’s up to Him. But these few things have put me in a position to hear from Him when He does show up. I share them now with you.
Read the Bible.
This is a great tool to encounter the Lord. To have a direct relationship with Jesus. It’s been time tested. He’s spoken to people through the written word. And He can still speak to us today through the Bible when working in conjunction with the Holy Spirit in us.
Resolve sin issues.
I went through a desert experience where I felt like didn’t hear from or experience God. After receiving some guidance, I came to realize that I had a sin issue. The Lord had been telling me to forgive something or someone in my life but I was being disobedient. I knew what I was supposed to do but I always figured that the time for action was sometime later. Just not now. It wasn’t until much later that I finally realized the connection between it and my desert experience. I have been growing by leaps and bounds ever since I listened to the Lord and took action as He commanded.
Fast.
For me, fasting has been a way to reflect my need for the Lord. Basically, whenever I feel the hunger pangs, I use that then to drive me to prayer, asking the Lord two things: To give me a greater hunger for Him and to know that only He can satisfy me. There are a ton of variations of this that don’t involve food if that’s an issue for you. Regardless of what is fasted, the basic premise is the same: Foregoing something and weaning our dependency on it to greater highlight our need for and dependency on the Lord. Selah people' and friends let’s continue to make ourselves available to Him. Let us not give up that pursuit of Him because He will show up eventually.
OUR PRAYER FOR TODAY:
"The Lord is near. He is at hand. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Father we come with great anticipation that you will continue to move in our lives and the expectation of an encounter with you. May you help each of us to put aside things of the earth and place you first and declare you Lord of all."
In Christ service,
Patrick
Rev Patrick Muston, Senior Pastor
Selah Christian Church
Four Oaks, NC
http://selahchurch.com
Recent revival sermon:
http://selahchurch.tripod.com
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