Reading the Word
Psalm 73:24–28 (ESV)
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. 28 But 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.
Understanding and Applying the Word
After acknowledging that God is always with him in verse 23, now the psalmist declares that God is the greatest desire of his heart. He writes, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” The Apostle Paul would echo this same desire in Philippians 3:8-9:
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him…
When our perspective is properly aligned, God is at the center. This is what happened in the life of this psalmist in verse 17 when he went to the sanctuary to worship. His view of life had been skewed previously through envy, but now it is properly aligned. There is no reason to be envious when you are near to God because nothing is of greater value. Let us fix our eyes on the Lord and tell of His goodness!
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