Psalm 73:23-28—Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel; and
afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And
there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart
fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For
indeed, those who are far from you shall perish; You have destroyed all those
who desert you for harlotry. 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 Your works.
A. From worshiping God, the psalmist is able to
evaluate his own future (vv. 23-24)
1. Present—“I am continually with Thee”
2. Past—“Thou hast held me by my right
hand”
3. Future—“Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel,
and afterward receive me to glory.”
B. From being in God’s presence, Asaph was able
to evaluate time in light of eternity and earth in the light of heaven (vv.
25-26; Philippians 1:21). People have the mistaken idea that eternal life
is simply endless time, an unlimited quantity of years. Eternal life is
beyond time, it is the very life of God in the believer today. When you
trust Jesus Christ, you receive eternal life, so that, for you, heaven has
already begun within your own heart. You are living in time, but enjoying
eternity. God is with us, God is holding us, God is guiding us, and one
day God will usher us into glory.
C. From asking God to make sense of things,
Asaph changed—he went from having slippery feet to coming into a strong faith.
Remember what Paul said in Philippians 1:21. Remember Jim Elliot,
who was killed over 50 years ago as a young missionary in
Ecuador. (Jim met his wife at Wheaton College in the 1950's, as my
parents did in the 1920's,) Elliot said: He is no fool to
give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. Have the right
values of life and death.
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