Zeroing in on Himself

Psalm 73:24-26 "You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

When I read this, I realized in a fresh way what the purpose of my life is in God’s eyes – through all His wisdom and planned days and seasons, to bring my soul to this point of Davidic exclamation; to get me to think, feel, know, believe and then finally exclaim, “Earth has nothing I desire besides you”.

We readily speak or sing these words, but when the pressure is on or the opportunity for self-construction presents itself, we so often merely slip back into our own autonomous worlds. We forge our own way; we jostle through; we plot and plan; we love those who love us and despise those who ignore or offend us. But God did not save us through the agony of Jesus merely to have us saved on the outside and imprisoned on the inside. He saved us “to know Him better”; and in knowing Him better, to be freed from our own preoccupation with 'me'. He released us from the gaol of small-mindedness and the tattooed motto of all fallen humanity, being “Earth has nothing I desire besides me”.

This is the miracle of all miracles. We were not saved by the natural way; and neither can we grow by the natural way; or the church way; or the group way; or the magnificent-moment way.

Oh God, persevere with us all; and bring us to the Davidic heart and cry of “You are my portion forever”.

N