Treasure God for Who He is

When we kids were small, we used to love to go to the apple trees at our grandpa's house and choose an apple to snack on. It was a big deal for us - we monitored those luscious red orbs closely to see when they would be "just right." We'd stand on tiptoes (or, truth be known, climb up in the tree after making sure none of the adults were watching) and examine them for blemishes, holes, or (ew!) worms. We had our eye on the one that we wanted; we hoped it would be crisp but sweet, with that satisfying crunch as our teeth went through the sun-warmed peel . . . 

We treasured the chance to choose and eat those apples. I often heard grandma whispering the verse in Proverbs about apples of gold, when we would trudge back to the screened porch to eat our cherished apples. (And I don't think any apples since then have tasted quite so wonderful. Just sayin'.)

We are focused today on the treasure of God our Father. We should treasure Him above all else - He is the only One Who can satisfy and sustain us all through eternity!

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. (Psalm 73:25-26)

Asaph has been thinking about God's grace in holding his hand, and sustaining him through his "phase" of doubting God's fairness; now he moves from merely following God to also treasuring Him for Who He is.

You see, dear reader, we all must thank God for His blessings, but we should treasure God Himself as the CHIEF blessing. The biggest. The best. The most valuable blessing of all.

His blessings to us are innumerable and precious.

Oh, how great is Your goodness,

Which You have laid up for those who fear You,

Which You have prepared for those who trust in You

In the presence of the sons of men! (Psalm 31:19)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3)

From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace. (John 1:16)

We would be in error, Asaph says, if we treasured the blessings above God Himself.

But can we honestly say, "Besides You, I desire nothing on earth"? Wow, that's tough. That's pretty radical! Can we make sense of that? Shouldn't we desire our spouse? Shouldn't we desire to have a close relationship with our kids and our grandkids? 

It really IS a tough one to explain. Because the Bible does command us to love our families. We are given instructions on how to care for, guide, instruct, and love them. 

Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12)

If anyone does not provide for his own, and especially his own household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. (I Timothy 5:8)

But as Jesus told His followers, we must love Him even more than our families. We must love Him more than our own lives.

Large crowds were now traveling with Jesus, and He turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:25-26)

This verse often causes problems for believers, but Jesus' statement must be seen in relation to the whole of scripture. His point is not that we should be heartless toward our families, but that we should love Him more. He told a parable after that about counting the cost of being a disciple. Following Him requires commitment and faithfulness, and we must be willing to give up everything for the greatest treasure. Even if we are faced with painful choices of loyalty to family versus loyalty to Him, we must choose Jesus. What I believe Jesus meant is that we must prioritize our relationship with Him over our relationships with parents and other family members.

He even said that we must be able to surrender our own life - He wasn't teaching us to hate ourselves. That's not emotionally healthy. He was emphasizing the concept of showing our relationship with Him preference over all earthly ties - even to life itself. Many of us will never have to make the painful choice of turning our backs on family or on life. But around the world, there are believers who face shunning, disowning, physical torture, and death, in order to be true to Christ.

Paul teaches us the correct perspective:

Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. (I Timothy 6:17-19)

We should always thank God for His blessings, but we should treasure God Himself as the greatest blessing.

Memorial Day - prayer

 

We are blessed to have a nation of brave men and women who have sacrificed greatly for our country. Our great nation celebrates and commemorates their memory on Memorial Day in honor of their courage and service. 

Father,

Thank you that in our nation today, we are free to worship. We are free to pray. We are free to read your Word.  We are free to speak.  We are free to share. For this, we are incredibly grateful. Yet, we understand how quickly these freedoms can be taken away. Give us an increased awareness of the spiritual battle we’re in. Help us to stand strong in you and for your purposes.

Thank you that as believers, we can be assured, you will never leave us, and are with us always, in this life, and the next.

Thank you for your truth that says, who the Son sets free is free indeed! We know that in you alone, true freedom is found. In Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen. 

(Courtesy of Debby McDaniel, on Crosswalk.com) 

Friday slowdown

 The Lord is our treasure.

Treasure - He uses our failures to counsel

Yesterday, we read that Asaph became more confident that God would firmly hold his hand through his struggles - and that's a wonderful promise for us, too.

In verse 24, we see that Asaph is also certain that the Lord will counsel and guide him along his way - all the way until Asaph was safely home in glory. Again, this is a precious promise for us, as well.

You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

Would Asaph stumble again? Probably.

Will we stumble? I betcha; I know I likely will!  Another treasure from our Father is that He can use our failures to nudge us - we will seek His Word and His Spirit, and He can then counsel us.

The Lord makes firm the steps

of the one who delights in him;

24though he may stumble, he will not fall,

for the Lord upholds him with his hand. (Psalm 37:23-24, NIV)

Dear believer, even if you stumble and even if you fall, if the Lord has redeemed you, He will keep you! Jesus told us this, many years after these psalms were written:

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.40For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” (John 6:38-40)

This should certainly reassure our hearts, and give us words to "defend the hope we have within" us!

Our Creator, our Father God counsels us and guides us through His Word and also His Spirit.  As we read, ponder, and study His Word, the Lord uses it to teach us how to live. He instructs us on how to please Him. He counsels us on how to be more like Him. 

The important thing about our studies (and a principle that I try to adhere to in these studies) is that we must interpret the Word of God properly. Two guidelines that can help are these: first, be careful to study the context of each verse; pulling something out and using it "out of context" can get us on the wrong track. Secondly, we must use Scripture to interpret Scripture. This means that we will search for other verses that "agree with" or bolster the meaning that we think we see in our studies. All of this is beyond us -- we must ask the Holy Spirit to give us wisdom and understanding! 

If we see something and we think it's a contradiction, we must remember that the Spirit never guides us to disobey the Word of God. We must pray for Him to guide us in the proper interpretation of the verses we are studying. Then we can apply those Scriptures to our lives.

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. (James 1:22-25)

God is our treasure. We'll study more on this next week . . . aren't we all glad that God is faithful to us in our failures, and uses them to help and to guide us? 
Amen!

Treasure: God's love for us

 

We mentioned yesterday that Peter had some massive failures, especially when he denied Jesus three times . . . Peter learned that he wasn't so all-fired strong as he thought he was. He learned that the strength he needed was NOT in him, but in God.

He also learned something else: God uses our failures to show His faithful love for us. Here's what Asaph said:

Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand. (Psalm 73:23, NIV)

In the preceding verse, Asaph had kinda been kicking himself in the butt, telling himself, "Wow, I can't believe what a dummy I was!"  And that is part of what repentance for our sins is -- seeing how stupid it was for us to do or say the sinful thing! But Asaph wants us to know that God gave him a deeper understanding of His love. You see, as he is kicking himself for being (verse 22) "senseless," we read that wonderful word: yet. In other translations it says "nevertheless." 

Asaph realized that God had not walked away. He'd not abandoned Asaph, in spite of his senseless, ignorant behavior. Even though Asaph had almost slipped, God was still holding firmly to his hand!

What a precious realization!!

To become a Christian, we must come to the place where we see how terrible our sin is before our holy Father. We must see ourselves as senseless and ignorant before Him, just as Asaph did. But the very instant that God opens our eyes to see the good news:

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst (I Timothy 1:15)

.....that is the instant that we understand that wonderful word, nevertheless. Even though. In spite of. However we want to phrase it, it is glorious!

Paul describes the same thing in Ephesians; instead of "nevertheless" he writes "but":

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:4-5)

So here is the treasure of God's faithful love for us . . . He gives us grace and mercy and love in spite of our sins. 
And yes, as we try to live the Christian life, we will fail sometimes, just like the psalmist. Just like Peter. And when we do, and when we come to our senses again, we will realized in an even deeper way that His loves us in spite of our sin. He's still there. He's still firmly holding our hand!

 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

 Amen!

The best treasure, continued

Gold.  Silver.  Gems.

No, wait. 

Health.  Loved ones.  The Bible.

Getting warmer . . . 

We should treasure God above all else. That is what Asaph learned, and it's what he wants us to "get" from this psalm. In the first half of Psalm 73, Asaph almost went off the rails.  The Lord had not given him the things that he "wanted." He wanted enough money to enjoy the good life because he saw the wicked and sinful people enjoying that good life. He couldn't understand at first why all that he'd received since he had begun to keep his heart pure - was pain and trouble! 

But in the second half of the psalm, Asaph reveals that he made a discovery. This discovery made all the difference for him: God Himself is the treasure that we should seek. Earthly treasures will be gone in the twinkling of an eye - they'll be burned up at the moment of death and judgment. But God alone can (and will) satisfy the longings of our hearts, both now and in eternity.

Some believers seek God for the blessings that they wish to receive. They may not have fallen for the prosperity/miracles plans that some tele-evangelists preach, but they still are following the Lord because they are hoping for good things. Perhaps it's a happy family life. Perhaps they wish for cooperative children. Maybe they see a Christian family who appears to have all "their ducks in a row" and they decide to follow God so that they can have that kind of life, too. Maybe they realize it won't be the wealthiest life they can have, but they believe God will shield them from troubles . . . 

Sometimes our troubles increase, instead of decrease. Sometimes our obstacles get larger. Or more numerous.

God wants us to see that He is our treasure. He is sufficient to satisfy the thirsty soul - He's far better than any earthly blessing or treasure!

Asaph tells us that we should treasure God above all else - because He is faithful to us when we fail. That seems kinda counter-intuitive, no?  In human terms, we expect some regrets, perhaps discipline or punishment....at any rate, we expect consequences when we fail. That's not to say that we have no consequences after failures....but they are different. Let's look back at our psalm.

Thus my heart was grieved,

And I was vexed in my mind.

22I was so foolish and ignorant;

I was like a beast before You.

23Nevertheless I am continually with You;

You hold me by my right hand.

24You will guide me with Your counsel,

And afterward receive me to glory. (vs 21-24)

Asaph is pointing to the fact that he learned from (God taught him) his failures. God is able to use our failures - many times it's to give us a deeper understanding of our total need to rely upon Him. 

We all, as humans, have too high a view of ourselves. We are often guilty of thinking we can live the Christians life in our own strength. The Lord permits us to learn valued lessons when we fail - one of these is to teach us our absolute need for Him. You see, about the time we start thinking, "Well, I have learned my lesson. I will NEVER fall into that sin again!" 

Look out! That's the time to be extra careful! 

So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! (I Corinthians 10:12, NIV)

This is a principle that is illustrated multiple times in our Bible! I guess the absolutely clearest example is our old friend, Peter . . . . The Lord could have prevented Peter's abject failure; Satan had gotten permission to "sift him like wheat," and God didn't have to grant that demand. After all, all He had to say was "Begone!" and Satan would have had to flee. But in His wisdom, God knew that this would teach Peter (and us) an extremely painful but necessary lesson. 

It was going to teach Peter that he was not as strong as he thought he was. He had protested loudly (and kinda proudly, if the truth be known) that even if all the others fell away, he would stand firm. (If you want to refresh your memory of this, you can check out Mark 14.)  Peter had to fail. He had to learn not to trust in himself - our lives as believers sometimes include getting knocked off our feet. Why? so that we learn not to trust in ourselves, but totally trust in the Lord.

Peter also learned something about the love of God for us; we'll discuss that part, tomorrow.

The best treasure

Some people dream of finding treasure. Some people go to great lengths and huge expenses to search for buried treasure or treasures under the sea. How long now, has that series been on television, where people have invested millions of dollars to try to find treasure on an island (Oak Island) in Nova Scotia?

How many millions of dollars and thousands of man-hours have been expended by explorers like Ballard and others who search the ocean floor for old ships and the treasures they held? There are places along the coast of Florida where people scramble through the breakers after a fierce storm has pummeled the coast....they sometimes find a handful of doubloons or "pieces of eight" for their trouble.

What do we treasure most of all in life?
What do we spend our time and effort working for?

Whatever we think will bring us the most happiness is usually what we exert the most effort towards . . . it would be horrible for someone to spend their lives looking for a hidden treasure, only to find it and discover that it didn't bring the happiness they dreamed of!

In Psalm 73, Asaph has been painfully honest with us. He has told us how he almost slipped and fell from his relationship with God - because he had been envious of the wicked. Oh, how he wanted their treasures. He wanted their easy prosperity and their seeming contentment. He was comparing their lives with his own troubles since he'd begun to follow God. He came really close to concluding he was wasting his time!

Then, he went into the sanctuary of God and he realized the end of the wicked: God will sweep them away in a flash of sudden judgment. He saw that he was jealous of a "treasure" that would crumble into dust in his hands. So, he focused on the ONLY treasure that can satisfy for time and for eternity: God. In the final verses of Psalm 73 he is going to share with us that we should treasure God above all else.

When my heart was embittered

And I was pierced within,

22Then I was senseless and ignorant;

I was like a beast before You.

23Nevertheless I am continually with You;

You have taken hold of my right hand.

24With Your counsel You will guide me,

And afterward receive me to glory.

25Whom have I in heaven but You?

And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

26My flesh and my heart may fail,

But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

27For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;

You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.

28But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;

I have made the Lord God my refuge,

That I may tell of all Your works.

Please re-read this each day as we study together. 

Leave the pity-party behind, conclusion

Asaph ends his psalm by recovering his perspective; he is looking at things "the right way" now, the way that God would have us view things.

He realized that God is truly good to His people - and even more importantly, he realized that God had been with him through the whole ordeal. 

Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand. (v. 23)

Like many of us have realized when we come through a long and difficult trial, it's not because we had a strong grip on God, but because He had a strong grip on us!

Asaph is comforted by the fact that God will counsel and guide him and then receive him into glory - this is a precious promise for us, as well!

You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory. (v 24)

The remainder of the psalm is almost too wonderful for words:

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.     you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God.
    I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge;
    I will tell of all your deeds. (v 25- 28)

Those who are far from you will perish;

Asaph is telling us that he now knows God is his chief treasure. He says he sees that God Himself is enough. He is the treasure - of course, He gives us so many blessings, but He is the main blessing. If we can say with Asaph that He is the strength of our heart and our portion forever, we have it all!

If we are struggling with whether or not God is "fair," perhaps He is not our best and brightest treasure - far above earthly prosperity. The blessings of the godly are eternal; it's our trials that are short! 

Lord, help me to honestly say, "Besides You, I desire nothing."

As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; (Psalm 42:1-2a)

Leaving the pity party behind, part II

We mentioned in passing that verse 17 of our psalm had another action item for us; here's another way for us to leave the pity party behind:

till I entered the sanctuary of God;
    then I understood their final destiny. (Psalm 73:17)

Asaph says to take time to meet with God and with His people. He didn't get his full answer; he didn't get things sorted out until he went into the sanctuary of God. Then he understood the end of the wicked - he understood that God will bring them to judgment. The Hebrew word translated sanctuary refers to the tabernacle (later on, that would be the temple) where God would show His holiness and His comforting presence. 

Asaph doesn't tell us about his epiphany. He doesn't clue us in on what scripture helped, or if someone (a priest or other godly person) said something that helped him. But he says he got his muddled thinking cleared up by meeting with God.

Some scholars have interpreted the sanctuary as referring to God's Word, because the scrolls were stored in the sanctuary. That may be true, but it's no cause for argument. We can all agree that we need God's Word to get our Father's perspective on how to deal with obstacles, trials, and heartaches of life. We truly need private time in the Word, and we need time in prayer. We can ask the Spirit to help us and give us understanding of what we study. We must take time to meet with God in His holy place, and within our hearts, too, as they are His throne.

God's sanctuary is also the place where the people gathered for worship. The scholars tell us that Asaph might have been avoiding gathering with others for worship. Being isolated feeds depression, and makes for pity-parties! We should not keep to ourselves when we are struggling - get to the sanctuary!

Asaph also gained perspective on death, and on the judgment of the wicked (verses 18-22). He saw that the sinners, who were proud, defiant, and comfortable in their powerful positions, were actually in slippery places! 

Surely you place them on slippery ground;
    you cast them down to ruin. (v. 18)

These people were like a man or woman walking along without a care, and then they step on a patch of ice, or a fruit peel (or a Lego piece) and go crashing to the ground. It may seem to everyone that God is not noticing - but Asaph says the wicked will be destroyed in a flash. 

How suddenly are they destroyed,
    completely swept away by terrors! (v. 19)

If there is one thing that is abundantly clear in our Bible, it's that no one will escape death and judgment. We must keep eternity in mind, and not be like senseless beasts. 

And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment,  (Hebrews 9:27)

So, then, how do we leave the pity party behind us? Realize we are responsible to others for what we say and do, take time to think biblically before we "leap," meet with God and learn from Him, and keep eternity in mind.

Leaving the pity party behind

We touched on this yesterday, but the best way out of the "life is not fair," pity party is to look at things with God's perspective if we can. 

I'm not going to gloss over it. It's a difficult problem. But we need to begin by remembering the words of our Father:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

It's easy for us to get caught up in these thoughts. For us, a few years can seem like an eternity. But Peter reminded us (II Peter 3:8) that for God, a thousand years can be like a day! 

Also, God's ways are often mysterious to us. There is no way for our finite minds to comprehend unless we study His Word. To understand His ways, we must pray for the Spirit to open our eyes and then open His book. (Check out I Corinthians 2:6-13 when you have a chance today, and this will help guide us in our studies.)

Asaph gave us some "action items," in the language of today - he told us some things that the psalmist did to leave his distress behind. The first one is found in verse fifteen:

If I had spoken out like that,
    I would have betrayed your children. (Psalm 73:15)

Asaph suddenly realized he had a responsibility to others. If he had stopped at verse fourteen, and if he'd gone around grousing about the "unfairness" he perceived, he would have betrayed God's children. He would have been increasing the size of the pity party! He realized that he couldn't just tell everybody what he'd been thinking about the prosperity of the wicked (and the trials of the godly) without also telling everyone about the solution that he had reached. So, he turned away from his self-focus and decided to live up to his responsibility.

We, too, are responsible not just to God, but to each other. The things that we say can impact our families. Our remarks can influence folks in the family of believers. What we say can also influence those who are outside the family of God - influence for good or for evil. Think about what happens if we grumble about God's "unfairness" in front of our kids or our grandkids! We may turn them against following the Lord! That is a thought that should really impact us and make us think about what we say. We may not be in a leadership position in the Christian family, but there are those around us who watch our example, and they also listen to our words. So, before we "spout off" we must realize our responsibility to other believers and to unbelievers, too.

Asaph had another "action item" for us: we need to take time to think biblically about matters before we act. 

Yep. That's an important one!

When I tried to understand all this,
    it troubled me deeply (Psalm 73:16)

Another translation says that he "pondered" to understand this. This was not a quick discussion with himself, or a fast consultation with his favorite verses. He had to think long and hard. (In fact, the next verse says he didn't get the full answer until he went into the sanctuary, but we'll cover that later.) The point is, he took the time to think carefully about things and to compare his thoughts with God's Word.

Wow, if we would do this consistently, we would avoid so many problems! I don't guess very many people would get drunk or high, if they stopped to think about what they're doing! Especially if they think about it in light of scripture! After all, God tells us in His Word that our bodies are His temple, and that we must be good stewards of His gifts . . . why use drugs or get drunk? It may give a few moments of relief from pain or problems, but those things will destroy us, impoverish us, and enslave us. 

The same can be said about many sins; if we would take the time to think biblically about where the sin will take us, we would avoid it! 
We'll look at Asaph's other action items next time, so we can leave the pity party behind us!