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.