HAVING THE RIGHT PERSPECTIVE
And having thee, I desire nothing else on earth. Ps. 73:25, N.E.B.
"It's just not fair! They break all the rules and get all the privileges!" Roger's eyes burned with a mixture of anger and amazement. At 15 he felt things should be cut and dried: the guys in the dorm who messed around should not be having it so good. Yet they were the very ones who seemed able to appropriate every loophole to their advantage. "What good does it do to try to play fair?" The muscles in his cheeks were tense.
Probably every person on earth has, at some time or another, had such sentiments. David certainly did. He lamented, "My feet had almost slipped, my foothold had all but given away, because the boasts of sinners roused my envy when I saw how they prosper" (Ps. 73:2, 3, N.E.B.).
He continued, "And so my people follow their lead and find nothing to blame in them, even though they say, 'What does God know? The Most High neither knows nor cares.' So wicked men talk, yet still they prosper, and rouges amass great wealth." David then indulges in a bit of self-pity: "So it was all in vain that I kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I suffer torment and am punished every morning" (verses 10-14, N.E.B.).
However, David knew God too well to remain in such a state of agitation. Catching himself before going any further with his feelings, he admits, "Yet had I let myself talk on in this fashion, I should have betrayed the family of God. So I set myself to think this out but I found it too hard for me, until I went into God's sacred courts; there I saw clearly what their end would be....I am always with thee, thou holdest my right hand; thou dost guide me by thy counsel and afterwards wilt receive me with glory....They who are far from thee are lost" (verses 15-27), N.E.B.).
Only as we are totally satisfied in our relationship with the Father can we accept that God's continued blessing of the wicked robs us of nothing! His choice to love people to wholeness instead of "giving them what they have coming"--even when they take advantage of this posture--can never diminish the fact that "God is [our] possession for ever" (verse 26, N.E.B.).
Having Him, we shall desire nothing else on earth.
And having thee, I desire nothing else on earth. Ps. 73:25, N.E.B.
"It's just not fair! They break all the rules and get all the privileges!" Roger's eyes burned with a mixture of anger and amazement. At 15 he felt things should be cut and dried: the guys in the dorm who messed around should not be having it so good. Yet they were the very ones who seemed able to appropriate every loophole to their advantage. "What good does it do to try to play fair?" The muscles in his cheeks were tense.
Probably every person on earth has, at some time or another, had such sentiments. David certainly did. He lamented, "My feet had almost slipped, my foothold had all but given away, because the boasts of sinners roused my envy when I saw how they prosper" (Ps. 73:2, 3, N.E.B.).
He continued, "And so my people follow their lead and find nothing to blame in them, even though they say, 'What does God know? The Most High neither knows nor cares.' So wicked men talk, yet still they prosper, and rouges amass great wealth." David then indulges in a bit of self-pity: "So it was all in vain that I kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence. For all day long I suffer torment and am punished every morning" (verses 10-14, N.E.B.).
However, David knew God too well to remain in such a state of agitation. Catching himself before going any further with his feelings, he admits, "Yet had I let myself talk on in this fashion, I should have betrayed the family of God. So I set myself to think this out but I found it too hard for me, until I went into God's sacred courts; there I saw clearly what their end would be....I am always with thee, thou holdest my right hand; thou dost guide me by thy counsel and afterwards wilt receive me with glory....They who are far from thee are lost" (verses 15-27), N.E.B.).
Only as we are totally satisfied in our relationship with the Father can we accept that God's continued blessing of the wicked robs us of nothing! His choice to love people to wholeness instead of "giving them what they have coming"--even when they take advantage of this posture--can never diminish the fact that "God is [our] possession for ever" (verse 26, N.E.B.).
Having Him, we shall desire nothing else on earth.
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