Perspective

SCRIPTURE: Psalm 73:21-26 NLT Then I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant—I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

THOUGHT: The psalmist’s “ah-ha” here flows out of a deep struggle to understand why the wicked prosper. Like me too often, he feels jealousy and a sense of futility over the results of his own efforts to follow God. And very much like Job, who receives no answers for his pain except that God is much bigger than he imagined, the psalmist goes to worship (v. 17), and gets an enlarged view of God: in control, with him, guiding and leading to something glorious. Suddenly, the truth of his own heart becomes clearer. He has been bitter, torn up, foolish and ignorant, but God has set him upright again.

If you’re struggling to make sense of it all today, go to worship – and take Psalm 73 with you. Remember God’s big presence and big purposes and gain perspective. Meditate on verse 20: “When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning.”

Remember that when you fail and feel bitter, torn up, foolish or ignorant, God remains the strength of your heart, in permanent residence there, forever.

PRAYER: Whom have I in heaven but you, oh God? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God, you remain the strength of my heart, and you are mine forever.