‘Whom Have I…?’

Whom have I in heaven but thee?  and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.

Psalm 73:25

There are particular texts of Scripture which summarize in a few words the experience of the believer.  Such a text lies before us today.  Here is a ‘well of salvation’ to which we happily return again and again.  After Asaph has come to his senses regarding the goodness of God and the rightness of His ways, he confesses, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee?  and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.’  This is a conclusion to which we all must come.  We love and appreciate all the ones who in our life are near and dear to us.  We value them and enjoy their company.  We love them greatly and know that they love us.  Above all these earthly family members and friends,  however dear, there is Christ and our relationship with Him.  Christ is our Creator, our Sustainer, and our Friend.  We are, because He is.  ‘In Him we live and move and have our being.’  All of our other earthly connections exist because of Him.  Therefore, in order of importance we say, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee?  and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.’  This brings us to speak with Him about matters great and small.  It causes us to seek His counsel and to enjoy the comfortable sense of His Presence.  This enables us to seek Him early and late.  No one else compares to the ‘Altogether Lovely One.’  He is ‘the Fairest of ten thousand…the Root and Offspring of David…and the Bright and Morning Star.’  He is ours and we are His forever.

Our Good and Gracious Savior,
we rejoice that You are our greatest possession.
We praise You that in having You, we have all things.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

 

‘By My Right Hand’

‘…Thou hast holden me by my right hand.’

Psalm 73:23b

Christ is very patient, even with the most petulant of His people.  Early on in the 73rd Psalm, Asaph had demonstrated some of this sulkiness.  He ‘was envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.’  He felt very sorry for himself and foolishly declared, ‘Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.’  He was basically asserting that he had wasted his time in following God and adhering to His ways.  It was not until he began to see things from God’s perspective that he realized that he was behaving like a brat.  At that point, Asaph began to confess his bad behavior and attitude to God as being ‘foolish and ignorant.’  He never loses sight of the Character of God.  Yesterday, we considered the first half of our text.  Today, we dwell upon the words, ‘You hold me by my right hand.’  As adults, we have often found ourselves holding the hand of a petulant child.  They bawl, fuss, and whine over some perceived inequity.  They strain and may even attempt to pull away.  Yet as patient, mature people, we continue to hold them by their right hand until they come to their senses.  Christ treats us very much the same way.  We have miserably bad attitudes because of some perceived inequity.  Christ continues to hold our hand until we come to our senses.  We may even twist and turn, trying to get away from Him, yet He patiently holds our right hand while we slowly mature.  Today, let us magnify our patient, gracious, and longsuffering Savior.

Our Good and Kind Savior,
we praise You for Your patience with us.
We rejoice that even though we change very often,
You change not.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning

 

‘Nevertheless’

Nevertheless I am continually with thee….

Psalm 73:23a

Asaph had struggled deeply with the apparent inequities of God’s dispensations of providence.  He was, ‘envious of the boastful, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.’  Ultimately, Asaph came to see things from God’s perspective, which is the essence of true spiritual wisdom.  Having come to the understanding that he has, Asaph is convicted about his attitude and his spirit.  He confesses his sin most particularly in verse 22, ‘So foolish was I, and ignorant:  I was as a beast before thee.’ What follows his confession is our text for today.  He says, ‘Nevertheless I am continually with You.’  This is important to us.  Like Asaph, we see apparent inequities in the dispensations of God’s providence.  We may become angry and distraught over these apparent inequities.  When we come to a good understanding of the rightness of God’s doings, we also come to conviction and confession.  The remarkable thing is that God does not cast us off for our bad attitude and behavior.  Our testimony is, ‘Nevertheless I am continually with You.’  Even when we have taken issue with God and His dealings of providence, Christ is still ours.  We are continually with Him.  We fail Him, yet He never fails us.  We change, yet He is ‘the same, yesterday, today, and forever.’  If you need to make confession today for your spirit or attitude, do so, with the assurance that Christ is still yours.

Our Kind and Gracious God,
we rejoice that even though we fail You often,
You never fail us.
We confess our sin unto You,
and pray that by Your Holy Spirit,
You will evermore draw our hearts out after Christ.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning