DRAW NEAR TO GOD

Today’s Reading: Psalm 73

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Mount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 80 km southwest from Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. In Greek mythology Olympus was the home of the twelve Olympian gods of the ancient Greek world.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Psalm 73:24-25

You will guide me with Your counsel,

And afterward receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but You?

And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.

Psalm 73 was composed by Asaph, one of David’s choir leaders. It appears that doubt had crept into Asaph’s mind about his own relationship with God. Was it worthwhile? Did it make any difference? While he had these questions, he knew that his responsibility to his generation as a leader must take first priority. We may want to read a second time Psalm 73:15-17. He refused to be “untrue to the generation of Your children.” His thinking turned around when “he went into the sanctuary of God.” Faithfully attending the House of God, worshipping God in His sanctuary, and hearing the preaching of the Word of God will adjust our thinking in a most positive direction. Asaph concludes, in the final statement of the Psalm, that “It is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works!”

This Hymn continued to be sung for hundreds of years (read 2 Chronicles 29:27-31).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, my desire is to draw closer to You every day without missing even one day. I thank You for giving me grace to be faithful in praising You for Who You are and for giving me discipline in my daily reading of Your Word! May I learn from Asaph how vitally important it is that I represent You to others, particularly the children, in a consistent and true way. I pray this in the Name of the One who is always faithful, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I’ve struggled with the same concerns that Asaph puts into words. Asaph writes, “But as for me, my feet almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped” (73:2). But as with Asaph, I did not stumble or slip. The grace of God was given to me, and I determined to concentrate on the Scriptures, on prayer, and on the Person and work of Jesus Christ! The second to last book of the Bible, Jude, has serious warnings about those who may have served God faithfully at one time, but at some point in their lives they stumbled and fell away from living like Jesus lived. Some in ministry have brought shame upon the reputation of the Lord, the Pastor/Teacher and the Evangelist. In Jude I find words such as “licentiousness” and “sexual immorality.” They “reject authority” and practice “greed.” Jude, the brother of James, is hard on those who claim to be teachers and who live, “according to their own lusts, mouth great swelling words, and gain advantage by flattering people.” Jude says that there are those who are “sensual persons, who cause divisions” (click here to read Jude). I’m thrilled to read the concluding words of Jude, “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Saviour, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen!”

Yours as a sinner saved by grace alone,

David