And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.
My flesh and my heart fail;
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."
(Ps 73:25-26)
I must confess that these verses pierce me in my deepest parts. The psalmist here had come to a place in his experience with God where he could truly say "there is none upon the earth that I desire besides you". I suppose that if he had not truly been there in his heart the Holy Spirit would not have seen fit to allow these statements in the Holy Scriptures. So, these being the true cries of this man's heart I find myself feeling miserably shallow in my walk with God. Something terrifying that I've discovered about my self is that; as much as I love the Lord and am grateful to the Lord for all He's done; for me and in me and all that He will do, I still find myself at times being a man who is desiring the blessings and power of God more than God Himself.
Maybe you can relate to my experiences; things aren't going the way you'd hoped they would be, or happening as quickly as you'd hoped they might and so you're feeling a bit blue for a season, until suddenly there's a glimmer of hope, a sliver of light and you think 'could it be...are things really changing ?' You now find yourself a bit more upbeat, you've got a new pep in your step, things are really seeming to be looking better. There's a renewed sense of the presence of God in your life because after all...things are really happening!...Then...Bam!, wait a minute what happened? What changed? You're no longer seeing what you saw before, maybe things have even gotten worse, and there you are again feeling just as you did before (despite what you know Theologically) you're wondering in some way...'has the Lord left me?' The answer is obviously... NO!...He hasn't.
I am discovering something in my own walk with the Lord that has given me fresh perspective, and a deeper sense of purpose in life and I hope it blesses you as much as it is blessing me.
It is so easy to let our experiences fool us into sensing a nearness or (in contrast) a distance with the Lord. Our experiences do not dictate our nearness to the Lord. When I speak of "nearness to the Lord" I'm not speaking about from God's perspective, for He is always near us. I am talking about from our perspective as people. As you read the entirety of Psalm 73 you find a man who had a problem of seeing blessings and power given to ungodly men and he made the mistake of equating; what God gives and the presence of God Himself. it's a mistake to make experience; whether blessings or tribulations the litmus test to the presence of God in our lives. He is with us through it all no matter what.
This is the key for me; the point of the Christian life is just to know Him. It's the pinnacle of our Christian walk. When I'm truly thirsting for God, not God as an idea or as a source of blessing, but the living God Himself through Christ....My life is truly as purposeful and spiritual as it will ever be. To come to the place of saying truly that..."God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" not experience or achievement but just..Him. Anything short of that is to I believe misunderstand the point of the Christian life....I'm not totally there yet, however my heart is longing to be and I am confident that I will be one day. Though at times I feel that..."my heart condemns me, God is greater than my heart"(1 John 3:20). The Apsotle's Paul and John had come to that place of desiring only Him and Him alone...nothing less, nothing more. It's my prayer that I too will be able to say with absolute honesty... "I desire nothing more but to know Him". Let's make that our prayer....Lord, I want to say like the Psalmist... "You are my portion forever "and that's enough for me! Thank you for taking time to let me share with you whats on my heart.
Blessings to you.
Ps: Here's the Pic's we promised.
I am discovering something in my own walk with the Lord that has given me fresh perspective, and a deeper sense of purpose in life and I hope it blesses you as much as it is blessing me.
It is so easy to let our experiences fool us into sensing a nearness or (in contrast) a distance with the Lord. Our experiences do not dictate our nearness to the Lord. When I speak of "nearness to the Lord" I'm not speaking about from God's perspective, for He is always near us. I am talking about from our perspective as people. As you read the entirety of Psalm 73 you find a man who had a problem of seeing blessings and power given to ungodly men and he made the mistake of equating; what God gives and the presence of God Himself. it's a mistake to make experience; whether blessings or tribulations the litmus test to the presence of God in our lives. He is with us through it all no matter what.
This is the key for me; the point of the Christian life is just to know Him. It's the pinnacle of our Christian walk. When I'm truly thirsting for God, not God as an idea or as a source of blessing, but the living God Himself through Christ....My life is truly as purposeful and spiritual as it will ever be. To come to the place of saying truly that..."God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" not experience or achievement but just..Him. Anything short of that is to I believe misunderstand the point of the Christian life....I'm not totally there yet, however my heart is longing to be and I am confident that I will be one day. Though at times I feel that..."my heart condemns me, God is greater than my heart"(1 John 3:20). The Apsotle's Paul and John had come to that place of desiring only Him and Him alone...nothing less, nothing more. It's my prayer that I too will be able to say with absolute honesty... "I desire nothing more but to know Him". Let's make that our prayer....Lord, I want to say like the Psalmist... "You are my portion forever "and that's enough for me! Thank you for taking time to let me share with you whats on my heart.
Blessings to you.
Ps: Here's the Pic's we promised.
Calvary Chapel Men's & Women's conferences.
Farm Children ministry
Love, The Portland's
3 comments:
Beautiful.
He is truly our "portion"!
Praying always,
~The Nazemi Clan
Hey Mike and Misty.
we miss you guys. I can relate to your post.
Joel
Hey guys. Thanks for you're humility and honesty. It was a blessing to hear and a massive challenge that the Lord has also been pressing upon our hearts concerning ministry. The village we live in is hard and dark spiritually and many of the youth that were once close to the Lord have walked away. We have battled for a long time with feeling like the Lord's presence had somehow left us until recently he gave us a passage from Habbakuk. We realised that the 'fruit' of ministry is in our own lives. God has always been here and always will be, it's whether or not we choose to walk with Him holding His hand or just behind Him wishing we were next to Him.
We've been so blessed to see your relationships grow with the kids on the farms, it is a massive encouragement for us.
1 Thess 2:7-13. God Bless You.
Post a Comment