Wednesday 29 October, 2014

1 God is truly good to Israel. He is good to those who have pure hearts. 2 But my feet had almost slipped. I had almost tripped and fallen. 3 I saw that proud and sinful people were doing well. And I began to long for what they had. 4 They don’t have any troubles. Their bodies are healthy and strong. 5 They don’t have the problems others have. They don’t suffer as other people do. 6 Their pride is like a necklace. They put on meanness as if it were their clothes. 7 Many sins come out of their hard and stubborn hearts. There is no limit to their proud and evil thoughts. 8 They laugh at others and speak words of hatred. They are proud. They warn others about the harm they can do to them. 9 They brag as if they owned heaven itself. They talk as if they controlled the earth. 10 So people listen to them. They lap up their words like water. 11 They say, “How can God know what we’re doing? Does the Most High God really know that much?” 12 Here is what sinful people are like. They don’t have a care in the world. They keep getting richer and richer. 13 It seems as if I have kept my heart pure without any reason. It didn’t do me any good to wash my hands to show that I wasn’t guilty of doing anything wrong. 14 Day after day I’ve been in pain. God has punished me every morning. 15 What if I had said, “I will speak as evil people do”? Then I wouldn’t have been faithful to God’s children. 16 I tried to understand it all. But it was more than I could handle. 17 It troubled me until I entered God’s temple. Then I understood what will happen to bad people in the end. 18 God, I’m sure you will make them slip and fall. You will throw them down and destroy them. 19 It will happen very suddenly. A terrible death will take them away completely. 20 A dream goes away when a person wakes up. Lord, it will be like that when you rise up. It will be as if those people were only a dream. 21 At one time my heart was sad and my spirit was bitter. 22 I didn’t have any sense. I didn’t know anything. I acted like a wild animal toward you. 23 But I am always with you. You hold me by my right hand. 24 You give me wise advice to guide me. And when I die, you will take me away into the glory of heaven. 25 I don’t have anyone in heaven but you. I don’t want anything on earth besides you. 26 My body and my heart may grow weak. God, you give strength to my heart. You are everything I will ever need. 27 Those who don’t want anything to do with you will die. You destroy all those who aren’t faithful to you. 28 But I am close to you. And that’s good. Lord and King, I have made you my place of safety. I will talk about everything you have done.

I love this Psalm. How many times I have had bitterness of heart.

“It’s not fair!”

“What’s the point?”

“Does God really know what he is doing?”

“C’mon God, where is my reward?”

This bitterness of heart rises as I scan my circumstances and makes me analyse the world around me with Andrew Mellor in mind.

But the moment I step into the Holy of Holies, the presence of God, suddenly I see clearly and bitterness is swept away by worship and thankfulness.

“Thank you God for opening the way into your presence with the body and blood of Jesus my Saviour! What a joy and delight it is to see things as they really are, to see your supreme governance and ultimate plan!”

Written by Andrew Mellor