Whom have I in heaven but You?

Psalm 73 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

The End of the Wicked Contrasted with That of the Righteous.

A Psalm of Asaph.

Surely God is good to Israel,
To those who are pure in heart!
² But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.
³ For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
⁴ For there are no pains in their death,
And their body is fat.
⁵ They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like mankind.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace;
The garment of violence covers them.
⁷ Their eye bulges from fatness;
The imaginations of their heart run riot.
⁸ They mock and wickedly speak of oppression;
They speak from on high.
⁹ They have set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue parades through the earth.

¹⁰ Therefore his people return to this place,
And waters of abundance are drunk by them.
¹¹ They say, “How does God know?
And is there knowledge with the Most High?”
¹² Behold, these are the wicked;
And always at ease, they have increased in wealth.
¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure
And washed my hands in innocence;
¹⁴ For I have been stricken all day long
And chastened every morning.

¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
Behold, I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.
¹⁶ When I pondered to understand this,
It was troublesome in my sight
¹⁷ Until I came into the sanctuary of God;
Then I perceived their end.
¹⁸ Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment!
They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!
²⁰ Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.

²¹ When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within,
²² Then I was senseless and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
²³ Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.
²⁴ With Your counsel You will guide me,
And afterward receive me to glory.

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but You?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
²⁷ For, behold, those who are far from You will perish;
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.
²⁸ But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
That I may tell of all Your works.

The psalmist says: Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart!  But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped.  For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them.
How easy is it to, like the psalmist, see the arrogance and violence of the wicked and rebellious and become envious?  In the world it often seems as though those who are dishonest and those who are self seeking are the ones who are most successful and prosperous. The world even has a saying that: “nice guys finish last.” Jesus taught us to pray saying:  Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.   Colossians 3:2 says:  Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.  We need to remember that this life and all of its seeming treasures and rewards are temporary. With God we need to look to what is eternal. We need to seek and set our minds on the kingdom of heaven. In Mark 8:36-38 Jesus says:  “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

The psalmist says: When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight  Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end.  Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction.  How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors!  Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.  When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within,  Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.  Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.  With Your counsel You will guide me,
And afterward receive me to glory.    It is not until we come into and see from the sanctuary of God that we can truly see and understand the realities of the kingdom of heaven. In Isaiah 6:3, when we are given a glimpse into heaven, we are told what the Seraphim do and say:  one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”  From heavens perspective we see the glory of God on earth. In Isaiah 54:8-9 God Himself says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.  “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts.”  Like the psalmist, if we allow our hearts to be affected and driven by the things of the world we become ignorant to the things of God. God’s desire is to take us by the hand; to guide us and to both reveal and give us the fullness of His glory. As Jesus taught us to pray, that glory is not only for a time in the eternal future, but it is to be on earth as it is in heaven. God wants us to know and experience His glory here and now.

The psalmist says: Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.  For the psalmist it is on earth as it is in heaven. God is his all in all.  My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.   There will come a time for each one of us that these earthly bodies of flesh will fail. But with God that is nothing to fear. In Psalm 23:4 David says:  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me.   In Philippians 1:21 Paul says:  For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.  If we live for Christ, then death is nothing to fear. It will be on earth as it is in heaven. The only difference is that when we die we experience a more full revelation of God’s glory because we are no longer hindered by the things of earth.   For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You.  But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.

I too will tell of the works and the goodness of the Lord God. Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ and precious Holy Spirit; You are my refuge and my guide. Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. You are my all in all; my strength and my portion forever. Amen.