"Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion forever."
Psalm 73:24-26
Part 4
Yesterday: Asaph’s Change of Perspective
“Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end” (Psalm 73:17). Being confronted with Eternity, Asaph viewed life from God’s point of view.
Today: Asaph’s Change of Heart and Renewed Faith in God
He has gone from thinking God is unfair because He allows the wicked to prosper to having a right relationship with his Heavenly Father. Now Asaph can honestly say,
“Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel.”
Asaph can now put great value on God’s counsel. Where his wrong thinking had blinded him to God’s wisdom, now his heart is open, and he is meek, Asaph will gladly listen. God will graciously teach His obedient child what he/she needs for their path through this life.
“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye” (Psalm 32:8).
“Any sincere follower of God may use these words in reference to this and the coming world. Thy counsel – thy Word and Spirit, shall guide me through life; and when I have done and suffered thy righteous will, thou wilt receive me into thy eternal glory”[1] (Clarke).
“And afterward receive me to glory.”
Believers, we can trust God to lead us through this life and on to the next life in glory! Asaph did. Jesus, our Good Shepherd, has never lost one of His children yet!
“That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none” (John 18:9).
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Jesus, His grace has saved us, and “His grace will lead us home!”
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
“Whom have I in heaven but thee?”
His brush with God’s eternal view reminded Asaph that there is no one else for him.
“For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?” (Psalm 89:6).
“As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness” (Psalm 17:15).
“And there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”
After watching the ungodly wicked, Asaph now realizes that there is nothing in this world that is worth pulling his focus and affections away from His God for. No matter how bad this life can get, we keep our focus on our God!
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18).
Paul’s personal testimony.
“Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ” (Philippians 3:8).
There is nothing on this earth that is more important than God!
“My flesh and my heart faileth.”
Asaph saw his body as temporal. He is aging, his body will fail him, and he will die. But what is waiting for us on the other side is worth all of “our light affliction” we faced in this lifetime.
“For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
Through “our light affliction” we keep our eyes on the Eternal!
“But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
I will trust Him! He is all I need!
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:14).
“And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
“The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore, will I hope in Him” (Lamentations 3:24).
Quote: “He shines upon me and makes me to rejoice, and has atoned for me all that was taken from me and done against me. There is no flower in all the world more blessed or more satisfied than I, for I look up to [my Love] as a weaned child and say, ‘Whom have I in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire but Thee’”[2] (Hannah Hurnard).
[1] Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible, the electronic version in eSword. Psalm 73:24. Emphasis mine.
[2] Hurnard’s quote is from her book, Hinds Feet on High Places (ed. Simon and Schuster, 2013) – ISBN: 9781625588609. Downloaded: Saturday, January 9, 2021. From: https://libquotes.com/hannah-hurnard/quote/lbx4i5p.