You made them fall to ruin

                                                                        Psalm 73:16-28

 

July 15, 2022

 

But when I thought how to understand this,  it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.   Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.   How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!  Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.  When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward, you will receive me to glory.

Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.   For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.  But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge,  that I may tell of all your works.

 

It is important to not forget whom Asaph is referring to; the proud, the arrogant, the wicked, who have little fear of God.  So what did he do that is an example for each of us?  He sought God's counsel; he did not look elsewhere.  God showed Asaph that they were in a slippery place, and we are told they would fall to ruin.  The ruin could be referring to this life that is but a vapor, but for sure he is referring to the eternal life that has no end.  The proud, arrogant, the wicked, those who do not bow a knee to Jesus, will be forever in a place prepared not for mankind but for the devil and his angels.  Yes God loves all of His creation, and man is at the height of that love in that we were formed in the image of God and the only thing He breathed His life into.  Now let me share John 3:16, with you,  ^“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  I’m not sure one can grasp this act of love that God has done.  But even harder is to grasp a person who rejects such love.  The apostle John in his gospel John 1:11-13, shares about a special people, the chosen people of God, who were looking for the Messiah, but rejected Him for He did not come as they expected.  “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.   But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

As a people, they are still God’s chosen, but they missed the one that chose them as special people.  We who are in Christ must not do the same thing, for Jesus who sits at the right hand of the Father has promised to return, not only return, He will rule the earth for a thousand years.

We are told that in the last days the devil, that old serpent will try to deceive even the elect, and if God did not shorten the time, many would be deceived.

So learn from Asaph and run to the Father, become a doer of the Word and not just a hearer.  Get dressed in God’s armor and be prepared for the attacks Satan has planned for you.  Most of all run to Jesus, He and He only can defeat that old serpent, in fact, He already has at the cross.  Asaph, the last sentence of Psalm 73, is excellent advice; verse 28, “But for me, it is good to be near God;   I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.”

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice