God Is The Strength Of My Heart And My Portion

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: Psalm 73:26-28
Psalters: 163, 115, 201, 203
Confession of Faith and Baptism
  1. The need.
    1. All men have a god, something to which they give their devotion and obedience.
    2. All our gods fail, i.e., leave one emaciated.
      1. We always fail because we are nothing but flesh.
      2. He sees himself to be foolish (brutish) and ignorant, as an unthinking beast (22).
  2. Only God is able to help and satisfy.
    1. When things went wrong or he needed comfort or strength, he found nothing could satisfy but God.
      1. We turn away from the glitter which fascinates for a while to the true gold which is real treasure for ever.
      2. Now the sole object of Aseph’s yearning is Jehovah God and God’s relationship to him.
    2. He is “the strength of my heart” (as a rock beneath me, supporting and holding me up).
    3. “Any my portion.” (cf. Psalm 142:5; Lamentations 3:24). Reference is to a tract of land, an inheritance.
    4. To say that God is the end and beginning of all our longings is NOT saying that all other desires are wrong.
  3. It is “good” to draw near to God.
    1. We do this by praying and with other acts of sincere religious worship.
      1. Aseph desired to come into the temple to hear/see the Word of God in all the ordinances.
      2. We draw near to God by Christ sincerely only by faith.
    2. The “good” is both honorable, a pleasurable good, and a profitable good.
    3. Such drawing near to God results in our putting our trust in the Lord Jehovah.
    4. “That I may declare all Thy works.” He who understands by faith is able to teach.
    5. The greater our nearness to God, the less we are affected by the attractions and distractions of this desert life.