God Is The Strength Of My Heart And My Portion
Minister: | Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: | 10/3/2010 AM |
Text: | Psalm 73:26-28 |
Psalters: | 163, 115, 201, 203 |
Confession of Faith and Baptism |
- The need.
- All men have a god, something to which they give their devotion and obedience.
- All our gods fail, i.e., leave one emaciated.
- We always fail because we are nothing but flesh.
- He sees himself to be foolish (brutish) and ignorant, as an unthinking beast (22).
- Only God is able to help and satisfy.
- When things went wrong or he needed comfort or strength, he found nothing could satisfy but God.
- We turn away from the glitter which fascinates for a while to the true gold which is real treasure for ever.
- Now the sole object of Aseph’s yearning is Jehovah God and God’s relationship to him.
- He is “the strength of my heart” (as a rock beneath me, supporting and holding me up).
- “Any my portion.” (cf. Psalm 142:5; Lamentations 3:24). Reference is to a tract of land, an inheritance.
- To say that God is the end and beginning of all our longings is NOT saying that all other desires are wrong.
- It is “good” to draw near to God.
- We do this by praying and with other acts of sincere religious worship.
- Aseph desired to come into the temple to hear/see the Word of God in all the ordinances.
- We draw near to God by Christ sincerely only by faith.
- The “good” is both honorable, a pleasurable good, and a profitable good.
- Such drawing near to God results in our putting our trust in the Lord Jehovah.
- “That I may declare all Thy works.” He who understands by faith is able to teach.
- The greater our nearness to God, the less we are affected by the attractions and distractions of this desert life.