The Man or the Mansion?

I love the Psalms, & I believe I've mentioned before that my favorite of the Psalms is the 73rd. Asaph, the human writer, had obviously walked with the Lord for many years & was on intimate terms with Him. Because of this, when he hurt, he poured out his hurting heart to his God, & this Psalm is a beautifully poignant example of this. Just this alone is a great lesson to us who know the Lord. It doesn't do us any good to hold our feelings & hurts in, thinking that they might offend our Savior! He knows them already anyway, why hide them from Him?

Oh well, I've gone off in a direction I hadn't planned when I began this particular blog, so let's get back on track. BUT before I do, since I've already headed off on this rabbit trail, let's say that there is a time when we should hold our tongues when in front of others. The 15th verse of this Psalm records Asaph as saying, "If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of Thy children" He seems to be saying that if he just poured out his heart indiscriminately in front of possibly some young believers, he may have caused them to stumble in their own walk with God & he didn't want to do that. This is wise. But he certainly could & should do so with God, which he did. I can certainly recall many times I've gone walking out in the woods or somewhere alone with just me & the Lord, & poured out my heart to Him.

And with this, we begin to ease our way back into what I meant to say from the beginning! The most wondrous portion of this whole powerful Psalm to me is verses 23-26. In this portion Asaph has now worked through all his bitterness & inner turmoil, & his faith is now secure again. He says to God, "Nevertheless I am continually with Thee: Thou hast holden me by my right hand.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 earth that I desire beside Thee.My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever." This is so precious! But let's look especially at that 25th verse: "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee." Now, no doubt this man had some loved ones with the Lord, as we all do. But I love what he says, even though he undoubtedly is looking forward to seeing them again, he realizes that the only One who really matters is his God. If it were not for Christ, we'd have no hope of Heaven & neither would any of our loved ones, or anyone at all, for that matter. We are right to look forward to the mansions He is preparing for us in Heaven, but Jesus Himself, the Man in the Glory, as Dr. Vernon McGee used to say, is the One who really makes Heaven HEAVEN!

I know there were many other things we could have said, like the difference between Old Testament & New Testament views of Heaven, & the literal meaning of "mansions" & so forth, but I trust this little bit of rambling, actually this whole bunch of rambling means a little something to you! May the Lord bless you all for stopping in!

Commitment

I'm not exactly sure how I want to say what I have in my heart to say, but I'm gonna try nonetheless! One of the glories of knowing Christ is knowing that when I trusted Him, He made a commitment to never cast me out! I know the Bible says, Paul more specifically, that he knew Whom he had believed & that He is able to keep that which he had committed unto Him against that Day. But what did he commit to Him but his eternity? All we can do is just commit it to Him & as Paul said, He is able, & willing I might add, to keep us forever!

But back to the original point. Christ's commitment to keep us forever when we come to Him for salvation brings so much security to my often timid heart! My wonderful bride & myself said from the beginning of our marriage that we were going to make it work & that divorce was not an option. She has put up with far more than I have, but after 23 plus years, we're still together & I truly love her even more today than at the first, & I loved her a truckload then! Truly knowing that commitment is there doesn't make it sterile or wooden, it brings stability! And we're just frail humans! Jesus is LORD! He is so wonderful, I wish I could put into words just how wonderful it is knowing Him. If you don't, all I can do is tell you that He loves you & wants you to come to Him just as you are, as He said in Mt.11:28. He will never cast you out either, as He promised in John 6:37! If you do know Him, you know what I mean when I say how wonderful He is!
Well, I'm gonna close this rambling session with a verse that is becoming more & more dear to me the longer I live & know the Lord. Isaiah 51:6. Here is God's Word to us: "Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished."God Bless you for reading!