Psalm 73:1 “Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart! But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling”.
Today I am sharing some thoughts and wisdom from an encouraging and timely devotional I read this morning. It was written by Tony Evans. Pieces and parts are my words intermingled among his.
There will be days when you find that you just don’t feel like worshiping God. Perhaps the temptation to compare yourself to someone else has caused you to feel down and even depressed. Driving home from work on Friday, you tell yourself you are glad the week is over because it has been a rough one. As you lament over how tired you feel, satan blindsides you with the thought that your coworkers do not really appreciate you.
By the time you open the front door of your home, your eyes have narrowed and your forehead has tightened. You decide your family doesn’t know or appreciate all you do for them either. You are frustrated and ready to give up. Still, you do not pray and ask God for His perspective. You just keep repeatedly thinking through the day and rehearsing your negative feelings and look for something, anything to numb you to your reality. Saturday morning you get up feeling haunted by the same emotions. You start to resent all the things you need to at home, too. The demands just keep piling up! By Sunday you force yourself to drive to church, but you certainly don’t feel like singing or praising God.
Asaph, the author of Psalm 73, would understand your plight. He allowed discouragement to grow in his life to the point where he was deeply disturbed. The key word in the last sentence is ‘allowed’.
Whenever we take our eyes off of God and His faithfulness, and begin to compare our lives with those around us, we either end up feeling defeated or prideful. God has created each one of us for a unique purpose, which includes worshiping Him.
Psalm 73 is a rambling account of what Asaph was feeling, but by the end, he realizes the truth and puts an end to his negativity. “As for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all (of) Your works” (v. 28).
Sometimes God seems so far away that you can’t talk to anyone else but Him—because nobody else will understand what in the world you are talking about. The closer you are to God, the less likely the enemy will have a shot at your emotions. Stay focused on what God has for you to do. You are His beloved child, and He has an amazing plan for your life. Will you praise Him for this?
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