Pray:
Ask God to orient or reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
Psalm 73: 21-26
“21 When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, 22 I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You. 23 Yet I am always with You; You hold me by my right hand. 24 You guide me with Your counsel, and afterward You will take me into glory. 25Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
Understand:
Asaph was deeply affected by his envy. His spirit was embittered. The thought of how he had acted made him shutter and wince. When he was in this state of envy, he was irrational; he was like a fool. All this focus misconstrued his perception of God and reality.
Yet this experience of pain and anguish has been transformed into the joy of God’s presence. In spite of his foolish behavior, God was near to him. So much so, he says, “You hold me by my right hand.” Asaph wants us to know that God is holding on to him securely; He’s not going to let go of him. It is God that is guiding and leading him by giving him wisdom and insight as he walks faithfully with Him.
Asaph is so overcome with joy as he reflects on God’s goodness, that he bursts out with a rhetorical question, “Whom have I in heaven but you?” There is no one but God; his sustainer in heaven! Now Asaph knows that he can face anything. Because of the strength of God, he knows that there is nothing he cannot face. In God, he finds protection, guidance, and confidence to move forward in the life God has given him.
Apply:
Has your pain and anguish been transformed into the joy of God’s presence? Maybe there is some sin in your life that is keeping you from experiencing it? Will you confess it right now? There is no better time than now to make it right. Know that God is right there with you. In John 10:28 Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.” This is good news! This is why we, together with Asaph, can say, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”
Would you pray right now that God would strengthen your heart today and fill you with the joy of the Lord?
Live:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.) Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today. KEEP PRAYING THROUGHOUT YOUR DAY.