Time to Clean Our Glasses

Psalm 73

Verses 16-17  When I tried to understand all this, it troubled me deeply till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.

    We have been discussing how doubt in our lives shows that our focus is off the Father.  The hymn writer, Asaph, shares an experience that each of us can likely relate with.

    Asaph started out his hymn with the declaration that he knows that God will do right by His people and then comes that huge word at the beginning of verse 2, “BUT.”  We have all said something like that, haven’t we?  “I know God is good, but…”  We know in our heart of hearts that God is all that He says He is and yet we still feel slighted if things aren’t going the way we want them to.  Asaph was looking out at what was going on around him and seeing the prospering of those who were living in direct opposition to God and His statutes, and it upset him.

    Asaph started to question why he should even bother following God’s laws when it meant that his life was full of struggles.  We have all been there, haven’t we?  We struggle when we live as God requires and we don’t see positive results in our lives.  We feel like giving up because we like to see immediate results to our obedience.  We need to remember that God’s ways and timing are not ours.

    Asaph took a seemingly simple action and that one action, of entering the sanctuary, snapped him back to the focus on life God followers should have.  Once his focus was put back on God, Asaph was reminded that he had been focusing on the temporal instead of the eternal.

    God is eternal and He has created us to be eternal beings as well.  He created us as humans with a soul and therefore though we are limited in our physical sight, when we are in His presence we can see things more like He sees them with an eternal view.  When we look at our circumstances as they appear through our physical sight, we are apt to see things with our human emotions which are short-sighted, but when we get in God’s presence and see things from His eternal perspective, we will see things in their final position.  The doubts and struggles of this world fall into proper perspective when our gaze is focused on our eternal destination.

Making It Personal

    Do you have times when doubts arise because your focus is earthbound?  Have you ever had a time where being in God’s presence brought a focus change?  What kind of lasting impression did it make on your life?

Making It Personal Kids

    How would it make you feel if someone who is being naughty gets the reward instead of you, even though you were being good?  Why would Jesus want you to be good even if we don’t get a reward?  What does eternal mean?

Closing Prayer

    Father, thank You for helping us see the need to think eternally instead of temporally.  Help us keep this long-term perspective.  In Jesus’ name, amen.