Keeping It Real

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by: Pastor Joey Vazquez

12/07/2021

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Psalm 73:25-26 (NLT) Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

I love the Word of God because it is not full of rosy stories that don't have any semblance of the reality of what we deal with in our daily lives. In Psalm 73, the psalmist is complaining about how wicked people seem to get away with everything and seem to live painless lives while the people who love and serve God suffer. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that life is not fair and that perhaps you have more than your share of misery compared to people that don't think or care about the Lord? Although we don't know what these people really are feeling inside, it's easy to view things that way when you see that they have a bountiful supply of what the world has to offer. But the fact is that what the world has to offer is actually smoke and mirrors. In other words, they are not only things that do not satisfy the soul in any way, but they also are good only for this life. They will do you no good when you have to stand naked and without a thing before the judgement seat of God that will determine where you will spend eternity.

That's why the psalmist had a change of heart two thirds of the way through this psalm. He realized that he had become bitter and he turned his heart and his attention back to the Lord. But he didn't do it in a utopian-like way by denying what He was feeling. He woke up to the fact that his thinking was all wrong. While wicked people may have many earthly things, he realized that he had the God of all creation walking with him. He confessed that even though he may get sick in his body, and even though it felt as though his strength was gone and his spirit was about to collapse, he was still going to make it. He knew that because he remembered who His strength was and that our awesome and compassionate Heavenly Father would be with him then and forevermore. Nothing would be able to change that fact and nothing could ever separate him from God's loving care. Because of the realization of these things, it was well with His soul.

Life is hard. Bad things happen even to God's people. We, too, get sick and suffer loss. But isn't it awesome that even though difficulties come and storm clouds roll in, we are not alone. God is with us and will deliver us, one way or another. The key to victory in all circumstances is what this psalmist wrote about. The Lord was his most precious and treasured possession. He said, "The Lord is mine forever." He desired God more than anything the world could offer, and that set his heart straight and gave him new-found strength that was not his own. When God is the desire of your heart more than any other desire, then life and its problems becomes an opportunity to experience God's strength and loving care. Even though your own strength may give way and your spirit seems to want to quit, God will be your portion and the strength of your life forever. I am so glad that the Word of God keeps it real. Yes, life may be difficult, but yes, just like the psalmist, God is yours forever!

Pastor Joey Vazquez

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Psalm 73:25-26 (NLT) Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.

I love the Word of God because it is not full of rosy stories that don't have any semblance of the reality of what we deal with in our daily lives. In Psalm 73, the psalmist is complaining about how wicked people seem to get away with everything and seem to live painless lives while the people who love and serve God suffer. Have you ever felt that way? Have you ever felt that life is not fair and that perhaps you have more than your share of misery compared to people that don't think or care about the Lord? Although we don't know what these people really are feeling inside, it's easy to view things that way when you see that they have a bountiful supply of what the world has to offer. But the fact is that what the world has to offer is actually smoke and mirrors. In other words, they are not only things that do not satisfy the soul in any way, but they also are good only for this life. They will do you no good when you have to stand naked and without a thing before the judgement seat of God that will determine where you will spend eternity.

That's why the psalmist had a change of heart two thirds of the way through this psalm. He realized that he had become bitter and he turned his heart and his attention back to the Lord. But he didn't do it in a utopian-like way by denying what He was feeling. He woke up to the fact that his thinking was all wrong. While wicked people may have many earthly things, he realized that he had the God of all creation walking with him. He confessed that even though he may get sick in his body, and even though it felt as though his strength was gone and his spirit was about to collapse, he was still going to make it. He knew that because he remembered who His strength was and that our awesome and compassionate Heavenly Father would be with him then and forevermore. Nothing would be able to change that fact and nothing could ever separate him from God's loving care. Because of the realization of these things, it was well with His soul.

Life is hard. Bad things happen even to God's people. We, too, get sick and suffer loss. But isn't it awesome that even though difficulties come and storm clouds roll in, we are not alone. God is with us and will deliver us, one way or another. The key to victory in all circumstances is what this psalmist wrote about. The Lord was his most precious and treasured possession. He said, "The Lord is mine forever." He desired God more than anything the world could offer, and that set his heart straight and gave him new-found strength that was not his own. When God is the desire of your heart more than any other desire, then life and its problems becomes an opportunity to experience God's strength and loving care. Even though your own strength may give way and your spirit seems to want to quit, God will be your portion and the strength of your life forever. I am so glad that the Word of God keeps it real. Yes, life may be difficult, but yes, just like the psalmist, God is yours forever!

Pastor Joey Vazquez

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