READ: Psalm 73 and Psalm 119:1-8
I AM THINE, O LORD, I have heard Thy voice, and it told Thy love to me; But I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to Thee. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_am_Thine,_O_Lord, accessed November 25, 2016). Old time Saints should immediately recognize this hymn originally written by Fanny Crosby, a woman regarded as a prolific American hymn writer.
Now more than ever is the time for the Saints of God to draw nearer to the Lord. Some people say that we must draw nearer to the Lord because of the current president in office or because of the political and social climate we are in however, if we are a student of the Word of the God, we know that the scriptures say in James 4:8, “draw near to God and He will draw near to you,” and also “in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good…” (2 Timothy 3). Some of us having been riding our Christian walk on what we think is easy street; skipping through the tulips, satisfied with surface level Christianity; not discerning the fact that there is a persecution and suffering coming to the true church like we’ve never seen before. It will either compel us to seek the Lord more and draw near to Him and His Saints or it will cause us to walk away from Him.
In Psalm 73:28, the psalmist begins to speak of the goodness and deliverance of God, but also of the perception of the ungodly and how the ungodly appear to not be under the same scrutiny and judgment of God (paraphrase). When the psalmist begins to examine the matter further, we see how easy it is for even us to look at the “supposed” prosperity of those in the world and to think that just because they are prospering “they must have it all together”. When in all actuality they do not have it all together; and are languishing (suffering, deteriorating) in their souls because they don’t know the Lord and cannot recognize His voice.
To take it even further we look at churches in this nation (maybe even at our own churches) and we assume that God is with us, that His anointing and favor is upon us because we are busting at the seams in church attendance, we have big platforms, smoke, and strobing lights, we collect big offerings, we have a growing media presence, we serve in our communities, we send aid to foreign countries, or better yet we have what appears to be the best talent in Christian worship.
Unfortunately, none of those things in and of themselves are a tell sign that we are walking in the power and anointing of God. The world is not going to be changed because of the size of our ministry, nor by our singing, nor by how many charitable deeds we do, but by our prayer life and our obedience to the Word of God.
There is something amazing about the power and Spirit of the Lord and how He helps us to see ourselves as if looking through a reflection in the glass mirror. He helps us to see just how close and how far we are away from His commandments and from there we have a choice to go either on that narrow way leading to life in Him or on that broad way leading to death and destruction.
One thing that is profound about Psalm 73 is that when the writer in verses 16-17 “went into the sanctuary”, when he got quiet before the Lord (paraphrase), when he opened up the Word of God, when He examined God and considered the nature of God, he then begin to realize again that there is coming a day when all the folly of the unrighteous, the folly of the carnally-minded…shall be put to an end. He begin to see that God is faithful to His Word and that He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved (Psalm 55:22) and that God is angry with the wicked everyday (Psalm 7:11). Finally, the writer ends the psalm by saying, “it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord that I may declare all thy works”.
Knee-ology (prayer, supplication, and intercession), preaching and fasting are the proven recipes for drawing near to the Lord, oh how I pray that such desire and craving would be in you and me.
The entire bible is full of reasons as to why we are to draw near to the Lord and because of that we must apply the scriptures to every facet and every season of our lives whether things are going great, well, okay, or horrible. We are to draw nearer to the Lord as we watch the signs of the times, the sign of His second coming approaching. As these events unfold just like the prophecies were given, we turn to the Lord who is our only help and strength. We look up for that redemption that is drawing nigh (Luke 21:28).
Let us remember that drawing nearer is not solely for the purpose of us getting closer to God; but also so that we may intercede and make prayers and supplications for the entire world. Let us not be selfish in our pursuits of God.
Amen