Do You Feel Short-changed in life? You Are Not Alone!

Psalm 73

Part 1




 



Since the death of our daughter, Lindsay and our grand child, Emily Hope, I have been relentlessly besieged by nightmares with Lindsay in every one.  She presents in these dreams as a girl who looks like Lindsay but her affect is very flat, without range of emotion.  In fact she never really speaks.  But in my dreams it is obvious that she has another family taking care of her and she has little time for me.

 


 





  As you may or may not know, nightmares can affect you after you wake up. Do you remember the message that Pilot's wife sent him about Jesus? The gospel of Matthew says. "While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him a message saying, 'Have nothing to do with that righteous Man; for last night I suffered greatly in a dream because of Him.' " The Greek word for  suffering in this case is severe "anguish." I will not diverge into dream theology which is a Scriptural study of its own. But God is greater than our dreams.  This morning and feeling somewhat overwhelmed as I faced the day, a piece of Scripture came to my mind

 
  "Surely God is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart! But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, and their body is fat.They are not in trouble as other men, nor are they plagued like mankind therefore pride is their necklace; the garment of violence covers them, (Psalm 73:1-6),
     
Psalm 73: 16 says, "When I pondered to understand this, It was troublesome in my sight."  Asaph by Divine encouragement  began to ponder his situation in the light of eternity. He tells us what changed his perspective.

Until I came into the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end.Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction....(Psalm 73:16-18).

When He came into God's temple, where the Lord dwelt, he saw things about the destruction of the wicked and the preservation of the righteous. 

Today we need to do the same.  We need to meditate on Scripture and "ponder" it. We need to look at eternity though God's eyes. We should not neglect the means of grace, which are the word of God and public worship. In this case he came to the 
temple where God dwelt in Israel.  



Today  we have more illumination about eternal truths because of the the cross. We need to read, study and meditate on God's word. The Spirit of the Lord will help us understand the Scripture.  When we  feel like God is cheating us, we must go back to the cross.  We must as Paul said, in 2 Timothy 1:8: "Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant
                                    of David, according to my gospel,"
 

     One of my favorite passages in Scripture is Romans 8:37-39;

But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."


If you are viewing your life through present circumstances or past failures, or if you feel cheated by God, then you need to come into His presence with thanksgiving and understand that the unsaved, though they are doing well now, will one day be forever cast into Hell. We do not glory in their end but we glorify God through the Lord Jesus Christ who conquered the grave and Hell. He is our Savior and our Lord. As the writer of the song, For All the Saints said,

 
            Oh, may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
            Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old
            And win with them the victor's crown of gold.
            Alleluia! Alleluia!

             O blest communion, fellowship divine,
            We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
            Yet all are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
            Alleluia! Alleluia!

For  all the lyrics of the above hymn, please go to:

http://www.lutheran-hymnal.com/lyrics/tlh463.htm

I don't know if you are aware of our book, Broken Minds Hope for Healing When You Feel Like You're Losing It. It was written to have staying power. Please go to our blog page and click on "Buy Broken Minds." On that page you will find a description of what others who have read Broken Minds and what it has meant to certain people. Please click on  http://heartfeltmin.org/author-page.html. From there you can go to Purchase Broken Minds.













Please watch for Part 2 of this blog God our Savior Counselor and Friend