The Strength Of My Heart...

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you, My flesh and heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from you will perish, you have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good, I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works. Psalm 73:25-28

This Psalmist has spoken straight to me through this Psalm. I Posted this on my facebook this morning after reading it...It has struck me so deeply, in so many ways. It is both challenging and comforting! And it has been on my mind all day. It says 'earth has nothing I desire besides you' - all I want is God, all I desire is God, in all of the earth and this life, all I long for is God! When I read this line, I made myself think of all the things I have been desiring recently, the things I view as important...there were many things...but I desire none of them as much as I desire God...actually, the more I thought about it..the more I desired Him..and the less I desired the other things.. I know how deep my desire for God is, and it frustrates me that I let day to day busyness and distractions steal my attention from that desire. 'My flesh and heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever' - This verse is profound in my opinion... My flesh and heart DO fail, DAILY! But what an amazing comfort to know, that God is the strength of my heart, and He is my portion, not just today, or tomorrow, but FOREVER! He is all I will EVER need. I forget this often, but I know it always, at the bottom of my heart and the back of my mind is always the knowledge that God is everything I need, He is ALL I need, He satisfies, only He can satisfy. When I experience loss, or failure, the immediate pain and grief tend to make me forget that...and I guess thats human, but God has a way of reminding me that He is everything...and He brings me back to Him time and time again. What makes my desire for God even stronger is the next line in the passage... 'For, behold those who are far from you will perish.' - The reason this increases my desire for God is that, I remember a time when I did not know God, when I had no desire to know Him, when I had no relationship with him. I was FAR from Him, and I WAS perishing! When I think of that time, and how empty my life was, and I compare it to the life I have now, with God in it - there is no comparison really, and I just desire more and more of this life, with God in it..and I never want to lose that desire, because I know what life is like without Him! 'But as for me, the nearness of God is my good, I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.' - Oh how sweet it is to be near to God, and as the verse says, it IS indeed my good. To desire him, to be close to him, to have him be the strength of my heart and my refuge... this is all sweet... How privileged are we as Christians, to have been extended such grace and mercy, that as sinful as we are, we are still able to have such a close intimate relationship with our God and King. Does this not make you want to scream? I cannot begin to describe what my heart feels when I read this passage... But I love how it ends with 'that I may tell of your works'... because basically, this closeness, nearness, desire, strength, love...its not meant to be kept quiet... I dont make God my refuge, and keep quiet about it...I make God my refuge and tell the world of all He has done for me... I dont get near to the king of kings and keep it on the down low, I want the world to know that my best friend, closest relationship..is the relationship I have with God almighty.

He is the strength of my heart...my only desire.