A life without Him....

It can appear to go well, and end well. That confuses many of God's true children, who often suffer without explanation:
Psalm 73:

2      My feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.
3 For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.
5 They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace...


12 Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
13 All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
14 For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.

So the man or woman who believes cries out, "WHY?" in the face of such injustice, because it is so unfair, and then thinks of God as approving what these evil men and women do because He is silent.

However, that's not the end of the story.  Nobody really gains a thing from rejecting God, and living as if this life alone is "all there is;" nobody gains a thing from arrogance, and violence, and covetousness that destroy other people, because:


17      ...I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.
18 Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.
19 How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!

So the actual question these folk should ask is, "what happens at the end?" How will God see me?  This is a continuous theme in the Scriptures--a man who rejects God does so without considering that his life here will end, and what does he have then?

If you believe, on the other hand, you inherit the testimony of the writer of this Psalm, thus:


23     ...I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

If you have Him, you have everything, and you have it forever.  If you don't have Him, even what you seem to have will be taken from you, and you will face eternity naked and empty-handed.

No Good beyond you....

David said, You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you...

As a matter of fact, David was very wealthy. He had command of all he surveyed.  He had friends, servants, a wonderful home, all his heart could wish...but he says, "I have no good apart from You. In another place, David says, "we only give you your own, and all we have comes from you." In another place, we read, that the Lord says "I will never leave you."

When we have nothing, we still have God. He is our strength, our mainstay, our guide, our friend, our helper.  When we have everything, God is really all we have, because without Him we have nothing. He gives us life, and breath, and all good things. Everything comes from Him, whether we are rich, poor, or in the middle. We try to disguise this by worshipping our "stuff," and by pretending to believe that we "make our own luck" (which is a way of saying "I work hard, and therefore prosper"), but the truth is that unless God opens His hand to us, we cannot receive a thing.  He has promised to honor our work, and that's why we gain from it:  "when you give, they gather..." (Ps. 104:28)...

There's more here, though.  "I have no good apart from you" also means that if you set all the "stuff" on one side of the room, and God on the other side, it is all nothing compared to Him, and compared to knowing Him.  You can include everything in your life on the one side, and it will be a mere grain of sand, a microscopic speck beside Him.  Nothing and nobody compares to Him. This was David's experience, knowing God, following Him, spending time with Him.  Remembering this makes us wealthy beyond our wildest dreams; forgetting it takes what is most important from us, and makes us depend on things that are of no value by comparison.

This is a place to meditate on ALL the meanings in Psalm 23:

Psalm 23: The LORD the Shepherd of His People A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.
3 He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.

It's all HIM, and Him alone.  He is everything to us, and does everything for us.
Thank God He has chosen not to ignore us.  How poor we would be--but since we have Him, we are rich beyond all measure.