God could leave you alone...

Do you ever see people and think, why on earth do they have it so easy? They're not pursuing the Lord; they're living in self-indulgence; they're not following any of the rules of Christianity 101 and yet they prosper! They succeed in business, have nice homes, great vacations, new cars- they have the life! It doesn't make sense!
  While you are here, struggling to follow the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle, fulfill the great commission, and you can barely keep your head above water. You fast and pray and still are overwhelmed with work/school/relationships. You keep your heart pure and in return are misunderstood and attacked. All day long you are plagued and chastened...
  
 Sound familiar? This was the heart state of the writer of Psalm 73. Go ahead, read it. Get out your bible or go to this link: Ps. 73 

  He despairs until verse 17, "until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end." I believe this means that when he paused, set his heart and took the time to seek the Lord, the Holy Spirit gave him understanding. Perspective of the situation. He realized that God simply left those people alone. The ones who shut God out of their lives. After a time, the Lord stopped knocking (Rev 3:20). But the writer knew that when this life was over, their end was fast and bitter.
  And he figured out that those who seek the Lord gain His attention.

If there's anything you want in life, it is for God to pay attention to you.

  When that happens, when you have come to the place of righteousness (Acts 10:4), hunger, simply trying as hard as you can to seek the Lord- God will turn His attention to you and say, "This is a good vine. I'll prune this one to bear much fruit." What a privilege! When the writer understood this, his whole outlook changed and he was horrified at his attitude (vs 21-22). He realized what we can also know for sure:

No matter how hard the storm, we are ALWAYS with God. 

He holds us up with His own hand, He guides us with His counsel and will welcome us into His glory! Besides, what could we ever want in this life in the way of nice houses, successful jobs or easy relationships when we could have Jesus???

Even in our lowest times, when we lose perspective and turn to despair against God (like the beginning of this psalm), He is our strength! He never leaves our side and He will give us Himself. (vs 26) Mind. Blown.

It is very important to know that when God turns His attention to you, so does the enemy. And he will do everything in his power to destroy your faith. And those other people- the ones with the nice cars and easy lives? They are NO THREAT to the enemy so he leaves them alone. So in a way, it's sort of a twisted compliment when you come under great attack... Even so, satan's only real power is deception. Lies. Making you believe God has left you alone, doesn't love you, is disappointed in you. LIES. Remember that.

( I get a comic-book picture in my head, you standing in the middle- satan on one side throwing lies, chaos and turmoil at your earthly situations. God on the other side, shooting strength, revelation, power, love and help on the other side. ) 

It's a fight. But here's what we know: verse 28
-We have to trust God. (always believing He loves you and has your BEST in mind in EVERY situation and responding out of that heart attitude.)
-We will declare His works. When we know God does everything for love we will be bold in standing up for Him- defending Him to the world who scoffs, explaining Him to the church who is hurt and confused. 

This psalm is a very important revelation and easy to lose. Keep it in your heart and steward it well! Help those around you who are struggling, understand.

Going back to the beginning, I'll end.

Psalm 73:1 "Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart."

God could leave you alone. If He didn't love you so much.

Keep runnin'
LM