Read
Today’s Scripture: Psalm 73:15-28
. . . till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their
final destiny (Vs 17).
Words
of Devotion
When the psalmist speaks of going into the sanctuary,
he means he came before the presence of God. He actually went into the temple
where God had made provision to meet with His people. When he did that, he
began to see things from God's point of view. In the temple he began to shift
from natural thinking to spiritual thinking. The problem was that he had been
thinking like a natural man. Thus, he had gotten himself worked up into a
terrible state of frenzy. But wonderfully, in the sanctuary, he begins to understand
as he thinks from God's point of view. That is the great thing about the
Scriptures.
It means that when you come to church or read the
Scriptures, you are not coming merely to find something to soothe you a bit;
you are coming that you might have your eyes opened, that you might see things
as they really are and thus begin to understand life. There are many people who
are content to use the Bible only to soothe their feelings when they get upset,
but the Bible is not provided for that. It is provided that we might understand
what is happening to us in every aspect of life, and that is what happened to
the psalmist. He came into the sanctuary, and there he began to think from
God's point of view.
The trouble with so-called natural thinking
is that it is always centered on self, and natural-thinking people react to
their circumstances according to their feelings, moods, and emotions. When that
happens to you, your range of vision is narrowed down to only those factors
that are troubling you. You cannot think beyond them. When your feelings govern
you, they always limit you. That is what was troubling this man.
He begins to see it when he comes into the sanctuary,
into the presence of God, because there he begins thinking spiritually.
Spiritual thinking is centered on God, and the mind is in control and not the
feelings. Then you are not being governed by emotions but by thoughts relating
to facts. Thus, your vision is broadened, and you can see other things besides
the one thing that is disturbing your emotions. It is made possible only when
you enter the sanctuary.
How do we enter the sanctuary today? According to the
New Testament, we ourselves are the sanctuary. God lives in us. To draw near to
Him is to enter the sanctuary. We enter the sanctuary in various ways: by
exposing ourselves to His truth in the Scripture; or by facing truth we have
forgotten as we fellowship with other Christians; or by directly praying to God
and changing our thinking from natural to spiritual.
Today: Is our perspective on life being formed and
limited by self-centered feelings or emotions? What are three ways to
re-calibrate our vision?
Prayer: Father, teach me this same truth. Keep me
from being envious of the ungodly, but help me to enter Your sanctuary and have
my mind renewed by Your truth. Amen
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