Nightmare

DEVOTION

PSALMS

NIGHTMARE

Ps 73:13-20

13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. 14 All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning. 15 If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed your children. 16 When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me 17 till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. 18 Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. 19 How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors! 20 As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies.

NIV

We are still in the thick of it regarding having envy toward the wicked and their worldly success. We are coming off the last phrase,

Ps 73:12

12 This is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth.

NIV

And now the writer of this psalm is feeling a little bitter because he feels it is in vain that he has kept his heart pure and hands innocent. Although the people all around him, the wicked are getting richer and richer and having all the pleasures of life, he has tried to remain faithful to the call of God on his life. But now he says he feels it is in vain, it is not worth it, what for? Why? He has been plagued and punished every morning. This easily could be the case with us, if we were to allow ourselves to get distracted by the ways of the world. There are people who seem to have it all, except they do not have Jesus. But so what, we live this somewhat Spartan life trying to be free of lust for the pleasures of life, because we believe in a future eternal life. Or do we? Are we just kidding ourselves? Are we wrapped up in the ways of the world, even if just a little? What really makes us any different than the wicked? Our faith? We live just like they do, except we believe in God. Does that more actually define our lives, rather than Spartan? Voices are yelling at us, look here! Aren’t I nice? Don’t you want this? Come on, it is easy, just enjoy! Watching them get it all, and we want it too. Yet it is wrong, and we know it, God is on our side and he hates there ways, he wants them to repent, but they will not. Sometime it is difficult to understand how they can have all they do, and we don’t, then we enter his sanctuary. That is does not necessarily mean going to church. We enter his sanctuary, we come into his presence, in the inner most regions of our spirit, and we understand their destiny. We do have it all, we have you O Lord, we have Jesus in our heart, and we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us being your guarantee, your stamp on and in us, marked for eternity, given a place in the city of God. However, they feet have been placed on slippery ground. Our feet are on solid ground. They are being cast down to ruin, while we are being lifted up to live forever. It will suddenly happen, they will be swept away to destruction in terror. It is difficult to think how horrible their experience will be, it ought to give us pause and consider how much more we such speak out about your grace in hopes that some of them will see the errors of their ways, and repent and come to know Jesus like we do and be saved from that terror. No, we do not want what they have. No, we are not going to get distracted by all the things, the ideals, the philosophies, this ideologies of the world. We cannot live with one foot in the kingdom of God and one foot in the world. That would be like trying to serve two masters, God and money. We know better than that. We have seen provide for us all the time, and are trust will not be swayed. Over and over again the Lord has always seen to our needs, even before we needed it. The way of the wicked will perish, why we would even desire the smallest amount of their life, for what they have is but a fantasy, an illusion, not real, when they awake to the truth, on the Day of the Lord, their life will have become a nightmare.