ETERNAL-HEAVENLY PERSPECTIVE

PRAY WITH ME FOR AFRICA: The republic of Burundi is small but has the second highest population density in Africa with 11.3 million people. Burundi is 90% Christian (61% Catholic and 29% Protestant), almost 6% Muslim, with about 4% tribal religions. Since the 1990 conflict between the Tutsi and Hutu which claimed 300,000 lives, mutual respect and government representation have brought peace and stability to Burundi. Pray for growing peace and reconciliation for Burundi.

Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

 Psalm 73.25-26

 In Psalm 73, the man of God is taking a hard look at the realities of life around him. He is having a hard time with what he sees. The arrogant and wicked are prospering. They are not suffering any pain and their bodies are fat and sleek. They don't seem to have any troubles. They are proud and wicked and full of follies. They scoff and speak with malice and threaten others with oppression. They speak against God and and others. They mock God's knowledge of what they are doing. They are at ease and increase in riches.

The man of God is discouraged that the wicked are doing so well while he is trying to live a holy life and do good and is being persecuted and mocked for it every day. The man of God is ready to throw in the towel, to tap out, and to join in "your best life now" of the wicked. It is just not worth all the effort of trying to follow God. God seems to be unaware and unconcerned. Have you ever felt that way?

What made the difference in this man of God? He looked up to God and reviewed those around him from a heavenly-eternal perspective. The end of the proud and wicked around him is ruin, death and eternal loss. The man of God also sees that his wrong perspective was one of ignorance and of animal desires.

Finally the man of God with a heavenly-eternal perspective realizes that God is with him, leading and guiding him, with knowledge and understanding and the destiny of glory. He knows the true God of heaven. Those things which looked so pleasant from his wrong perspective are no longer his desire. He knows the weakness of his flesh and heart but he also knows that God is his strength forever.

What a beautiful conclusion to the despair of this man of God.

 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;

you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.

But for me it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord God my refuge,

that I may tell of all your works.

Good Articles This Week
1) This is Augustine’s understanding of grace. Grace is God’s giving us sovereign joy in God that triumphs over joy in sin. In other words, God works deep in the human heart to transform the springs of joy so that we love God more than sex or anything else. …Loving God is being so satisfied in God and so delighted in all that he is for us that his commandments cease to be burdensome. Augustine saw this. And we need him badly today to help us recover the root of all Christian living in the triumphant joy in God that dethrones the sovereignty of laziness and lust and greed.
Quote from The Legacy of Sovereign Joy – the Life of Augustine.
2) Good News from Sudan