Isolation can give us a lot of time to think, and sometimes there’s nothing more dangerous than being inside our own heads.
We can start looking around, comparing our situation, our lives, to others and feel like we’re coming up short. Our piece of the pie seems like a sliver, and other’s a whopping piece with ice cream, or whipped cream, or both, slathered all over it.
And the truth is, we all have things in our lives we wish were different.
There is much that others enjoy as a given part of life that I will never know.
At the beginning of Psalm 73, Asaph ponders the prosperity of those who are wicked. Though they live foolishly, they enjoy good health, they have no troubles, they aren’t plagued by common human burdens (he thinks).
And here he was, he thought, keeping his heart pure and his hands innocent, and yet every day brings a fresh round of pain and affliction.
Until, he says, he entered the sanctuary of God.
We he got his focus off himself and onto God, then he understood the final destiny of the wicked. Ultimately, all they had gained will come to absolutely nothing when they face God at the final judgment.
And finally Asaph writes, “My flesh and my heart may fail…”
There is much discussion about what Asaph meant by this. Did he mean his flesh and heart failed him when he fell into bitterness and envy of others? Or did he mean that eventually his flesh and heart will fail when he dies and moves on from this life? Maybe both.
“… but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26
Asaph is finally able to take a wide and godly perspective and realize that because he has God in his life, he doesn’t have just a sliver of pie, or even a big piece. He actually has the whole pie.
Yes, his own heart may fail, but God is His strength, and His portion, his inheritance, in this life and in the next.
Forever.
Yes, I may have missed out on a lot in this life, and maybe that’s a good thing because it showed me how much I needed God.
But God (Elohiym – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) is my portion. And when everything in this life is gone, I will still have my Portion. I will have my relationship with God through Christ, and the faith and character and everything else He’s built on that Foundation through the many years I’ve walked with Him.
And it will last forever.
So the reality is, I haven’t missed out on one bit. I have God and all He is! And if you know Jesus, so do you. We have the Creator of the universe, our heavenly Father, the keeper of our souls and the One is able to make all grace abound toward us and bless us abundantly, our Lord and Savior and Friend and Brother and Co-Heir in the faith, Jesus, and our Comforter and Peace Giver, the One who seals us for eternal life, the Holy Spirit.
We can never come to the end of the list of His blessings. And anything we missed in this life that He deems important He will more than make up for in the next.
So instead of focusing inward or outward, let’s look up. We have more pie than we could ever eat.