I have no good apart from You

God had a gift prepared for me in the early hours of the morning. 

I couldn’t sleep tonight, as I grieved a friend’s deep loss, missed loved ones far away and anxiety smeared across every thought. I got up and began pouring over the Psalms. And God met with me.

“Yahweh, You are my Lord. I have no good apart from You” (Psalm 16:2).

I have no good apart from You. No good. The one treasure I have on this earth is Jesus Christ, my Lord, my Lover, my Savior. How could I ever lose sight of this? I long for other things, but the One who makes those things good in the first place is right here with me. The only reason those good things exist is to point me back to the Creator, the One who gave me the ability to have relationships and love in the first place. Why should I desire anything else when the ultimate desire of my heart holds me in His arms? “What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8). Jesus looks at the things I ask for and knows they are trash compared to an intimate relationship with Him. Instead of giving me trash, He places the most precious pearl in my hand - Himself. My Savior knows me, more deeply than anyone could (Ps 139:1). He has been present with me through the rich and dry seasons of my life (Matt 28:20, Heb 13:5). He speaks gently to me (John 10:27, Hosea 2:14). He is a refuge for me when I am pelted by the storm (Ps 46:1). He desperately loves me, when no one else could (Rom 5:8, Eph 2:4).

I have no good apart from You. Why am I surprised at loss, suffering and pain? This world has nothing to offer except that which points me back to Jesus. I should expect anything else to bear the symptoms of darkness. 

And I will fall asleep to this reminder…

All I know is I’m not home yet

This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus

This is not where I belong

(Building 429 “Where I Belong”)

May God give me the perseverance and courage to dedicate my life on this earth, however long it may be, to sharing this beautiful gift with people.

The meaning of mercy

Tonight John Piper's words are much more powerful than anything I could say,

"I see in Hosea 2:14–23 at least three things God does for us, his rebellious wife, to win us back; and I see one overriding thing that he wants from us. The first thing he does is woo us tenderly. Verse 14: "Behold, I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her." We are all guilty of harlotry. We have loved other lovers more than God. We have gotten our kicks elsewhere. He has been at times an annoying deity. We, like Gomer, were enslaved to a paramour, the world, pleasure, ambition. But God has not cast us off. He promises to take us into the wilderness. He wants to be alone with us. Why? So that he can speak tenderly to us. Literally, the Hebrew says, so that he can speak "to her heart." And when he speaks, he will allure you. He will entice you and woo you. He will say what a lover says to his lady when they walk away from the party into the garden. God wants to talk that way with you. Go with him into the wilderness and listen with your heart. Do not think you are too ugly or too rotten. He knows that his wife is a harlot. That's the meaning of mercy: God is wooing a wife of harlotry.

The second thing God does is promise her hope and safety. Verse 15: "And there I will give her vineyards and make the valley of Achor a door of hope." The valley of Achor is where Israel was first unfaithful to the Lord in the promised land. Just after Israel entered the land, Achan kept the forbidden booty and caused the defeat at Ai. But now God promises that if his harlot will come home, Achor will no longer be a "valley of trouble" (Joshua 7:26), but a door of hope. She will come home to rich vineyards. Verse 18 spells out her hope in more detail: "I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground, and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety." If only his estranged wife will come home, she will find a paradise with her husband: he will make a pact even with the animals, lest they do harm; and he will remove all violence and conflict. These are no doubt the words God speaks into the heart of his wife in the lonely place. "It will be so good, so good! Put away your harlotry and come home.""