Title: In His Presence
Text: Psalm 73:1-17
I find our text very peculiar. David starts out this Psalm by getting his eyes on all the wicked in the world. Let’s pick out the highlights of this text:
Verse 2, David starts out this Psalm feeling sorry for himself. “I know God is good, but as for me, I have it really bad.” Poor David! Let us see what David had his focus on:
Verse 3, I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Verse 4, these wicked men are strong.
Verse 5, they are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like other men, in other words, these men have it made.
Verse 7, their eyes bulge with abundance; they have more than a man could ever wish for. Oh, how I long to have it as easy as all these other men.
Verse 12, these ungodly men are always at ease, they always increase in riches.
Verse14, they always increase in riches, but I am plagued and tormented all day long. The Lord corrects me every morning.
Verse 16, when I tried to think about those evil ones that prosper, it is just to painful for me. David was saying, I try to do things right, but I just can’t get ahead in life.
David cannot seem to get his mind wrapped around all of this injustice. But I want you to notice our text this morning. In verse 17 there is a big shift of focus. How does this shift come to be? David begins to realize that even though it seems as though all these wicked men are prospering, it is not as it seems.
Psalm 73:17, “Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.”
Sanctuary actually means “Presence.” David says after I entered into the presence of God, I finally understood their end. Listen to the difference in David’s perspective from before he entered into the sanctuary and after he comes out.
Psalm 73:18-28, “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. 19 Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors. 20 As a dream when one awakes, So, Lord, when You awake, You shall despise their image. 21 ΒΆ Thus my heart was grieved, And I was vexed in my mind. 22 I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You. 23 Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. 24 You will guide me with Your counsel, And afterward receive me to glory. 25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. 26 My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. 27 For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. 28 But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works.”
Before David enters into the Presence of God, he says, “When I think about the evil ones that prosper, it is just too painful for me.” After he comes out of the Presence of God he says, “I am continually with you. You hold me by my right hand. You guide me, You are my strength, I have put my trust in You. There is no one else that I desire more than You.” It looks as though David needs to be on medication, not the King of Israel. It looks as though he suffers from some split personality disorder.
But we all know that he doesn’t need medication, he just needed a good dose of the presence of Jehovah. For the past several weeks we have been steering back towards the vision for the church. We need the presence of God evident in our lives. As we can tell from this Scripture, when you enter into His presence it changes your perspective, when you enter into your presence it totally changes your focus. There are a couple of things that the presence of God does for us.
BRINGS FULLNESS OF JOY
Did you know that your spirit is longing for more than just a religious experience? You may try to get by with just going to church and doing the normal “Christian” thing, but your heart will never be satisfied until you get in the presence of God and meet with Him. It is in His presence where we find fullness of joy and are changed from the inside out.
Entering into His presence requires us to push past our flesh, our feelings, and our mind. When you are in His presence, all other things seem to fade away as you are consumed with Jesus Christ. When you are in His presence, nothing else matters. When you are in His presence, your problems seem to become less important to you and He becomes more important.
Psalm 16:11, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
David knew this Scripture. He wrote it before he started venting about all the evil people in the world. David realized in the middle of Psalm 73 that he was heading in the wrong direction, so I am sure that he made a choice to enter into His presence. Have you ever noticed someone who has spent time with the Lord all day? They have a smile on their face and a bounce in their step. They have just come from meeting with God and their hearts are full of joy. If your heart is not full of joy after leaving His presence, then I don’t know whose presence you were in, but it wasn’t His presence that you were in. Because in His presence is fullness of joy.
“In His presence, in His holy presence; the weary can find perfect rest, the broken are restored. In His presence, In His holy presence; there is nothing like the presence of the Lord.”
We can learn from our text that something happens when we get into His presence. We need a fresh dose of the Holy Ghost in our lives. We have been too long living our lives void of His presence, it is time to get back in His presence again.
When David came out of the presence of the Lord he says:
Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.”
The thing about God is the more you have, the more you want.
Not only is there fullness of joy in His presence, there also comes
A SENSITIVITY TO HIS VOICE
We need more joy in our lives. And we also need to hear His voice more clearly.
“The closer you come to Him, the easier it is to hear His voice.”
I heard a story of an elderly man who thought his wife was going deaf. He decided to test her hearing, so he walked across the room, turned his back, and said, “Can you hear me?” There was no response. So, he backed up a little closer to her and repeated the question, “Can you hear me?” Still there was no response. He backed up again until he was standing near his wife and said, “Can you hear me now?” This time he heard his wife say, “For the third time, I can hear you!”
This man thought his wife had a hearing problem, but he was the one going deaf!
If you are having problems hearing from God, then you need to get into His presence. The closer you come to Him, the easier it is to distinguish His voice. It is not Him with the hearing problems, it is you. He wants to commune with you, He wants to have fellowship with you, He wants to help lead and guide your life, but you must be close enough to Him in order to hear.
In Psalm 73, David began to compare himself with the world. Although he was trying to serve God and do the right thing, he ended up looking at the heathens and got frustrated with God. The heathens appeared to be more blessed then David and seemed to be getting ahead of him. However, something happened in verse 17 when he got into the presence of God. After he comes out of the presence of God he says:
Psalm 73:28, “But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, That I may declare all Your works.”
David understood that he needed the presence of God in His life.
We must draw near to God in order to really put our trust in God and the only way to draw near to God is to get in His presence. We cannot expect to live a victorious life by just coming to church on Sundays. It doesn’t work that way. We need to draw near to God.
Psalm 27:4-6, “One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. 5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD.”
One thing David desired and that was to dwell in the presence of Jehovah all the days of his life. He cried out to the Lord time and time again, “Lord, I need Your presence more then I need anything else.
Job said it this way: Job 23:12, “ Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.”
My prayer at Calvary Pentecostal Church is, “Send your Presence! We need Your presence!”
