But as for me, the nearness of God is my good. Psalm 73:28.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Draw close to Me and I will draw close to you. When you seek Me you will find Me right there with you. I am right there with you, but so many are totally unaware of My presence because they do not seek it. Isaac was surprised to find out when he camped for the night on Bethel, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” Genesis 28:16. You may be like that, if you do not draw close to Me, I cannot hold you to My heart.
How do you draw close? In joy. There is fullness of joy in My presence, the delights at My right hand forever. Beautiful indeed is your inheritance. Jesus told His disciples, “Therefore you too have grief for now, but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice with a joy no one can take from you. John 16:22. You can be in grief and strife but the moment you lift your eyes to Me and I give you a Word that will rouse you, a Word you can hang onto until you see victory arise before your very eyes, beauty beyond all you can ask or imagine arises out of your ash heap. The sun of righteousness has arisen with healing in His wings, rays, tassels, robe. And He has covered you with His own glorious garments of Salvation and Robe of Righteousness. Covenant. Like Jonathan took off His cloak and armor and gave them to David when they joined in Covenant, for at that time he was the richer of the two.
A sure way to draw near Me is a way I taught My people Israel: With the joyful shout! That is strategy I gave them to bring down the walls of Jericho. And the joyful shout of praise can still bring down any wall that is blocking you from your victory. Try it. When you think your life is one of grief and fear start giving a joyful shout combined with songs of praise. Let praise be in your mouth at all times, it will change you, change your world, and change everyone around you from darkness to light. It will make your day a day of joy and excitement in My presence, in My strangely wonderful ways that make impossible things possible, in fact, makes the extraordinary your ordinary!
Just look up at Me and smile and we can start from there.
In Psalm 73, the Psalmist sings that when he pondered the prosperity of the wicked it was troublesome in his sight until something happened. What was it that answered his troubled mind? “I came into the sanctuary of God and then I perceived . . .” Psalm 73:16-17. He found answers in My presence. When you draw close to Me, I answer your troubled thoughts and questions so that all becomes light. The entrance of My Word gives light, it gives understanding to the simple (that is, the naïve, the foolish, those otherwise easily led in other directions). But, the Psalmist goes on to sing that when his heart was embittered and he was pierced within, then he was senseless and ignorant, like a beast before Me. Hard to draw near Me as a beloved friend, partner, and child when you heart is embittered and not joining up with love. For I am love and how can two walk together unless they agree? How can we draw close if we don’t agree? If we have no joy in one another’s nearness? Those who are far from Me perish. Psalm 73:27. They are like fish out of water. I am your source and you will not be happy and complete until you are joined with Me as one, back in My bosom from which you came.
And the Psalmist goes on to sing, “But for me the nearness of God is my good. I have make Adonai YHWH (Lord LORD) my refuge that I may tell of Your works.” Psalm 73:28. When you have experienced My goodness it flows out of you to others. You just cannot keep from shouting, singing, and sharing the Word. But even when you forget that I am there, nevertheless I am continually with you; I have taken hold of your right hand. With My counsel I guide you, and afterward receive you into glory. Psalm 73:23-24.
The Psalmist had experienced the joy of My nearness and he sang, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.” Psalm 73:25. When you arrive at that stage in your spiritual growth no earthly enticement can move you out of My presence, for there is no way you want to give up the best part for something less.
And then the Psalmist sings, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:26. Yes, your outer man may decay and depart, but you will not. Ever. I am your portion. David sang, “The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You support my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Indeed my heritage is beautiful to me.” Psalm 16:5-6. And later he sang, “One thing I have asked of the LORD that I shall seek, that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life that I may behold the beauty of the LORD and inquire within His temple.” Psalm 27:4.
I took all that was evil in you and put it on Jesus and punished it on Him. He took your fault and it became His fault and He took care of it for you. He took your sins and they became His sins and He took care of them for you. He took your illness and pains and they became His illness and pains and He took care of them. He paid all your debts to divine justice in full and left nothing out. It is paid in full, punishment is done, the death sentence received and completed. All your evil and failings became His and His goodness became yours.
Jesus divested and devastated Himself for you. He gave you His all. And still does. He is your great High Priest forever interceding for you. He saves you to uttermost.
My delight is to be with you and among you and to have you all with Me. Since Adam left Me all history has been about Me bringing you back into Myself. One. You in Me and Me in you. We dwell together as one.
Jesus came out of My depths, out of My bosom, so did all of you. It is not complete until you are all back in Me. Gathered back under My wings abiding in and with Me. I desire all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. The truth of My everlasting love.
A drawing aback—return. I draw you with human cords with bands of love. Hosea 11:4. With Jesus. He is the story of Salvation. Just as is the tabernacle.
Why are you so reluctant to return and rest in Me? I tell you through My prophet Hosea. “Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God for the spirit of harlotry is within them.” Hosea 5:4. Adam put it in all of you by making you children of another “god,” who is no god at all but only a creature that is to serve you. And as such, you do not know Me. And you are destroyed for lack of knowledge. People without understanding are ruined. But I led you with cords of a man, with bands of love. Jesus came as one like you without sin and in Him you can all be born again back into Me and instead of the spirit of harlotry, you have the pure Holy Spirit to fill your heart. What a joy! Love, joy, peace, and all the beautiful fruit of the Spirit now is growing in you by your attaching onto Me. Back to where you started from like you had never gone away.
And now I send you who know to pen the eyes of the people who are blinded by Satan, the “god” of this world, that they may turn from darkness ot light, from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Jesus.
I love you. To be near Me is your good. And that is My good too. What a wonderful way to spend our day, hand in hand resting in My love. And the good news it is forever.