Eternal Pleasures vs. worldly Pleasures (aka: Sin)
Psalm 36
1 An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin. 3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good. 4 Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.
1 An oracle is within my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God before his eyes. 2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin. 3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good. 4 Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course and does not reject what is wrong.
5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies. 6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. 7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
your faithfulness to the skies. 6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast. 7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights. 9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light. 10 Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart. 11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
you give them drink from your river of delights. 9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light. 10 Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart. 11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12 See how the evildoers lie fallen-
thrown down, not able to rise!
thrown down, not able to rise!
This Psalm presents such a profound picture of the living “according to the spirit” or “according to the flesh”. It would be easy to read this Psalm, see the word “wicked” and immediately think that it refers to some really horrible people, or more likely, just the “unsaved”. However, I would say that we find ourselves many times living in verses 1-4 than we might be willing to admit.
How many times are we blind to our own sin? How often do we find that we LIKE our sin, even though we know that it’s wrong? How prone are we to think that we are “good”, flattering ourselves, patting ourselves on the back, when we compare ourselves to those “other” people, or “sinful” people?
In all these situations we have “ceased to be wise and do good” (v.3)!!
What is the key?
See verse 1: the fear of the Lord!! We MUST keep the fear of the Lord before our eyes! And, it’s not a fear that causes us to run from God, but TO Him. It’s a fear that makes us want to say NO to EVERY kind of sin.
Easy enough, right? Well, once we’ve said “no” to sin, then what? Do we settle ourselves for a dry, boring existence?
NO WAY! See verses 5-11. We made our stand to HATE sin, so that we can say YES to the expanse of God Love, faithfulness, righteousness and justice!!
The value of knowing and EXPERIENCING His love cannot even be quantified — it’s absolutely PRICELESS (v.7). Not only that, He has an ABUNDANCE of good things for us to feast on, and a flowing RIVER of delights for our soul and spirit! So, why do we find that we don’t experience them much?
1. We are too attached to the pleasures of this world. We find so many things that make us “feel good”, that we never sense the need to seek something else.
2. We don’t know too many people who really seem to enjoy God “that much”.
3. As a result of 1 and 2, we don’t have much faith that these “eternal pleasures” exist for us today, even if we believe that we might have them in Heaven.
4. It costs our most precious commodity to get them: TIME! We must give time to His Presence. We MUST.
But, why should we settle for fleeting, momentary pleasures that fade so quickly, when we could begin to dip into a RIVER of excitement, pleasure, and thrills for our heart, soul, mind, and yes, even our bodies — that will go on for BILLIONS AND BILLIONS of never-ending years?!?!
I say, ditch the other stuff, believe for the BETTER and enter in! Unlike the others, there will never be any regret here. 🙂
How deep the Father’s love for us, how vast beyond all measure!
-Jessie
Jessie Still 
Thanks for saying it like it really is! My heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked…I cannot even begin to know it!
B