Mon., 5/20/19 Devotion (Ps. 73:16-17)

Today's encouragement comes from Psalm 73:16 & 17, where Asaph, the human author, was dealing with, and finally received resolution to the thorny issue of the prosperity of the wicked, (see vv. 2-3 ff.). . . .

"When I thought how to understand this, it was too painful for me—until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end."

On our own, individually, we are simply *unable* to grasp a whole lot of things that are necessary for our happiness and well-being. This is no accident. God intentionally designed us to be insufficient and incomplete in and of our-selves. This is why He puts His saints into the body of Christ, His holy church. When Asaph came into the communion of his fellow-believers—all of a sud-den the darkness was dispersed, and his understanding was enlightened.

It is the height of pride and foolishness, to believe we do not need Jesus or His church. Let us enter the Lord's sanctuary on Sundays, and get in Christ all that we need for all of life.

[Puritan quote of the day: "Mercy is not for them that sin and fear not, but for them that fear and sin not. God's mercy is a holy mercy; where it pardons it heals.” —Thomas Watson, in, "A Body of Divinity"]