“There is none upon earth that I desire besides You.”  Psalm 73:25

Have you ever been in worship, singing powerful lyrics about His love, and suddenly realized you are almost just going through the melodic motions? I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes I don’t focus on the power of what I’m singing like I should. Or that I’ll be declaring words that claim “All I want is You, Lord” when my honest heart knows that my flesh longs for other things. It makes me feel disingenuous.

In worship we should strive to be genuine and our transparent selves before God. After all, He knows us better than we know ourselves. He created us.

Yet worship is also an opportunity to declare God’s biblical truth back to Him, in recognition that we may not yet live up to the statements we declare, but that we desire to continue to grow and strive towards it. It’s putting ourselves in a posture of humility and dependence on a God who deserves everything we have and more, and yet is pleased with the little that we bring.

In verse 25 of Psalm 73, the author sounds like a spiritually minded man who wants God only: “There is none upon earth that I desire besides You.” But that’s not how he began this psalm. Initially, he admitted that he wanted the prosperity that others around him had: “For I was envious of the boastful” (v.3).  But when he drew near to God, he recognized that he was foolish to be envious (Psalm 73:21-22, 28).

Even when we know God, we are often distracted by the prosperity of others. C. S. Lewis wrote,

“It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak… We are far too easily pleased” with lesser things than Him.

What do we learn about God in this psalm that might help when our desires distract us from God’s best? Well, we see that even though we may be tempted to let our minds wander and long for worldly things, He is continually guiding us and bringing us back to focus on Him. He “is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (v.26).

Lord, may I declare this in truth as You make it true for me.