[This devotion is based on one section of the July 21 sermon. Audio will be available at this link soon.]

We call ourselves Desiring God Community Church. Verses 25 and 26 of Psalm are therefore central to who we aspire to be:

Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Think of what these verses tell us concerning, first, this present life, and, second, our future life.

In this present life, we have many desires: We want security; we want joy and satisfaction; we want a sense of accomplishment, to feel like we have some importance; we want to be loved and cared for. And to the extent we have attained the objects of those desires, we don’t want to lose them. We don’t want to lose our strength, or our friends, or our family members, or our other joys.

Yet our bodies are weak and eventually wear out; in the vicissitudes of life we are always at risk of losing what we have; in addition, many of our desires are never fulfilled – and then, even when we attain what we think we desire most, so often we remain unsatisfied, longing for that unarticulated something that is still missing.

The psalmist recognizes this. Left to his own resources, his flesh and heart fail. His body loses strength and his thoughts and affections grasp for what he does not have. No matter what he might have, no matter what he might have attained, eventually he is dissatisfied and disgruntled.

But as he comes into the sanctuary, as he worships (Psalm 73:17), he sees God for Who He is. He encounters the reality of the one true God – and that reality strengthens and changes him.

He sees that today, in the midst of whatever trials and difficulties God’s people might face, God Himself is the strength of our hearts:

• He lifts us up
• He enables us to fight temptation
• He listens to our cries
• He comforts our souls
• He answers our prayers
• He accomplishes His work through us.

We see even more than the psalmist from our side of the Cross:

• He sent His Son to die for us
• He reconciled us to Himself through that death
• He provides us in Christ with life and breath and everything pertaining to life and godliness
• He works all things together for our good and His glory
• He loves us as His own precious possession in Christ, hearing our prayers and giving us Himself.

So if we have Him – what else should we desire?

But note: When the psalmist says, “There is nothing on earth that I desire besides you,” he is not denying that he has the desires detailed above – for joy, satisfaction, health, accomplishment, or love. Rather, he is saying:

Now that worship has sobered me, I see: There is no joy apart from You, there is no satisfaction apart from You. I do not deserve, I do not earn anything good in this life – indeed, I only deserve and earn Your judgment on me. But worshiping You among Your people has made clear to me: Everything good in this life is an undeserved gift from you – life and breath and everything. If I have You, I have the source and fountain of all good. So there can be nothing I desire on earth apart from You.

That’s true now, in this present life. What about in eternity, in our future life?

The psalmist says these same truths hold even then, even in heaven: “Whom have I in heaven but You? … God is … my portion forever.”

That is, my great inheritance – what I can look forward to receiving – is God Himself.

What do you look forward to in heaven? There is an overflowing abundance of good promised to God’s people: Bodies that don’t grow weary and never wear out; reunion with loved ones who are in Christ; the opportunity to get to know giants of the faith who lived centuries before (or after!) us; knowing all of God’s people made perfect, without any sin, without even any wrong desires; all the goodness of material prosperity without selfishness or smugness.

Yet all that abundance of good cannot compare with the greatest good of knowing God, of knowing Jesus (John 17:3). God Himself is not only the source of all those other goods, but the One to Whom they all point. He opens the way for us to come to Him, He brings us to Himself in and through Christ, and He rejoices in us in Christ for all eternity. All things are from Him, through Him, and to Him (Romans 11:36). Jesus Himself is our peace (Ephesians 2:14), and in heaven in Him we have the true peace, the true shalom, of being part of God’s beloved family forever.

So the psalmist speaks this precious truth that we today can see even more clearly: Now and for all eternity, God’s people have Him – and in Christ, life-giving relationships with one another, with ourselves, and with the created order. All of that is true shalom.

Do you have this peace? Can you say with the psalmist, “Earth has nothing I desire besides You”? Do you recognize that far and away the greatest joy in eternity is knowing God?

Worship Him – and so desire Him above all else. In this way – and only in this way – will you find your greatest joy.