“Nearer My God to Thee”

The final two verses of Psalm 73 form a conclusion and a resolution. Listen to them here: “Those far from You will certainly perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, God’s presence is my good. I have made the Lord God my refuge, so I can tell about all You do” (vv. 27-28). The psalmist has finished his review of the past and is now hammering out a philosophy with which to face the future. He is resolved that no matter what anyone else may do, he is going to live in close companionship with God. He helps us to see the importance of this resolution by putting it in the form of a contrast: “Those far from You will certainly perish … but as for me, God’s presence is my good.”

Really, when it comes down to it, there are only two positions in life—close to God or far away from Him. I wonder, as the psalmist penned these words, was something like this going through his mind: “What caused me so much trouble in recent days and accounted for all my difficulties was the fact that I did not keep close to God. I erroneously believed that the cause of my problems was the prosperity of the ungodly, but having entered into the sanctuary of God I see that this was not he cause of my problems at all. My problems came because I had chosen not to remain close to Him. For me there is now only one thing that matters—staying close to God.”

How are things with you at this moment? Do you feel close to God? If you don’t, then let me put what I want to say in the words of a wayside pulpit that arrested my attention some years ago: “If you feel that God is far away, guess who moved?”

Further Study

Ps 46:1-11; 2Sm 22:3; Ps 9:9; Ps 62:1-12

What does the psalmist affirm?

What does the psalmist exhort the people?