“Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
I said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
I have no good besides You.’
As for the saints who are in the earth,
They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;
I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,
Nor will I take their names upon my lips.” (Psalm 16:1-4 NASB1995)
As followers of Jesus Christ, our lives are to be surrendered to the Lord to do his will. He is to be our Lord and Master, and we are to be his servants who obey him, in practice. But we are still human beings who live in flesh bodies on a fallen world, and who are subject to temptation and to the physical environment around us, and to sickness, and to trials and tribulations of many kinds. So we pray for God’s continued watch and care over our lives.
For we do take refuge in our Lord. And this is not something we do only when we are sick or troubled in any way, but it is our life practice to take shelter in the Lord and in his watch and care over our lives, and in the teachings of the Scriptures, to find in them our safe haven. We find our security in the Lord and not in the people and not in the things of this world. He is our protection, not drugs, not armies, and not kings. Only God!
Only God is truly good in all respects. There are humans who are living holy lives, pleasing to God, in His service, but we seem to be in the minority. Yet our goodness comes only from God living within us and not from our human fleshly natures. So God gets all the glory and all the praise for any good that is being produced in and through our lives. And that is good, because that keeps us humble, for we have no cause for pride or for self-glory.
And the saints are not the dead people who were later given sainthood by a particular religious organization. The saints who are in the earth are God’s holy people who have died with him to sin and who are now living to God and to his righteousness in walks of obedience to his commands, all in the power of God. We are those who are called of God to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we’re becoming like Jesus in character.
And we should find delight in other followers of Christ who are living holy lives unto God and for whom the Word of God is precious to them. They should be an encouragement to us, and us to them. And we should have sweet times of fellowship with them, in the Lord, in the sharing of God’s Word and his teachings, and in applying the teachings of the Scriptures to our everyday lives. And this can be in person or via the internet, et al.
And now this is the sad part. There are many people on this earth who do not know God, and who do not honor God with their lives, and some of them are those who profess faith in Jesus Christ with their lips, but whose hearts are far from God. For they are still living to please the sinful desires of the flesh and not to please God. So, essentially they are going after the gods of this world rather than to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ, to do his will.
We must not participate with them in their sins of adultery and idolatry and all that is evil and wicked. We are to find no pleasure and no joy with them in the things which are contrary to the will of God and to his purpose for our lives. So we are also not to join in with these institutional market-driven “churches” which are partnered with the ungodly of this world in an unholy union, which is forbidden by God. We are to come out from among them!
For God, in his mercy and grace, sent Jesus Christ (God the Son) to die on a cross to take upon himself the sins of the world. And when he died, our sins died with him, and when he was resurrected from the dead, he rose victorious over sin, death, and hell, on our behalf. And all this was so that, by faith in Jesus Christ, we will now die to sin, not just once, but daily, and so we will walk (in conduct, in practice) in obedience to God’s commands.
For, if sin continues to be our practice (habit), and not obedience to our Lord and to his commandments (in practice), then according to the teachings of the Scriptures, regardless of what we profess with our lips, we will not have salvation from sin nor eternal life with God. So, we need to know what the Scriptures teach, but in their correct biblical context. For many lies are being taught from Scriptures taught out of context. So please read the Scriptures.
Gospel:[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]
As the Deer
By Martin J. Nystrom
Based off Psalm 42:1
As the deer panteth for the water
So my soul longeth after You
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
You alone are my strength, my shield
To You alone may my spirit yield
You alone are my heart's desire
And I long to worship You
Login to view embedded media
Caution: This link may contain ads
I Have No Good Besides God
An Original Work / August 20, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
