Daily Devotions

Psalm 73: 26

But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge.

Before Jesus came and opened the way for us to draw near to God, the people had to come to God through an intermediary who is the high priest. When God met with the Israelite at Mt Sinai, they needed Moses to be the intermediary and the people trembled and were in awe and fear and were afraid to draw near to God. This was the same throughout the Old Testament time where the people needed a prophet or a high priest to be the intermediary for them each time they needed to seek God’s direction.

When Jesus came He changed all that when He died on the cross, the veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom and this symbolized that God had removed the veil that separated men from Him. All men can now come freely to His presence. Every believer can come directly to God, we can now come to God through Jesus Christ who said in John14:6 “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Paul also taught that we can have direct access to God in Roms 5: 1-2 “Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Not only have we gained access to God through Jesus Christ, we are now God’s children when we received Jesus as our Saviour. Jesus said in John  1: 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name..

Coming back to today’s verse and as the psalmist said, it is good to be near God because that is where we can get all the protection, blessings and assurance from Him. The patriarchs of old knew that it is only in God that they can be secured and saved. This also applies to us today, we must also draw near to God each day and meditate upon Him continuously. In all things we need to give thanks to Him and also to seek His wisdom and guidance.