CONCERT OF PRAYER

Pray Week 864

“The Good Life”

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! (Psalm 34:8)

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I watched a video of the most recent sweepstakes winner as he was presented with the award of $5000 a week for life. I contemplated the impact of his new found situation. Does this mean that he can now live the ‘good life’ – a life of wealth, comfort and entertainment without concern about the cost? Then the Lord spoke to my heart – his life could end tomorrow. (Luke 12:20)

Indeed, no amount of worldly wealth and possessions can define ‘the good life’. If we examine the experience of David from God’s Word we find keys to unlocking the good life as God intended it to be. David was fast-tracked from being a shepherd in the fields to being highly favored and living in the king’s court. He was even betrothed to King Saul’s daughter. He was living ‘the good life’. Then Saul turned on him forcing David to flee, leave it all behind, and hide out in a cave. It is from the cave that David was shaped and taught by God’s Holy Spirit and it is there that he wrote: Psalm 34, Psalm 57, and Psalm 142.

From his cave experience David came to deepen his understanding for his need of a personal, intimate relationship with God. (Psalm 34:8)

It was in the cave that David gained clarity of God’s sovereign purpose for his life. (Psalm 57:2)

Having lost all he had in this world, David experienced God’s provision, protection and presence during his time in the cave. (Psalm 34:9, Psalm 57:1, Psalm 142:5)

Like David and others recorded in the Bible, God sometimes leads us out into wilderness experiences. Caves happen. What we deem as ‘the good life’ gets turned upside down and inside out and we find ourselves asking, ‘Lord, what did you do that for?’ Saul of Tarsus lived the good life. A Pharisee and Hebrew of Hebrews, Paul was well-respected and well educated and he zealously persecuted those who followed Christ. Then he encountered Jesus and found the true good life in Christ. But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ. (Philippians 3:7-8)

Paul was struck blind in his encounter with Jesus and was later healed by the Lord through Ananias. This blindness – the sudden darkness, the fear, the sudden dependency upon others was a cave experience in and of itself for him. It was most certainly a time of reflection and a time of hearing the truth of God speaking to his heart. Paul took what he learned in his cave experience and taught others of the contentment that characterizes the true good life. (Philippians 4:11-13)

The good life is unlocked by our personal, intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. It is through Jesus that we have abundant life (John 10:10). May you move from religion to relationship. May you know the good life – its contentment, peace and joy – no matter what circumstance you find yourself in.