My heart and my flesh and my God...
The loveliness of the Lord causes the worshipper of God to cry out that his soul faints for the Lord, that his heart and his flesh cry out for the living God (Psalm 84:1-2). The one who dwell in His house, who finds strength in Him, who has set decidedly on pilgrimage (which means steadfastly living in anticipation of coming into the Lord's presence), and who trusts in Him—that one is truly blessed. He finds that in the dry valley, pools open up, refreshment comes and he is enable to persevere until he comes to the Lord at the end.
In Psalm 73 Asaph (David's choir master; 'director of music ministry' in Israel) recounts how his faith and hope almost failed. He was vexed to see the progress and prosperity of wickedness. They have no struggle with illness or trouble, and they clothed themselves with an arrogant disregard of those who do. What is worse is that they seem to be the heroes in their culture! Their prosperity and progress seem to be proof that in fact God is not the Lord of all, that His righteousness does not rule the world, that in fact godliness with contentment is not great gain at all. Their progress seems to imply that the Lord is blind, and that faithfulness to Him is a vain thing. In this vexation of spirit, Asaph became oblivious to all the loveliness of God. Like a brute beast, he could not understand the language of the Lord's righteousness. Bitterness closed him up to the refreshment of his soul.
The great thing is that my heart's affections are not the strength of my heart. My flesh may fail, my heart may fail. My heart may fail. Bitterness, held grievances, frustration and even unbelief may (and often do!) invade the fortress which is meant for worship and trust and purity. But even then I am secure, for my security is not in my flesh, nor in my heart, but in my God. There is one in heaven for me, on my behalf. The death and the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ have done something for me that my failures cannot undo. Even in the bitterness and blindness, he is with me, and is leading me and teaching me, giving me his counsel. And so I progress through the barren places, and I find there refreshment, not from the strength of my faith, my heart, my love, but from the presence of the Lord. And afterwards He will take me into glory. There no frustration or grief or bitterness or unbelief will ever enter again.
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