Apples of Gold
Radio Script for June 9, 2008
“Apart From You I Have No Good Thing”
Hello, I’m Doug Apple…with Apples of Gold.
In Psalm 16:2, David made a powerful statement.
He said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.”
Think of the temptations we would avoid if we only took this attitude: apart from God I have no good thing.
See, temptations hit us when we look out there and see some nice thing, and we want it. Then we start scheming to get it. It takes our time and our effort. We use our brain power. We dream about it and plan for it.
But what if we said, “Lord, apart from You I have no good thing”?
This is a phrase that is constantly rattling around in the back of my brain. It creates a foundation for all my wants and desires.
I can look around and see a lot of stuff I want, and things I want to do. But then I turn back to this foundational phrase, “Apart from You I have no good thing.”
This world has a lot of good stuff, doesn’t it? Who doesn’t want all the new things? I admit, I want all the latest, the cell phones and computers and cars and cameras. Keep me on the cutting edge, baby!
But then I return to these roots, “Apart from the Lord I have no good thing.”
This keeps God first in my life. This keeps me coming back to the Lord every day, and desiring to walk in His Spirit. He is first, and everything else pales in comparison.
It applies to relationships, too. I can work on having a good family, but apart from the Lord I have no good thing.
I can have a great job with all the benefits, but apart from the Lord I have no good thing.
Here is one way I think this applies to my life. If I don’t have the Lord, nothing is good.
And by “having the Lord” I mean living right, and walking with Him each day.
Now here is something that amazes me. Sometimes we will compromise our walk with the Lord in order to get something we think is good. We will cut corners, or take the low road to get something. We will push the Lord off into a corner so He doesn’t stop us from getting what we think is good.
And yet apart from Him, nothing is good. Anything we have to compromise our standards to get is not good. I don’t care how good it seems, apart from Him there is no good thing.
James 1:17 says that every good and perfect gift comes down from our Heavenly Father. That means if it doesn’t come from Him, it’s not good. Apart from Him I have no good thing.
If you have to compromise the Lord to get it, you don’t want it. It’s not good. It will end up like sand in your hands.
So apart from the Lord there is no good thing, but now get this. With the Lord we get all good things!
Psalm 34:10 says, “…those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.”
Psalm 84:11 says, “…no good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”
Matthew 6:33 says, “…seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you…”
Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 103:5 says the Lord “satisfies your desires with good things.”
Psalm 145:19 says, “He fulfills the desires of those who fear him…”
Now you might think that if you put God first, then you will get whatever you desire.
Well, yes, that is true, in a certain way. When we put God first, then we are walking in the Spirit. We are in tune with His Spirit every day. Romans 8:5 says, “…those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
So, yes, we will get what we desire – and those desires are in accordance with what God desires.
But now look, we still have a sinful nature, and it has its own desires. Galatians 5:24 talks about crucifying the sinful nature and its desires.
Ephesians 4:22 says our “old self” is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.
So we have two kinds of desires, the desires of the sinful nature, and the desires of the Holy Spirit inside us. When we put God first, we are in tune with the desires of the Holy Spirit.
It is these desires that God grants us in abundance, because these are all good things!
So it’s really a matter of priorities. When we put God first, then He gives us good things. But if we ever put any thing before God, then it’s not a good thing anyway, because when you drill down to the foundation of it all, it’s like David said to the Lord in Psalm 16:2.
“Apart from You I have no good thing.”
Comments?
E-mail me: dougapple@wave94.com.
May God bless you today! With Apples of Gold…I’m Doug Apple.
© 2008 The Arrow’s Tip
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(Proverbs 25:11 – “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”)
Why “The Arrow’s Tip”? Each morning, after diligently seeking the Lord, I write Apples of Gold. Then before I release it to the public I pray one final prayer, “Lord, send forth your arrows.” I envision Apples of Gold as arrows, tips dipped in the river of the water of life that flows from the throne of God (Rev. 22:1), sailing toward the hearts and minds of men and women around the world.
Doug Apple
General Manager - Wave 94
Christian Radio for Tallahassee
PO Box 4105
Tallahassee, FL 32315
(850) 926-8000
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