Arise, O LORD. Deliver me...
from men of the world whose portion is in this life.
You fill their chambers with treasure;
they are satisfied with children,
And they leave their abundance to their infants.
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
—Psalm 17:13-15
David considers “the men of the world whose portion is in this life. God fills their coffers with treasure! He gives them all they desire!And more.
The man or woman who has no time for God during their lifetime is given their portion in this life. But in the end they leave their treasure to others and enter eternity without God, an existence in which there is no love, no laughter, no beauty, no truth, no goodness—nothing to make life worthwhile.
Here's an answer to the old question, "Why do the ungodly prosper?" To have everything in life but God is judgment enough.
“But as or me," David writes, "(When I die) I shall behold Your (God's) face in righteousness. When I awake (from death), I shall be satisfied with your likeness," a promise to which John's assurance is a resounding echo: "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as he is" (1 John 3:2). As God’s children we shall share our Father’s likeness and his love forever.
Augustine imagined this proposition: Suppose God promised that He would give you everything you ever wanted in this life—beauty, wealth, power, prominence, love, marriage, children and a measure of satisfaction with it all. "But,” He said, "You will never see My face again." Would you take Him up on His offer?
David Roper
8.13.21
