Mt. Gilead Baptist Church

1. {17}
2. Their iniquity bulges like fat; The imaginations of their heart run rampant.
3. They mock and they speak with malice. They talk down as oppressors perched on high.
4. They set their lip over heaven and their tongue engulfs the earth.
5. Therefore, that kind of people resort to this: even the abundant waters, they gulp for themselves.
6. And they say, “How does God know? “Is there knowledge with the Most High?”
7. Behold, these are the wicked— unconcerned about the Eternal; increased in wealth.
8. Surely it was pointless that I kept my heart clean, and that I washed my hands in innocence;
9. And suffered torment all the day and was chastened every morning anew.
10. If I say, “I will speak as they do,” Behold I will betray a generation of your children.
11. And I tried to understand this; A distressful thing it was for me,
12. Until I went into God’s sanctuary, For then I discerned their destiny.
13. Surely in slippery places you set them; you cause them to fall into ruin.
14. How quickly disaster will be theirs; They will be totally finished off by terrors.
15. Like a dream upon awakening, O Lord when aroused you will lightly dismiss their figure.
16. When my mind was embittered and my emotions torn up
17. I was senseless and did not understand; I was as a beast before you.
18. Nevertheless I am always with you; You will hold my right hand. {18}
19. With your counsel you lead me, and afterward receive me with honor.
20. Whom do I have in the heavens but you? And having you, I desire nothing on earth.
21. My flesh and my heart fail; God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
22. For behold those who go far from you will perish; You will silence all who desert you.
23. As for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have set my refuge in the Lord God Declaring all your works

"God would not suffer his people to be tempted, if his grace were not sufficient, not only to save them from harm, but to make them gainers by it...All who commit themselves to God, shall be guided with the counsel both of his Word and of his Spirit, the best counsellors here, and shall be received to his glory in another world... And the psalmist was hereby quickened to cleave closer to God. Heaven itself could not make us happy without the presence and love of our God. The world and all its glory vanishes. The body will fail by sickness, age, and death; when the flesh fails, the conduct, courage, and comfort fail. But Christ Jesus, our Lord, offers to be all in all to every poor sinner, who renounces all other portions and confidences."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Isn't that just beautiful? God is the strength of my heart--He is MINE forever.