whom have I on earth beside Thee

Last week, I was listening to a sermon that our pastor was preaching and this verse caught my attention.

Psalms 73:25-26

²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.

I was immediately struck that this same phrase is part of an old hymn that I have always loved. Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. Hymns are not always popular much anymore and not all of them will be remembered as time goes on, but there are some Biblical truths that I have learned because we sang these hymns often. This one in particular floods into my soul and reminds me of a Savior that is always present, always ready and willing to comfort and care about me.

Pass me not, O gentle Savior
Hear my humble cry
While on others Thou art calling
Do not pass me by

Let me at Thy throne of mercy
Find a sweet relief
Kneeling there in deep contrition
Help my unbelief

Trusting only in Thy merit
Would I seek Thy face
Heal my wounded, broken spirit
Save me by Thy grace

Thou the spring of all my comfort
More than life to me
Whom have I on earth beside Thee?
Whom in Heav’n but Thee?

Savior, Savior
Hear my humble cry
While on others Thou art calling
Do not pass me by

Too often, we are caught up in living and forget to recognize that our Savior is to be our first love. He is to be all we desire. We should be able to live a life reflecting this truth that “there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.”  This should be the desire that supercedes all other desires. We should be putting Him first. All other things in life are taken care of by our mighty savior, Jesus. He promised in His word to take care of all our needs.

Matthew 6:33

³³ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Have we taken time to evaluate our first love?  Are we loving something more than we love our Lord?  Have we left our first love? In Revelations chapter 2, it was written:

⁴ Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

Our first love must be God. We cannot permit anything else in this world to come first. He must be our first love. All of our faith, our hope, our trust must be placed in Him. He alone can provide the peace, joy, hope, healing and comfort we need in any situation we face. He alone can carry us through. He alone died in our place and made a way for us. He alone loved us when we were unlovable. He alone is what we need. Our hearts, our lives should belong to Him first.   We need to come before His throne of grace and humbly find that first love waiting.