The nearness of God

Interesting comment in Psalm 73:28; “But as for me, the nearness of God is my good;” These words struck me with force as I just read them. The nearness of God is my good: good meaning; beauty, good thing, bountiful, best. The Psalmist, Asaph in this case, looks at all the rich and powerful people in his society, leans toward envy, catches himself and turns, instead, to God. Seeing the end of the rich man, he remains as God’s man rejecting wealth and power as the way to fullfilment..
But it is this phrase that challenged me. “The nearness of God is my good.” How can one say this from afar, or from a place of vacillating, now near, now away from God. To be near God is truly a good and awesome thing. To have God near me is at first frightening, then scary, then that which causes me to fall on my face and repent. But as He remains near, I know I am lifted up, being in His presence, loved beyond my understanding and brought to fullness. When God comes near it is my good, but more than I can ever understand and grasp. How wonderful it is to have a problem like this-grasping how good my life and experience is in the presence of God..