How refreshing my time in Psalm 16 was this morning. David is calling to God his refuge to keep him safe. What a wonderful conclusion he comes to in verse 9, "THEREFORE my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices...". He has built his joy on the following things: 1. God is the final good. 2. He rejoices in fellowship with the LORD's people. 3. The LORD has wisely and compassionately provided him with every facet of his personal life in exactly the right proportions. He is delighted that God's expert hand is upon all of the details of his life. 4. He is conscious of the LORD's presence with him and he finds reason to praise the LORD as he considers His counsel. 5. He is so moved by the wonder of his God, his refuge that he deliberately pictures God with him, going before him, protecting him. In the presence of such a God, who could possibly overpower him. 6. Should it be his God's purpose to allow him to die at the hands of an enemy, his God will not abandon him to the grave. 7. The path of life doesn't end with physical death, rather, it begins to flourish. Physical death marks the beginning of enjoying the eternal pleasures at the right hand of God.
Without considering the messianic tones in this psalm for now, let's consider the lot of the person who doesn't delight in this God in this way. 1. He calls upon someone or something other than the only God who is capable, to keep him safe (money, education, status etc). 2. He may have a SAMPLE of God's goodness here in life, yet he doesn't see God HIMSELF as his ultimate good. 3. He doesn't find any pleasure in spending time with God's people. 4. He sees an array of things that he finds attractive and pursues them. 5. He finds that those attractions cannot be caught in such a way that they ultimately satisfy, or even provide the degree of satisfaction they promised. He plummets into a state of sorrow. 6. He is unhappy about his lot in life. 7. He has no solid counsel to guide or comfort him, rather he has to live by whims. 8. He would rather have God outside of his view when he is trying to live his life. God is an unwelcome hinderance. 9. He doesn't experience a joyful life. 10. He will be abandoned to the grave and will decay. 11. He will not experience the eternal pleasures at the right hand of God.
These are simply a few thoughts by which the Lord graciously reminded me this morning of the delightful inheritance I, and all believers, have in Him. The boundary lines surely have fallen in pleasant places and we really do have a delightful inheritance.
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