Today, Saturday November 05
Fullness of Joy and Pleasures Forevermore
Psalm 16:7-11
“I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
Today will be our last day looking at and meditating on Psalm 16. Remember it is a Michtam of David and is called the “Golden Psalm”, because it teaches us from the experiences of David that God is good all the time, and that includes the bad and difficult times of life. Like David we should learn to be content and rejoice in whatever circumstance we are in because of the presence of the Lord (Philippians 4:4-13).
Psalm 16 is also called a Messianic Psalm because it so clearly is speaking of Jesus, His life, His death and His resurrection. We know this especially from Peter’s message on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:25-32. These verses begin with Peter quoting David from Psalm 16, “For David says concerning Him…”. Then in verse 29, Peter said: "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.”
Peter said that David was a prophet and God allowed him to “foresee” the resurrection of the Christ a thousand years before Jesus was even born! My friend, the resurrection of Jesus from the grave is at the foundation of everything we believe concerning life, death and eternity! When we really believe this, we will find fulness of joy and peace in our hearts despite the trial or circumstance we might be in. Even when we are facing death or experiencing the passing of a loved one or friend, we will have hope!
Today, presently, Jesus “shows us the path of life” in that we have the guidance of the Holy Spirit to make the right choices and decisions concerning our families, our jobs, our relationships, our futures, and anything else we are facing!
Today, we can enjoy the presence of Jesus in every aspect of our lives if we take the time and make the effort to always “set the Lord before us”. We must do this as a daily discipline in reading our Bibles, praying, praising and worshipping the Lord. In a very practical way, this is accomplished by doing the “eleven things” we read about in Psalm 15.
Isn’t it interesting that Psalm 15 ends with: “He that does things shall never be moved”. And David says the same thing here in Psalm 16: “Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved”. You will only be able to do the eleven things in Psalm 15 if you “set the Lord before you and make sure He is at your right hand”. Hebrews 12:1-2 encourages us to do this also: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The path of life that He shows us on earth today will end in even greater life when we enter heaven. The focal point of heaven is not gates of pearl, streets of gold, or even angels and glorified saints. The central glory and joy of heaven is Jesus Christ (Rev. 4-5). Then we shall be in His presence and experience fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. In our glorified bodies, we shall be like Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:20-21; 1 John 3:1-3), and we shall worship and serve Him forever. The pleasures of heaven will be far beyond any pleasures we have known here on earth, and as we enjoy the Lord and serve Him, we will not be restricted or encumbered by time, physical weakness, or the consequences of sin. So magnificent are the glories of heaven that the apostle John could hardly find words in the human language to describe it (Rev. 21-22).
Is Jesus Christ the Lord of your life? Have you accepted your inheritance and are you making the most of it for His glory? Do you anticipate being with Christ in glory? Is He the joy of your life today; for if He isn't, when will you be prepared to enjoy Him for all eternity?
God bless!
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