Pleasures That Never Cease

Do you know the secret to having contentment and unending pleasures? Psalm 16 explains how Jesus does this within us when we are born again AND when we make him the undisputed LORD of our life. How does this work? How is it possible to have well-settled joy—even in hard times? 

Psalms 16 contains God’s recipe and it has been such a comfort!

The Psalm begins:

“Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.’ As for the saints who are on the earth, ‘They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.'” (1-3)

We need to build our confidence in God, which means we need to speak to our own soul at all times—especially in times of trouble—like David did. The tone and David’s time of trouble is confidence. Despite his trouble he had—settled joy. His trouble did not thwart his confidence in God, and this was manifested by the fact that he praised God despite the trouble. When God is the undisputed Lord of our life, our reaction to trouble is to—PRAISE Him—not BLAME Him. 

David knew that NONE of the GOOD things he enjoyed existed apart from God. Because he understood that ALL goodness was a gift from God, he knew he had nothing good without his relationship with God. Further, David found great delight in the people of God irrespective of their failings. This is a reflection of the heart of Christ. Jesus delights in us, despite all of our failures—past, present, and future. We reflect the heart of Christ when we delight in being with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

“Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take up their names on my lips. O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance.” (4-6)

Life lived for God is not easy, but David expresses the wisdom that life lived for another god was even harder. To prostrate ourselves before anything or anyone and offer more of our life’s greatest passion will result in our failure to capture the great inheritance God has planned for us. The great contentment of knowing God is an extraordinary testimony in today’s age. This culture is plagued with discontentment, boredom, and epidemic restlessness. We have short attention spans, and are constantly in need of different varieties of excitement and more entertainment. My friend, we desperately need to experience the contentment of God that David clearly possessed. And, in Christ—we can! 

“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.” (7-8)

No dead god can give us the wisdom of the Living God. God’s Word is ALIVE, and when we transform our mind and begin to think, speak, and live by His Word [instead of our own philosophy] we have the confidence of God ALMIGHTY. He is completely unmoved by circumstances. To have His confidence, we must determine each day to “set the Lord always before [us]!“

“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.” (9-11)

For those who have never experienced the glorious life of deep commitment to God, it’s very easy to be trapped into the lie of our enemies—that is—that the commitment will cost you more than it’s worth. Well, it’s true! It will cost us the things that this world culture holds in highest regard. But it ALWAYS pays dividends that transcend what the world has to offer. In fact, the decision to “set the Lord always before us” gives us confidence—not just wishful thinking—that our life work will continue beyond the death of our body. We know that one day, after we are resurrected, we will experience the presence of God in a way that is much more glorious. In this passage David speaks beyond himself to Jesus fulfilling this in His own resurrection. Jesus paved the path of life with his blood, and gave every believer a life that may be enjoyed both now, and for eternity. 

Psalm 16

Salvation is a present gift which extends our joy to an infinite place where time is no more. 

We can have complete confidence that our life with God will be marked by the highest and best pleasures far above anything this shallow culture can ever offer. When we set the Lord as the center of our life, when He becomes our compass, our greatest passion, and our absolute best reason for living—we live in the absolute pleasure of His presence. We have confident joy knowing that each circumstance is yet another opportunity to watch God create a masterpiece with our life. And so it will be for all eternity.

We would love to hear your thoughts about this devotional. Did God speak to you or challenge your daily walk with him? Or is there a topic that you would like Kimberly to cover or expound on? Please share with us in the comments below.

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