Where is joy found? With God
Psalm 16
A Miktam of David.
1 Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.’
3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.
4 Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
their drink-offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names upon my lips.
5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
I have a goodly heritage.
7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
8 I keep the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
10 For you do not give me up to Sheol,
or let your faithful one see the Pit.
11 You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy;
in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.
A quick comment on who is speaking when in the psalm. I think that vs. 3 is David putting words into God’s mouth, in other words vs. 3 is from God’s perspective. The rest of the psalm is from David’s perspective.
Vs. 2 and vs. 11 link. In Vs. 2 David asserts that everything good in his life is from God. That is, David did not bring the world into being, or even himself (none of us are self-made), and in each step of his life God has been there to guide and bring to pass the things that have taken place. Vs. 11 takes that one step further, in God’s presence there is fullness of joy. This is not that God’s good action in David’s life is why God is to be rejoiced in – no, the middle of vs. 11 says that the simple act of being in God’s presence is the source of joy, the completeness of joy. Yes, the verse goes on to say God offers gifts, blessings, but the largest of those blessings, the most substantial of those blessings, is the ability to be, the gift of being, in God’s presence each day of our lives. To be with God that is where joy rests.
Notice, this is not that God is with us, rather it is that we are with God. That in God’s presence there is joy. It is living in an awareness that whatever is happening, whatever challenges seem ready to overwhelm us – God is the place where we find our roots, our solid ground, there is where we stand. For there is where joy is – with God.
PRAYER:
O Lord, we want to live in the joy of being in your presence. Ground us, root us, plant us, that we might be in your presence all of our lives. For you are the source of all that is good in our lives, in you is the fullness of joy. Shape us to live in and by this truth. Amen.