Psalm 16
A miktam[a] of David.
1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.Today’s Psalm of David is one where he is taking comfort in knowing that if he keeps his eyes fixed on God, then whatever comes his way will not throw him lastingly off course. Wouldn’t we love to have this confidence?‘9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful[b] one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.’This is such great comfort. David has, sometimes more successfully than others, worked hard to develop an intimacy of relationship with God which means that to the best of his knowledge and ability he is, the majority of the time at least, doing the things that God would ask of him in the ways that he ought to. The comfort of knowing that he is seeking to follow God’s lead gives David such confidence. He is filled with joy in the presence of God. I wonder, how often are you filled with joy in the presence of the Lord? Sometimes I go through the motions somewhat with Church services and my life between them. This isn’t good. We have been saved and freed for joyful obedience. We can have God make his home in our hearts and serve him in the power of the Holy Spirit every day. We are in his presence every moment of our lives. I wonder, are we filled with joy every moment of our lives? Joy and happiness are not the same thing, of course. We can be joy-filled but not happy, because bad things happen, but our security remains in God. A time like the one we’re living through now is ripe for such a way of living. It’s hard for most of us to be happy during Covid-19, but there’s nothing whatsoever to stop us being joyful. We have God. He has us. We are His and, even more miraculously than that, He is ours. Be of good cheer today. Something To Do Think back to a time when you were filled with joy. What was special about it? Something To Pray Ask God that he might fill you with joy in his presence today.
