Pleasant Places

#21. May 25, 2015

 2015 Devotional. Our goal for these weekly devotionals is to grow in humility and to grow spiritually by memorizing selected passages, putting them into context, and by applying them to our daily living. These passages are taken from: “100 Verses Every Christian Needs to Know” by Freeman-Smith. All passages are from the NIV.

 Psalm 16:11

“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.”

Psalm 16 is a song of David. It is one of the Messianic Psalms. David in the power of the Holy Spirit refers to Jesus and what He will experience while on this earth. On the day of Pentecost, Peter the Apostle quotes this Psalm in reference to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:25-31). It is a song of praise with devotion to God, and an answer to David’s own petition.

David starts with the petition: “Keep me safe, my God” and David declares that God is his refuge. David uses the first person, he speaks to God directly and Ps. 16 becomes a moving personal prayer of praise.

It is a prayer from which we may learn humility and grow spiritually. Apart from the Lord he “has no good thing”. He is completely dependent on God. Are we able to say that about all the things we have: our homes, our careers, our families, our wealth, and for many, good health? Ask yourself: what or whom do you really depend on? When push comes to shove is God alone your security?

Verses 5-8 are a source of encouragement. No matter what our circumstance as children of God we dwell in “pleasant places” and have a “delightful inheritance”. The present and future is for us assured because God, as David says, “is at our right hand” and we stand firm. Like Jesus who is the first born of the dead we will share in the blessing of being resurrected to eternal life.

How is it that God keeps us safe and protects us in this life and into the next? The verse we are memorizing answers that question: We are shown the way of life by God’s word so that we may live in peace in a broken world and that we may show others. God fills us with his Holy Spirit so that the world may see our peace, our joy, and God’s love. We have the assurance of eternal life and now have the mandate to guide others to eternal life in Jesus (II Cor. 5:11-21) The moment we accept and trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior “eternal pleasures” begin! Along with David and as believers we say: “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places”. Praise is to God!

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