The Path of Life & Everlasting Joy Psalm 16:11
Psalm 16:11
You reveal the path of life to
me; in your presence is abundant joy; at your right hand are eternal pleasures.
When King David penned these verses, he was running&
hiding himself in the woods,
hills and the fields from King Saul of Israel who along with his 3000 soldiers
was trying to kill him. David could see his painful death arriving & in
such stressful situations he has demonstrated
a living faith in the Lord. To understand his faith lets dig deep inside…I the
1st part of this verse David says
Ø“You make known to me the path of life;”
What
path of Life had God made known to David in this verse?
There are
two paths of Life.
One
is a wide and a diverse path of the world which leads to destruction (Mt
7:13-14). And the other path is a narrow and sparsely populated path & this
is the real path of life which God had revealed David. This was not something
that he figured out; no not at all, rather it was revealed to him by the maker
of heaven & earth. David had learned to take refuge and strength in God
when he had been through trials and tribulations even before. This is the reason that now when his death
was nearing him; he rested in this narrow path of life shown by God to
him because he completely trusted God with his life.
Ø “you will fill me with joy in your presence,”
David's
knowledge and understanding of the character of God brought him an inner peace
that only comes from the Lord. He was assured that true joy didn’t rely on the
outward circumstances which he was facing each day. Instead, it was a loving
relationship with the Creator of the world that gave him a reason to rejoice,
even in the worst of times. And that’s the reason he could say… in your
presence there is fullness of joy!
Ø “With eternal
pleasures at your right hand.”
The term right hand in Scripture is used symbolically to
speak of God’s strength and power: (Psalm
139:10)“God’s right hand guides and sustains His people in times of
need. To be “at the right hand of God”
means to reside at a place of great honor and blessing.
This psalmist from Israel with these
wonderful words seemed to be affirming that suppose - if death arrived &
if he had to lie in the grave, he wouldn’t be
left alone in the grave/pit. But well, how would this happen? Well it’s because
the 1st part of this verse itself says that, God would make him known
the path of life that lead right into God’s presence FOREVER.
David’s confidence in God not only touched every aspect of
his life but it also extended beyond death.
He fully trusted that not even death could interrupt the joy and
pleasure that he would experience in the fellowship with His Lord.
Now one point to notice here is
that-how did King David have this sure knowledge that the Lord would not only protect him through all the changing
scenes of this life, but that death, which was man's greatest enemy, would
also be finally conquered by God. Because the OT people did not have the revelation of
Christ’s resurrection as we do have today?
Then how come David wrote of the life beyond earth i.e. The resurrected & everlasting life in
eternity. Isn’t this surprising?
That’s
because if we go through 2 Samuel 7:12–13, we will discover that King David had been given a promise from
Prophet Nathan that God would set one of his descendants on the throne who
would defeat death & that’s the way his kingdom would be eternal.
The utter trust that David expressed in God, and the
comfort that he received from his
Savior, paints a prophetic picture that points to Christ's own confidence in
His heavenly Father to raise Him from the dead, when He prayed His final
prayer, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit."
Friends In this competitive and materialistic world the narrow path
of life cuts across everything the world holds dear: pride, fear, ego, sexual
sin, love of comfort, money, hatred, and more. These powerful forces keep most
of the people away from this narrow path of life & so they are attracted
towards this wide and diverse path of the world where people worship money, fame and status. They rush about and work hard
for these worldly treasures at all costs because they believe that these
worldly pleasures can make them happy and blessed. But what they are repaid
with is suffering, perplexity and spiritual emptiness. This is the reason many
people cannot help asking themselves:
What really is true joy and blessing?
And the answer to this question is hidden in this verse
itself.
Friends, God
has created
mankind & so it
is he only who reveals everything to us. We just cannot not come to him unless
he reveals himself and draws us. Life
can only come from God, So he makes us known his plan for our life
which involves fullness of joy in his presence. Now this joy is not mere
happiness, like when you get a pay raise or a
gift from your spouse on your birthday. Because such kind of earthly joys are temporary &
they fade away with time. But the
real joy is found in God’s presence, in constantly realizing that he is with
us, leading us, guiding us & directing us & protecting us. The secret of being in God's presence is that
our eyes are fixed on Him and not on what’s troubling our heart. The sense of security
and blessing that we find in the Lord is something that comes to
us despite of our external circumstances. We now find
unspeakable joy, peace, and comfort in the Lord that no material possession or
worldly pleasure can supply as we go through the toils of our life just like King David
experienced complete joy in the security of God’s presence.
Friends isn’t this
amazing?
All the more, Christians today can say to God, “At your right
hand are pleasures forevermore,” because we have the complete revelation of
Christ’s resurrection and our participation in it. Christ is at God’s right
hand and if we know Jesus as our savior that means that we are in Christ at
God’s right hand. Christ’s “path of
death” opened up the “path of life” for us which is filled up with eternal joy
& pleasures that are so far above what this earth can offer us.
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