So much of your experience of a situation depends on who’s with you.
My wife and I recently had a great date night. It was nice outside, so we wandered around to find a place with outdoor seating, the right ambience, and delicious food. We finally settled on a Mexican restaurant.
The food was fine, but that wasn’t what made the night so enjoyable. I could’ve gone to the best restaurant around, but if I were alone or with someone else, it wouldn’t have been nearly as good as the meal I shared with my wife. What made the night precious was being in her presence. A meal is so much sweeter when you’re with someone you love and who loves you.
Seek Joy
That night reminds me of Psalm 16, a meditation on the blessing of life in God’s presence, the presence of One who loves you far more than you could ever know—and who wants you to love him in return. We think joy is about finding the best food, but it’s about the person with whom we share the meal.
Psalm 16 is a crescendo of blessings, each building on the last as David recounts the astonishing joy of life in God’s presence.
1. The Blessing of Community
David first speaks of the blessing of community: “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight” (v. 3).
Community’s blessing could be help in a time of need, like when I was incapacitated by a bike accident and a family from my church took me in and cared for me. It could be an encouraging text from a friend, or a listening ear. One blessing of life in God’s presence is the shared presence of other believers, particularly within the covenant community of a local church.
2. The Blessing of Inheritance
Alluding to the allotment of the promised land to the 12 tribes, David tells us we have an inheritance that far surpasses even the choicest earthly inheritance (vv. 5–6). Our inheritance is God himself.
Imagine you get word tomorrow that you’ve inherited a billion dollars. What thoughts would flood your mind? How would you react? It’d certainly change my perspective on life. I probably wouldn’t spend time comparing toothpaste prices to ensure I got the best deal. I wouldn’t worry about saving enough for my kids’ college or retirement. I’d trust we’re provided for.
Your inheritance in the Lord is far greater. How much has it changed your perspective on life?
Does it give you peace to know God sees you and will provide for all your needs? Does it still your heart to know he delights to bless you as his beloved daughter or son? In doubt or uncertainty, does it reassure you to remember the future you have with him? Does it bring you joyful awe to consider being in his presence, blanketed with his glory and love for all eternity?
3. The Blessing of Counsel
The psalm continues to rise as David reflects on the blessing of God’s counsel: “I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me” (v. 7).
Does it give you peace to know God sees you and will provide for all your needs?
When I was in college, pursuing a degree in classical guitar performance, I felt surprisingly unfulfilled. Eventually, I sought God’s guidance, and he redirected me toward pastoral ministry. It took time, but in the following years, he grew my confidence in that decision (largely through input from others) and my peace in his counsel. Reflecting on those years, I can’t help but bless the Lord who gives me counsel. I sought him, and he answered.
Maybe you’ve experienced the same heart-searching that keeps you up at night as you’ve sought God’s will about a relationship, or a vocational crossroads, or a big moving decision, or the way to talk with a wandering child. As the Lord gives you counsel, bless him for it.
4. The Blessing of Strength
Next, David blesses God for the strength he supplies: “I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken” (v. 8). The right hand symbolizes power in battle. David is recalling times God was with him to bring victory over his enemies.
And the same God with David when his life was in danger is with you when your marriage is on the rocks. The same God helping the lowly shepherd to defeat Goliath is with you when you feel inadequate at work or home. The same God with David when men sought to take his life is with you when the economy takes a hit or a coworker has it out for you.
Cry out to him in the night, for the Lord is with you, fighting on your behalf. Because he’s at your right hand, you won’t be shaken.
5. The Blessing in Death
David reaches a climax of praise as he declares God’s blessing even in death:
You will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. (vv. 10–11)
Someone recently called to tell me a friend died unexpectedly at just 54 years old. Shortly after was the anniversary of the death of two of my grandparents. As I reflect on those deaths, I’m saddened. But I mourn with hope, trusting that God will not abandon to the grave those who’ve made him their refuge.
As great as God’s presence can be, we’re still in exile. Our joy is just a taste of what my grandfather, for example, now experiences at home with the Lord. His pain has turned to pleasures forevermore. And that same glorious homecoming, believer, awaits you if you trust in him.
Behold the Greater David
We deserve none of these blessings. We want a life filled with joy, but our hearts turn from God and run after other things. For that, we deserve for our sorrow to multiply (v. 4). But because of what Christ has done, all the blessings of this psalm are yours.
As Peter preached on Pentecost, this psalm is ultimately a prophecy about Jesus (Acts 2:25–28). In the end, both David and Jesus experienced death, but neither was abandoned to Sheol. And Jesus, the faithful Son of God, was raised on the third day.
We deserve none of these blessings. We want a life filled with joy, but our hearts turn from God and run after other things.
Jesus never ran after other gods. He didn’t take their names on his lips but took our sorrows on himself. Jesus was shaken that you, through all the storms of life, might dwell with him securely. Jesus tasted death that you might live forever at his right hand. Jesus is the One who fully delights in the saints. So fully that he gave his life to share with you the inheritance he earned by right.
He’s given us his Spirit as the guarantee of that inheritance, pouring out his Spirit on the church at Pentecost. Christ’s Spirit is God’s presence in you, the key to eternal fullness of joy.
The Gospel Coalition