Take pleasure in life. God does. Psalm 16

Take pleasure in life. God does. Psalm 16         You will not have as much trouble with discouragement or depression if you learn how to rejoice in the Lord, be thankful to Him always, and learn to take pleasure in life and delight in the things that God Himself delights in. Search the scriptures that tell us what God delights in or takes pleasure in. There are MANY! And He also tells us that "the living God gives us richly all things to enjoy" [in His time and in His way, of course.] 1 Tim. 6:17

         "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage."
Psalm 16:6 Or, "delightful inheritance" (NIV) Be thankful to God for the heritage He has given you in this life as well as the inheritance that is yet to come "reserved in heaven for you." 1 Peter 1:4 Be thankful and enjoy what comes to you "from the good hand of our God." This "song promotes contentment with the arrangements of one’s life, seeing them as providentially ordered." (ESV Study Bible note)

         Then King David rejoices in God’s constant Presence with Him. The Living God, Creator of heaven and earth, actually indwells us after He caused us to be "born again" into His family after we had been alienated from Him by our sins. "Jesus answered him, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.’" John 14:23 ESV Our real home is in heaven "in my Father’s house" but during the time of our sojourn on this earth, God’s Presence goes with us and "Christ in you the hope of glory" and presence of the Holy Spirit surely brings joy as well as strength and peace and love and the "fruit of the Spirit" to all who know Him. If we have God dwelling with us, "His divine power has given us all things we need for life and godliness." 2 Peter 1:4 And He has promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Heb. 13:5 Nothing can separate us from Him. Romans 8:38-39 A dear friend wrote to me just a few minutes ago, "My favorite part of
that passage is the word "life." Life can't separate me from His love."


        And then the Psalmist, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, adds a Messianic promise, "nor will you let your Holy One see decay." That is interpreted in the New Testament as referring to Jesus’ resurrection in Acts 2, "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact." Acts 2:32 His resurrection was the first step in bringing to pass the hope or certainty of eternal life. Jesus’ resurrection was the "firstfruits" as an historical guarantee that we, too, continue to live after death and our bodies shall be raised from the dead.

        We can take pleasure in God’s Presence, in God’s works, in God’s providence, and in the inheritance He has laid up for us, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God. The hope–meaning "expectation" or "anticipation"–of everlasting joy fulfills "the human yearning to be near to God and to know the pleasure of His welcome forever, beyond the death of the body. . . ."
                                                                    –Pastor Burnside        "I will praise the Lord, who counsels me, even at night my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken." Psalm 16:7-8 NIV    "Therefore"–because of God’s constant presence, "my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave. . . ." My wife’s body is in the grave in a military cemetery in Washington State, but Jesus immediately took her spirit to be with Him in heaven when she died: "absent from the body, present with the Lord." 2 Cor. 5:8(ESV Study Bible note) "Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore." Psalm 16:11