From Surviving to Thriving. It’s Possible with God!
Some meditations from Psalm 16
Thinking about what it means to be a man in today’s world, I find I am drawing encouragement from an ancient man who knew trouble in spades, but also knew the God who was his present help in time of trouble.
In these few moments that you take to read and meditate on one song David the songster created and sung to his God, may we resolve to take the path that he has already blazed before us.
Life is About Safety.
From simply praying for protection and safety, in this Psalm David contemplates the eternal pleasures of God that yet await him on the other side of the grave.
Life is About Pursuing.
From the temptations which assail him, to the inevitable distractions present in the world, David has decided on thing. You are the Lord. Apart from You I have no good thing. Nothing is good, David declares, in and of itself. You, God, are my one desire. Without you, nothing makes sense. (Message Bible)
Life is About People.
David recognizes that there are a company of people, a tribe if you like, who also feel about God as he does. They are his companions. They bring him encouragement and joy and fun. They are the glorious ones(this seems to be a bit over the top to talk this way.)In plain English, what splendid friends they make. (Message Bible.)
Life is About God.
My choice is you, God, first and only
And now I find I’m your choice
You set me up with a house and yard
And then you make me an heir. (Message Bible)
Obviously this rendition is written within the context of Western society. It’s a paraphrase, meaning it’s putting the thoughts of the text into colloquial language, language that everybody can understand. How many poverty stricken Christians would like to claim a house and yard? The New International Version of this text declares:
You have assigned me my portion and my cup
You have made my lot secure
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places
Surely I have a delightful inheritance.
Psalm 16:5–6
I am to be included in your home, among your people- and that life is forever. Not even the grave can interrupt our fellowship. You have shown to me the path of life. (Psalm 16:10)
Life is About Faith.
Yes, this is faith talking. We all have faith in something or somebody. I have a brother, whom I love , who is hoping that death is the end of existence. He believes there is no accountability for the life you live hereafter, for the gift of life given to you. Opposite to my brother, I have hope in God for this life, and the life promised beyond the grave,
Life is About Choices.
I had made this declaration as a teenager, long before I suffered the crises of life I have now met in my 61 years upon this earth. I have known the surgeon’s knife in my body to excise skin cancer, prostate cancer and cataract. I have grown through hours of therapy dealing with work and family dynamics. I have loved my children with a fierce and committed love, having two sons on the Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
My elderly father now suffers Alzheimer’s disease, and I visit him regularly in the nearby nursing and retirement village.
Daily decisions impact life. Daily commitments to yourself and others form a path to your life. It’s so easy to give in to what is convenient, but much more difficult to make proactive choices, and to guard your daily attitudes when your life seems to be overflowing with challenges. It’s on those very days that one needs to pause and remember- and guard your heart- for out of the heart spring the issues of life.
Life is About the Pursuit of Joy and Happiness.
I believe it’s our default expectation: we deserve happiness. We pursue it as our primary passion.
Although David declared,” You Lord, have assigned my portion and my cup, You have made my life secure” (Psalm 16:5), his life was far from easy. Although he was Israel’s king for many decades, any reading of his private journal (which is what this ancient book of Psalms is) still encourages us today. People the world over turn to them 3000 years later for comfort and hope when buffeted by life’s trials. You cannot read David’s psalms without being touched by the raw pain, the authenticity of the expression of his emotions, but also of his hope in God and love for God.
I have mouthed his very words in the middle of the “nth” sleepless night in a row, or when I have faced the reality of a loved one having MRI scans, bone marrow scans and the like. It was only months ago that my own Mum was hooked up to a syringe pump injecting morphine into her system to give her relief from the pain of cancer destroying her body.
Keep me safe, O God,
For in you I take refuge,
You have made known to me the path of life
You will fill me with joy in your presence
With eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Psalm 16:1.11
Call to Action:
Meet the God of the Bible through the real life experiences of those who penned their songs and prayers and cries for help.
Let the Book of Psalms renew you from the inside out.
