THE PATH OF LIFE

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 16:11

The Dynamics of the Path of Life from Psalm 16

1                  Cry out “Help!” Preserve me! (v1) Blog on Dec 5

2                  Recognize God is the Lifeguard  (v1) Preserve me, O God Blog on Dec 15

3                  Committed Trust (v2) In You do I put my trust and hide myself. Blog on Dec 30

4   apart from you I have no good thing (v2)

Imagine the conversation when King Hussein of Jordan proposed marriage to Lisa Halaby, a commoner from the USA.

King Hussein: “Will you marry me?”

Lisa (blushing): “I am flattered, Your Majesty,  but it is out of the realms of possibility! I am a commoner. I have student loans to pay off at Princeton. I have a huge credit card      balance. I am struggling to make my car payments and I am 6 months in arrears on my apartment.”

His Majesty: “My dear, I make $10 million a month in oil revenues. I can take care of all that with one hour of income. Will you marry me?”

 Every good thing I have comes from you

Love does not flinch from finding a way to force us to cope beyond our inadequacies.

Helen Keller was an infant when she was struck by illness that left her both blind and deaf, this before she could speak. The child was angry, unruly, unmanageable and untamable. Ann Sullivan was hired to teach Helen Keller. Anne’s initial handling of Helen was rough, even brutal, and shocked the parents who kept interfering. Anne insisted she move with Helen alone into a nearby cottage.  Initially, sounds of violence increased the anxiety of her parents. Persistent love penetrated the isolation of the seven year old. Together Anne and Helen became role models that make one weep with joy and wonder. God’s task is with those who are spiritually deaf and blind. The first necessity is to get our attention. When Helen first grasped that the signs being spelt into her hand were symbols that named reality, enabling communication, she never looked back. She had no goodness apart from “Teacher” as she always called Anne. Every good thing came from this relationship. It is in this sense that David says “Every good thing I have comes from you.”

For David, trust includes accepting the circumstances that brought him to cry out for help. Those very circumstances brought him to a new appreciation of God. Sure, they were rough, but he (we) tend to have hearts calloused into hardness, hearts that require tough love.

This now becomes the foundation for the future. “Teacher” has demonstrated persistent love; trust has bonded pupil and teacher; and now all things are possible. Helen went on to a brilliant career, including public speaking. Remember, she could not recall ever having heard a single word pronounced.

 Every good thing I have comes from you, an exclamation of gratitude

 Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! For in our union with Christ he has blessed us by giving us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly world. (Ephesians 1:3)

Every good thing I have comes from you, an exclamation of confidence

The dimensions of trust are now fully revealed. A bankrupt commoner has joined estates with a Royal Multi-Billionaire. All debts are paid. All future needs are no longer a concern. David eloquently expresses this in later Psalm 16

And so I am thankful and glad,
and I feel completely secure,
because you protect me from the power of death.
I have served you faithfully,
and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead. (vv9-10)

Every good thing I have comes from you, a fact of history

The Apostle Peter preaching the first Christian Sermon quoted Psalm 16 (Acts 2):

²⁴ But God raised Jesus from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. ²⁵ David said about him:

“‘I saw the Lord always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
²⁶ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest in hope,
²⁷ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
you will not let your holy one see decay.
²⁸ You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence.

²⁹ “Fellow Israelites, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. ³⁰ But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹ Seeing what was to come, he spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to the realm of the dead, nor did his body see decay. ³² God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it.

God raised Jesus to life, and we through faith, are participants in it.

Fear and anxiety, guilt and shame, all, all swallowed in the spectacular munificence of the gracious Groom. The last enemy is death. If that be conquered, then all else is – must be – under His sway.