Delight

I’m jealous of two guys I’ve never met. I believe I’ll meet them one day, but until then, I’ll remain incredibly jealous. Let me tell you about them. These two guys were just minding their own business, walking home at the end of the day, talking to one another about this and that. And then, another man starts walking along with them, butting in on their conversation.

These two men were walking down the road from Jerusalem to a town called Emmaus. And the man who joined them was the resurrected Jesus. On that walk, we’re told:

Luke 24:27 NIV

27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

This is why I’m jealous of the two men on the Emmaus Road. No one knows what Jesus said, what books of the Bible he used, but Jesus made this much clear: every book of the Bible, every story, every page points to Him in some manner—all the Scriptures.

How I wished I could have heard what Jesus said on that 7-mile journey.

There is, to me, absolutely no doubt that the end of Psalm 16 speaks about Jesus. Both Peter and Paul use Psalm 16 in different sermons they preached during their ministries. And Jesus Himself might have referenced this very psalm to His buddies walking down that road.

This is a psalm of King David. The heading of the psalm says as much. This psalm is about David’s life—about his delight in the things of the Lord. And yet, in some way, this psalm (like every other part of the Bible) is also about Jesus.

The opening verses of Psalm 16 begin with a statement of David’s relationship with God.

Psalm 16:1–2 NIV

1 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. 2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

This psalm teaches us to:

Delight in a Relationship with God

The essence of David’s relationship with God is shown in the names for God he uses. The first word is El, translated simply as God. This is the most common name for God, but it highlights the strength and might of God (El means “mighty one”)—which is appropriate because David takes refuge in El, in Him.

In verse 2, David says what he’s going to say to the LORD (all caps), that is Yahweh—the personal and proper name of God, the name revealed to Moses at the burning bush. The covenant name for God in relation to His people.

The third name for God is Adonai (Lord), meaning master. It can be used of earthly masters or of God. So when David writes this, he is saying, “I say to Yahweh, you are my Lord, my Master.”

The God of Israel is his master. This clearly shows a clear relationship with the Creator God. David relates to Him as El—as the mighty one in whom he can take refuge—and as Yahweh—the personal, covenant God—and as Adonai—Master and Lord, the one to whom he submits.

For David, God is Refuge, Lord, Master. For David, God is everything. And in fact, he states this rather clearly: apart from you I have no good thing.

Wow-y. That’s some claim. God is the source of all good. Apart from Him, there is nothing good. As James, the half-brother of Jesus put it:

James 1:17 NIV

17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

David has found, in God, every good thing and everything he needs.

He will lose sight of this a various points in his life (like the natural, sinful, broken human he is). But David has here come to the point of confessing this crucial truth. He has a relationship with the Creator God, the God of the Universe, and for David, that’s sufficient.

Psalm 16:2 NIV

2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

David submits to God and finds God to be all he needs.

So much of our dissatisfaction, our envy, our tendency to worry about keeping up with the Joneses springs from our lack of satisfaction with God and our failure to believe that God is sufficient.

If we were truly satisfied with God and the unbelievable privilege we’re given of enjoying a relationship with Him, we would be a much more content people, don’t you think?

It’s at this point that we have to pause and ask a few questions:

Do you have a relationship with God? Can you, like David, refer to Him as my God and my Lord?

It’s not enough to know about God or to know who God is. It’s not enough that your parents or grandparents or spouse have a relationship with God. You must have a personal relationship with God.

For you who have a relationship with God, is it the most important relationship in your life? Do you delight in your relationship with Him?

If you have a relationship with God, do you find Him to be sufficient? If everything else was stripped away (family, friends, money, possessions, health) would God be enough for you? Would you be satisfied with Him? Are you satisfied with Him, just Him?

How is your relationship with God? Do you have a relationship with God? Do you delight in Him?

If we know God as David knows God, nothing hereafter can ever mean as much to us as God does. Our relationship with Him is paramount, primary, absolutely first.

When God is the One by whom we measure all else, it will follow that the immediate result of our relationship to God will affect our relationships to others.

Psalm 16:3–4 NIV

3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” 4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.

Delight in God’s People

As a result of his relationship with God—his Refuge, his Lord, his Master—David is drawn to the righteous the holy people in the land; he delights in them.

On the other hand, David is turned away from the wicked—those who run after other gods. David refuses to have a part with them in their worship—I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.

He wants no part of the wicked, but takes delight—DELIGHT—in the saints!

This is a very practical matter. It’s a way we can measure our relationship to the Lord.

Do you love other Christians? Do you find it good and rewarding to be with them? Do you seek their company?

It’s a simple test, really. Those who love the Lord will love those and love being around those who love the Lord.

The logic of the psalm makes this clear: If Yahweh is your master (v. 2), you will prize His people (v. 3).

It’s as if God says of our affections for Him and His people, the Church:

“You cannot care for Me with no regard for Her; if you love Me you will love the Church.” - Derek Webb, “The Church”

If you have a relationship with God, you will take delight in His people—in being around them, in fellowship, in service, in worship.

The other side of this test, the other side of this same coin, also measures our relationship to the Lord.

Are you uncomfortable around those who sin openly and proudly? Are you troubled by their values, shocked by their desires, repulsed by their blasphemy?

Or, are you at ease among the wicked? Do you join in with them in their crude speech, their worldly behavior, their worship of other people and things?

Light has no fellowship with darkness. You cannot serve two masters. You can’t love God and love what He hates. You can’t claim to follow Him in this direction and follow the world in this direction. You’ll lose your soul trying to do so.

I love what James Montgomery Boice writes: “If, like Peter, you have no difficulty warming your hands at the fire of those who are hostile to your Master, it’s because you are from from him. Best to get back to Him before you deny Him, as Peter did.”

The result of having a relationship with God will be expressed by delight in His people and a distance from the wicked.

The third part of the psalm describes the psalmists present blessings:

Psalm 16:5–8 NIV

5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. 8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Delight in Present Blessings

For any who have dealt with the Lord for any length of time, for anyone who has enjoyed a relationship with Him, you could say “the blessings of the Lord are too numerous for me to say,” or “there is too much, let me sum up.”

For this song, the singer addresses only a handful.

“You have assigned me my portion and my cup”—The word portion can have two meanings. It can refer to one’s portion of the land, one’s estate or inheritance. Or it can refer to one’s daily portion of food. Since verse 6 deals with land, and since portion and cup are linked together here, this is probably David’s daily food and drink (and by extension, other necessities). David is looking to God for his provisions, his portion and cup. David could have prayed, along with us: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

“You have made my lot secure”—David’s general circumstances are secure, taken care of; all he has is defended by the Lord’s good pleasure. The Lord has made David secure; he will not be uprooted or cast out.

“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance”—David is content with what God has meted out to him. Isn’t that interesting, especially when so many people are discontent? The land, his part of the allotment pleases him. The natural part of him probably wants more, envies those who have more.

But David is learning to delight in the Lord, learning to be pleased with what He’s been given. “Surely I have a delightful inheritance.” It’s hard to even read that without a smile. Stop and think about all you have. It might not be everything you want, but I promise you it’s more than you deserve. “Surely I have a delightful inheritance.” Try saying that this week.

“The Lord…counsels me”—David needed counsel. As king, his decisions affected thousands of people. We’re not ruling over an entire people, but we still need counsel. In a world of bad advice, good advice, and everything in between, we have before us perfect counsel. The direction the Lord provides is spot-on all the time.

Psalm 119:24 NIV

24 Your statutes are my delight; they are my counselors.

The words of the Lord delight David. The laws of the Lord are his counselors. They speak to him what he needs, give the direction he needs, the correction he needs.

Guess what? The same is true for us! There are good counsel out there; I’ve benefitted greatly from a counselor on more than one occasion.

But this Book before me is the best counsel there is. The Bible—the only and living word of God—speaks today. It teaches, day and night. It instructs, corrects, reproves, challenges, encourages, inspires, heals, helps, convicts. We should praise the Lord, who counsels [us].

What blessings the psalmist has! In light of his relationship with the Lord and from overflowing gratefulness for the blessings of the Lord, David comments:

Psalm 16:8 NIV

8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Our two smelly, intellectually-challenged miniature dachshunds don’t understand much, but when we have a pepperoni (we call every treat ‘pepperoni’) in our hand, they won’t take their eyes off of us. They’ll even do a few small, simple tricks as they follow our pepperoni hand, eyes fixed on that pepperoni-dispensing hand.

In a similar way, David continually looks to the Lord—the One who feeds him and showers him with blessings, who keeps him and holds him fast—and why wouldn’t he? With the Lord, there is nothing David lacks. The Lord is His shepherd, you might say…he lacks no good thing.

Psalm 16 is a remarkable psalm. If we stopped at verse 8, we’d have a beautiful psalm worthy of our memorization and reflection: submission to God, the sufficiency of God, the love for God’s people, satisfaction in the Lord, security in the Lord. That’s a pretty good song as is.

But David saves the best for last.

Psalm 16:9–11 NIV

9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. 11 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.

Delight in Future Hope

Present blessings aside, David turns to the future and expresses his confidence in what God will do for him in death and even beyond death. And in verse 10—did you pick up on it as we read?—we see a prophecy that can only point to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

David gets to this point in the psalm by the logic of true faith. David makes a reasonable assumption: if God has blessed him and kept him in this life, then God, who does not change, would undoubtedly keep him and bless him in the life to come.

This is our sure and certain hope. There’s logic to faith. We can take what we know to be true, from the counsel of God’s Word, and rest securely on that.

David stakes his whole life, his whole being on what he knows about the Lord—his heart is glad, his tongue rejoices, his body rests secure in the knowledge he has of God.

Why is his heart glad and his tongue rejoicing and his body resting secure? Verse 10 starts with the key word: because.

Because of what the Lord will do all the previous statements are true. What faith!

What does David’s future hope rest on? Something David cannot see.

Hebrews 11:1 NIV

1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

In case you didn’t guess, this psalm is not merely about David. Peter and Paul (just Peter and Paul; not Peter, Paul, and Mary)—Peter and Paul, the apostles of Jesus used Psalm 16 to speak about Jesus. Turn with me to the book of Acts.

From Peter’s sermon on Pentecost:

Acts 2:22–31 NIV

22 “Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23 This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24 But God raised him 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.

This, from Paul preaching in Pisidian Antioch:

Acts 13:34–37 NIV

34 God raised him from the dead so that he will never be subject to decay. As God has said, “ ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ 35 So it is also stated elsewhere: “ ‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’ 36 “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. 37 But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.

Peter and Paul, led along by the Holy Spirit, both pick on something in this psalm.

If we go back to verse 5, we see David, the psalmist, the songwriter speaking of my portion, my cup, my lot, my eyes, my heart, my tongue, my body.

And then, in verse 10, he says, “You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,” and quickly shifts away from ‘me’ and ‘my’ language to say, “Nor will you let your faithful one see decay.”

What Peter and Paul see in this psalm is not a far stretch; in fact, it seems pretty clear. David stops singing about himself and shifts the focus to another—the One Peter and Paul speak of: Jesus. “Nor will you let your faithful one see decay”

So, if God’s holy one will not see decay, if He triumphs over death, then of course all of Christ’s people can have the assurance of victory in the face of death. God will not abandon us; He will bring us along with Christ and we will also enjoy the resurrection.

The text says to those sharing David’s faith: “Because the Lord is at your right hand, you will never be shaken. And that means you’ll never even ever be shaken by death, because the Lord’s Holy One—Jesus—has conquered death. He has crushed death to death!”

“Before death could digest Jesus and turn Him to dust, He killed death.” - John Piper

This is our future hope and our certain joy. Armed with this knowledge, outfitted with this truth, we delight and say:

Psalm 16:11 NIV

11 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.

Our delight is in Him. Every good thing is from Him. Life and joy and eternal pleasures are ours. Let us delight in Him!

In 1960, there was quite the brouhaha in the Kennedy administration when JFK accepted Lyndon B. Johnson as his vice presidential running mate. There were more than a few in the Kennedy camp who didn’t like Lyndon even a little.

But John Kennedy comforted one of his aides by saying, “I’m forty-three years old. I’m not going to die in office. So the vice presidency doesn’t mean anything.”

What a terribly presumptuous (arrogant) and pitiful (short-sighted) sort of hope that was.

Far better to have confidence in a risen Savior who has already dealt with death. Far better to have a relationship with the Lord—to find in Him refuge and security, satisfaction and sufficiency, blessings now and forever, life and joy and delight!

Friends, I must ask, at least once more: is your delight in the Lord? Do you take delight in your relationship with Him? If you haven’t found delight in Him, I’d love to share with you more.

“Lord, you are our delight, our joy, our eternal pleasure is You!