The true pleasantness of being a child of God

The true pleasantness of being a child of God Psalm 16 At first sight our psalm, Psalm 16, seems to have been written by someone who was seeking the Lord's protection and help, someone who was in dire need of that help because it begins with the words: "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge." However, as we move on, we realise that it's not so much talking about someone looking to God to keep them safe in a world of danger, as it giving us a believer's testimony of both their present experience of faith and of their future hope. You see the person who we meet here has already taken refuge in God and, as a result of this, they've been tremendously blessed, they've found all the good things that they need and they're now convinced that even death can't rob them of that life in all its fullness which they've already come to experience ... that quality of life which results from true fellowship with God. And so, reflecting on their life, the Psalmist, who we're told is King David, concludes in verse 6 that: "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance" ... this despite the many times that, during his life, David faced great hardship and opposition ... sometimes very much due his own sinfulness. So that perhaps we should wonder that he should feel like this about his situation, that he should be so positive. Because, in view of what we know about David, perhaps we'd have expected him to be a bit more balanced in his assessment of his life, a bit more low key, summing it up, as we might be apt to do, something like this: "I've had my struggles like everybody. Ah but God's always been there to pick me up and brush me down, so that I've managed to get through". But this isn't David's attitude at all. How so? Well, if we think of how the apostles Peter and Paul both pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ as being the fulfilment of this Psalm, the one to whom it ultimately applies, Peter during his address to the crowd at Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and Paul speaking in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch in Acts chapter 13, then isn't it much more astonishing that one who knew sorrow to a degree that neither we nor David could ever imagine, should still feel that his life was pleasant and delightful? After all, as Isaiah says (Is. Chapter 53 verse 3), "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not." And yet, actually, that's just what we do see when we look at Jesus in the gospels, isn't it? Because there we find that he was someone who, at all times, was possessed of a Holy Joy that couldn't be removed whatever his circumstances. Luke chapter 10 verse 21, for instance, tells us how he was "full of joy through the Holy Spirit" when greeting his returning seventy-two disciples who'd been sent out as missionaries to pave the way for him. And on another occasion, in John chapter 4 verse 32, Jesus told the disciples: "I have food to eat that you know nothing about", referring to his hidden spiritual resources. And you know the wonderful thing is that, as it was for our Lord, as it was for King David because of his relationship with God, so it should be now for those of us who know him to be our Lord and Saviour. Because for us, even though at times there's no doubt that our difficulties are great, the fact is that still we're able to say, verse 6 of our Psalm: "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." Because invariably when we suffer, at the same time we find our God to be all the closer to us, and we recognise at those times the real truth of Proverbs chapter 3 verse 17 which tells us that the ways of wisdom, that is the ways of Christ, are "pleasant ways, and that all his "paths are peace." The Bible, in fact, is full of recommendations of the Christian life and of the pleasures to be enjoyed by the child of God. Just as it's also full of warnings for those who want nothing to do with Christ and his offer of salvation and rest in himself. Let's look to begin with at what it has to say about the state of the non-Christian ... Well, we discover that the pleasures that such people enjoy are actually false pleasures. Firstly because they aren't pleasures which ultimately bring any satisfaction. They're like the woman Folly in Proverbs 9 verse 17 who says of those things which bring her pleasure: "Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious", only to discover the truth of another proverb found in Proverbs 14 verse 13, which is that "Even in laughter the heart may ache and joy may end in grief." And we may well know this from our own experience ... those times when we've tried to go our own ways, to join in with the world, and then eventually we've come to the point where we've realised that our laughter is hollow, and that our lips have been saying one thing whilst our hearts have been telling us another. We've come to acknowledge to ourselves the truth of Jesus' words to the woman at the well in John 4:13 that: "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again". And the truth is that for the unconverted person this situation is inevitable, their pleasure will ultimately dry up and they'll simply be left to echo the words of the Teacher in Ecclesiastes chapter 2: verse 2 who tells us that: "'Laughter ... is foolish and what does pleasure accomplish?'" Then secondly, the pleasures of the unconverted don't ultimately satisfy because they're short. In other words they're for this world only, because such people don't have the hope of eternity to be spent with God. And this was why Moses escaped the pleasures of Egypt even though he was the Son of Pharaoh's daughter and he had all the riches and pleasures that he would ever want. He realised that these temporary pleasures were a poor substitute for those that God alone offers so that, as Hebrews chapter 11 verse 25 tells us, he: "chose to be ill-treated along with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time". The truth is that earthly pleasure is always only for a short time, oh we might get plenty of it. In fact for many people that seems to be what life's all about ... seizing every opportunity to enjoy themselves to the maximum. But at the end of the day for such people, with such an approach to life, their enjoyment doesn't last. Very much like a fire that blazes for a short time only to finally disappear and leave nothing but ashes. Thirdly the pleasures of those who don't know the Lord are often suddenly interrupted. Of them the words of psalm 73 verses 18 and 19 are only too true which tell us: "Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors!" We hear, or read, all the time, don't we, of those who've risen to greatness in the world's eyes, who're enjoying all the pleasures that the world can offer, only for them to suddenly be taken away by death leaving them as if they'd never been. And Jesus spoke of just such a man in Luke chapter 12 verse 19-20. Of a man who it seemed had it all and who said: "I'll say to myself, 'you have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry.' However God's response to such a one was to say: "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you." Then lastly, the Bible tells us that for every pleasure we get apart from Christ, God will judge us. Ecclesiastes chapter 11 and verse 9 tells us: "Be happy, young man, while you are young, and let your heart give you joy in the days of your youth. Follow the ways of your heart and whatever your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you to judgement." A sobering thought for the Christian! But how much more serious for those who don't yet know the Lord Jesus as their saviour! Such is the situation, then, of those who're separate from Christ ... their pleasures are but temporary and fleeting. But what of those for whom "the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places", those of us who, by God's Grace alone, can now call ourselves Christians, part of Christ's true Church? What do we learn about them? Well firstly such people are filled with lasting joy, because they are forgiven. Just like the paralysed man, who was brought to Jesus on a mat in Matt chapter 9, and to whom the Lord said: "Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven", so we don't know true wholeness, don't know true joy, until we too hear Jesus' words: "Son, your sins are forgiven you" or "Take heart daughter, your faith has healed you" (Matt 9 verse 22). Because the fact is that there's simply no joy like the joy of knowing that we're forgiven, of having the weight of guilt lifted off our shoulders, of being brought out of darkness into the wonderful light of Christ's own people. Then we'll know the truth of other words of David found in Psalm 103 when he tells us: "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Then we'll indeed know that: "the boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." The joy and pleasures of a believer are lasting, and secondly they're assured. And that's because they have the Holy Spirit dwelling in their hearts. They have the one with them, for ever, who is their comforter, teacher, and enabler; so that when they're faced solely with their own weakness and are fully aware of their inability in their own strength to cope, then they can be confident of the truth of Paul's words to the Church in Corinth: "He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." (2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9) Thirdly the joys of a believer are certain, because they know that when they're passing through the storms of life Christ will without doubt come to them ... just as he came to his disciples, walking on the sea to them when through the night they were fighting against the high winds. We will each meet with those storms, it's inevitable, a fact of life, but, as Christians, when we do so we can be assured that during the darkest time of the night Christ will come near to us and say quietly to us: "Take courage! It is I; don't be afraid." (Matt. 14: 27) How much will we then be able to say with certainty: "The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance"? The pleasures of a believer are lasting, they're assured, and they're certain, and then lastly they're eternal. Proverbs chapter 4 verse 18 tells us that: "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of the dawn, shinning ever brighter till the full light of day", which is such a stark contrast to what we've seen is the happiness of those who don't yet know the Lord. No, those who are Christ's will always know his peace and joy. Because for them the Lord's words to the woman at the well in John chapter 4 verse 14 are true: "The water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The fact of the matter is that everything else can be taken away, our position, our money, our friends, our health, but if we've once come in repentance to the Lamb of God we have that which far exceeds anything else, and it will never be taken away from us. Because, as Peter says in 1 Peter 1:4, we are chosen "into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade." So then if we are Christ's, if we are forgiven and know the blessings of all that God has graciously done for us, that his grace is sufficient, then we should live a pleasant life in the world. And we should give ourselves over to being the people who God would have us be, we should grasp a hold of all that he offers to us, not living as though we're somehow fearful that our enjoyment of God will be short lived, ultimately unsatisfying, that it will finally do us no good when we pass from this life. No, we should enjoy being his child, his people. After all we're commanded to do everything with joy; to be a cheerful giver of ourselves and everything we have ... so let's do just that. Because it is, very much, a happy thing to work in the service of God. Let's always remember Paul's words to the Church in Rome, chapter 8 verse 15: "you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba Father'". Yes, those who know the Lord Jesus as their saviour can indeed be confident that the boundary lines have fallen for them in pleasant places; that they surely do have a delightful inheritance. For such a child of God there is certainty of eternal joy, they experience the presence of the indwelling Spirit, they know as a living reality that the louder and fiercer the storm, the nearer is Christ; they are made happy by God himself. Whilst those who do not have this knowledge of the Saviour Jesus Christ, well they have only the certain prospect of ultimate disappointment and dissatisfaction ... unless they turn and be saved. May we each know that confidence, that joy, the glorious wonder and assurance of being a child of God! Amen