Pleasures for Evermore

September 16, 2014

Pleasures for Evermore

“In your presence there is fullness of joy;

in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”

Psalm 16:11 NRSV

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter faced a daunting challenge. Together with the other one hundred-nineteen disciples, Peter had been in hiding since the crucifixion of Jesus. When the promised Holy Spirit came upon Peter and the others, it was kairos, God’s Time to come out of hiding and proclaim the resurrection of Jesus to all people, everywhere. Where do you start; how do you explain the resurrection? Peter began with Psalm 16.

Peter preached that David’s claim that God would not allow His holy one to rot in the grave was fulfilled in Jesus’ resurrection (Psalm 16: 8-11 & Acts 2:25-32). The Apostle Paul also relied on Psalm 16 when he preached Jesus’ resurrection to the people in Antioch (Acts 13:35-37).

While David’s psalm is an Old Testament prophecy of Jesus, the Messiah, it also held great comfort and power for David. We too, can feed upon the truth of God in David’s great psalm of hope. In this psalm, David affirms his faith in God who shall preserve him, in God’s goodness, in God’s presence before him, giving him hope, and in God’s victory over death as the Giver of life. Because of these truths of God, we, like David, can experience in our present circumstances the peace of God that passes all understanding. (See Philippians 4:7) Because Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, the Apostle Paul proclaimed that we can rest in the sure hope of our eternal life in Jesus. (See Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 6:14 and 2 Corinthians 4:14)

What else is there for the psalmist, and us, to say but,

“In your presence there is fullness of joy;

in your right hand are pleasures for evermore.”

Psalm 16:11 NRSV

Sē’lah

<><  <><  <><  <><

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.