Psalm 16 |
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==psalm 16:8:
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I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
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 Thomas Watson
“Question: What is it, to walk with God? Answer: Walking with God imports five things: 1. Walking as under God's eye. Noah reverenced God. A godly man sets himself as in God's presence, knowing that his judge is looking on: "I have set the Lord always before me" (Psalm 16:8). David's eyes were here. 2. The familiarity and intimacy which the soul has with God. Friends walk together and console themselves with one another. The godly make known their requests to God and he makes known his love to them. There is a sweet fellowship between God and his people: "Our fellowship (koinonia) is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). 3. Walking above the earth. A godly man is elevated above all sublunary objects. The person who walks with God must ascend very high. A dwarf cannot walk among the stars, nor can a dwarfish, earthly soul walk with God. 4. Visible piety. Walking is a visible posture. Grace must be conspicuous to the onlookers. He who reveals something of God in his behavior, walks with God. He shines forth in biblical conduct. 5. Continued progress in grace. It is not only a step but a walk. There is a going on towards maturity. A godly man does not sit down in the middle of the way but goes on until he comes to the "end of his faith" (1 Pet. 1:9). Though a good man may be out of the path, he is not out of the way. He may through infirmity step aside (as Peter did)—but he recovers by repentance and goes on in progressive holiness: "The righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger" (Job 17:9).”
― Thomas Watson, The Essential Works Of Thomas Watson |
==psalm 16:11:
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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.
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 Craig Denison Files
Jesus came to bring about the fullness of joy in man. Often we see Christians who are not exhibiting a lifestyle of joy, and therefore we assume God is not a happy God. We see all the darkness that surrounds us and assume that God is most often angry or sad. But in John 17:13 (ESV), Jesus prayed to the Father: “But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Jesus’s prayer in John 17:13 demonstrates two important, life-changing truths for you and me today. First, Jesus had joy. We could not have His joy fulfilled in us if He doesn’t have joy to start with. And the whole of Scripture supports the truth that within God dwells the fullness of joy. Psalm 16:11 (ESV) says, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” And Galatians 5:22 tells us that joy is a fruit of the Spirit. The God whom you have been filled with at salvation longs to produce the fruit of joy in your life. He longs to make you a joyful person from the inside out so that your joy wouldn’t be based on circumstances or the fleeting whims of the world. Second, John 17 tells us that we can have the joy of Jesus for ourselves. The God of joy longs to fill you to overflowing with satisfaction and hope. He longs to make your joy abundant and transcendent of the good or bad around you. God is joyful because it’s a part of His nature. And He longs for it to be the same with you. -Craig Denison; The Joy of The Lord; Sports Spectrum; 12.21.21
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January 16, 2025: John Piper said: Here’s the key verse so everybody knows what we are talking about. David, the king in the Old Testament, speaking by the guidance of the Spirit of God (as Jesus said about the Psalms), says, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence” — in God’s presence — “there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” That’s Psalm 16:11. The Bible promises on God’s authority that when we are in the gracious presence of God — in part now and fully in the age to come — our joy, our happiness will be as full as it can possibly be (“fullness of joy”), and it will last as long as it can possibly last — namely, forever. In other words, there is nothing, absolutely nothing in the universe better than the gracious presence of God, because in the presence of God, he proves to be the greatest possible happiness and the longest possible happiness. That’s what Psalm 16:11 holds out to us. No greater pleasure, no longer pleasure can be conceived. |