Go to the Source for Joy
"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)
There are many paths we could follow in life. Often the ones we take appear to offer much but deliver very little.
They may have a glitzy entrance, lots of lights and music to entice us to enter. They may be the ones with the crowds, all clamouring to follow each other. The ones where the people look good, smell good and confidently proclaim their path to be the best one. "This is where happiness can be found," they call out. However, their paths really end up being crooked and lead to death.
This Psalm tells us that there is a path of life. In so doing it confirms to us that there is a path (or paths) of death. God tells us here that the path of life is where true happiness is to be found. So, what can be expected on the paths of death? We are told here that the path of life leads to eternal pleasures. So, what do the paths of death lead to?
Deep down nobody wants bad things. We are all kind of programmed to want happiness, and we seek it in all sorts of places and ways, most of which end up being like these wrong paths.
The paths of death never look like paths of death! Like a confidence trickster they seek to deceive us to entice us. So how do we tell the difference? How do we choose life over death? It is not easy! If our first ancestors couldn't do it, how can we?
The answer is in the passage here, to go to the source of life, the source of true happiness. Trust God rather than man. Seek God rather than self. Read God's love letters to you, the Bible. They contain instructions about this path. (The book of Proverbs for example).
Ask God to make known to you the path of life, to fill you with true joy.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). Trust Jesus and live.
Photo and reflection by Craig Manners
"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)
There are many paths we could follow in life. Often the ones we take appear to offer much but deliver very little.
They may have a glitzy entrance, lots of lights and music to entice us to enter. They may be the ones with the crowds, all clamouring to follow each other. The ones where the people look good, smell good and confidently proclaim their path to be the best one. "This is where happiness can be found," they call out. However, their paths really end up being crooked and lead to death.
This Psalm tells us that there is a path of life. In so doing it confirms to us that there is a path (or paths) of death. God tells us here that the path of life is where true happiness is to be found. So, what can be expected on the paths of death? We are told here that the path of life leads to eternal pleasures. So, what do the paths of death lead to?
Deep down nobody wants bad things. We are all kind of programmed to want happiness, and we seek it in all sorts of places and ways, most of which end up being like these wrong paths.
The paths of death never look like paths of death! Like a confidence trickster they seek to deceive us to entice us. So how do we tell the difference? How do we choose life over death? It is not easy! If our first ancestors couldn't do it, how can we?
The answer is in the passage here, to go to the source of life, the source of true happiness. Trust God rather than man. Seek God rather than self. Read God's love letters to you, the Bible. They contain instructions about this path. (The book of Proverbs for example).
Ask God to make known to you the path of life, to fill you with true joy.
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). Trust Jesus and live.
Photo and reflection by Craig Manners
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