IT'S ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS!
- Key Verse
- "Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup . . . . I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. . . . You have made known to me the path of life . . . ." (Psalm 16: 5, 7, and 11)
READ THE CHAPTER
Central Truth
God reveals Himself to us as we seek Him in prayer.
Reflections
I've read through the book of Psalms before and have spent some time with a few chapters. But more often I've been guilty of "covering ground" rather than parking in a chapter to see and experience the wisdom and reassurance it may possess. Such is my experience with Psalm 16. The prophetic verse 10 is just awesome to read, but I failed to see how much the chapter tells us about the man after God's own heart.David's passion for a relationship with God resulted in great clarity. He understood the place and role God had assigned to him. He had a heart that was sensitive to God's conviction and counsel. And he was able to rejoice in the confidence of knowing that a "delightful inheritance" (v. 6) would one day fall to him in eternity—a time when he would be at God's right hand (v. 11).
I have a close friend (Chris) who is a natural at meeting new people and building relationships. When he walks into a room of people, he's energized by the opportunity to meet someone he does not know. (We are just the opposite here. He looks for strangers to meet; I look for friends!) Through my good buddy, I've met some great people and formed wonderful friendships. My life continues to be enriched by these relationships. I can't help but ask myself how much more fulfilling would my life be if I invested more time seeking a deeper relationship with the Lord and those He places in my path.
David gives us a great picture of what life can be like when we commit to a lifelong search for a relationship with the Father. I'm convicted by how often I allow life, my circumstances, my commitments, and my calendar to distract me from building and nurturing important relationships. My prayer is that we will all fully understand, as David acknowledges in verse 2, that apart from the Lord we have no good thing.
Discussion Questions
1. Do I really believe that "apart from you [Lord] I have no good thing"?2. Am I secure in my hope for eternity? Does this bring me joy?
3. Who has God placed in my path?
4. What is keeping me from building/improving my relationship with the Lord?
Comments
The views expressed under “Comments” are solely
those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Hill Country Bible Church NW.
Thom Kurtz
January 22, 2010 06:30 AM
Hi Dan, Thanks for reminding us specially about key verse 10, because I think we are specially uplifted when we see how the pieces of God's story fit together. We see in the cross references it is directly quoted by Paul in Acts 13:35. I know many get excited by the layers of details and characters in books like "Harry Potter", but God's story certainly tops them all by leaps and bounds, since it also happens to relate directly to us and happens to be truth, not fiction. May we all continue to park in His chapters regularly, so He can drive our cars.
Bruce Eric Anderson
January 22, 2010 08:09 AM
What a joy to start my day with this Psalm. The day ahead of me, and each of us, is uncertain. Who is it that will come into my path today that I'm not expecting, may not even know. What if today is the day our Lord returns. Now THAT would make this a pretty cool day! I wonder though, does my schedule allow for that, would I be able to squeeze that into my afternoon, or would it be better for me that He came back tonight, after I wrapped up a few projects, maybe after we got our kids into bed, had some time to talk about the day. :) Dan, for me the power verse here was verse 2: "I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord, my only source of well-being.” I pray that I live this day with that mindset, that He is the only source of my well-being.
Eric Hoehn
January 22, 2010 09:51 AM
Nice devo, Dan. If our friendships with people are fulfilling, imagine how fulfilling ours can be with God.
Barbara
January 22, 2010 11:13 PM
Dan, a wise friend of mine once said that if she could sum the priority of our life up in one word it would be "relationships." For that is what it important to God. Afterall, He sent His Son to die so that we can have a relationship with Him! Thanks for this devo on relationships! I enjoyed it.