Psalm 16:1,11 NKJV
Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
This psalm of David starts with trust and ends in forever pleasures. The expressions of David’s heart between those two phrases reveal much of a great walk of faith. In these verses are specific fulfilled prophecies attributed to Jesus’ resurrection. In these verses are specific fulfilled promises attributable to our daily resurrection and restoration and protection.
Preservation, safety, and protection all appeal to us.
Trust in Him gives us education in every moment that will repair the present and prepare our pleasures.
Invincible
Some days we feel invincible and take great risks. Yet, even in risks we hide ourselves in protective gear. When parachuting, there is a backup and training and expert packing of gear in which one puts trust. There is risk. There is protection. And it can fail and disappoint and destroy us.
Confident
Some days we feel confident and make definitive plans. When preparing our financial futures we consult experts and put our monies in diversified investments to hedge against unforeseen change in economy. We trust brokerage reports and money market funds and forecasts. And they fail and disappoint us.
Flat Bottom and Flushed
In a flat bottom small fishing boat, my wife and I had traversed to another part of the cove at the large lake. On other occasions I had been out fishing the cove in the boat and she wanted a tour. After playing for a while, the wind came up strong against us. The small trolling motor was no match for the lapping waves and roughened waters and we had run the battery down. Two people in a small flat boat cruising the water are different than one quietly fishing. Someone had taken the oars out this boat and put them in another one for backup. That left us with no backup. Plan and path one and two were spent and had not worked.
Pulling up to shore, we decided to walk through the woods back to the cabin and get an oar. It was not far but it was not close. At the cabin I discovered the oars were at another location (later I bought an extra oar for the flatbottom). So, I set out with some rope and a board to use for pushing along the shore and traipsed back through the woods alone.
Back at the boat as I steered away from the rocky shore, a swift gust of Oklahoma wind toppled me into ten feet of water. My right knee cracked hard against an outcropping rock. Praise God it was not my head instead. Plan C was not working. Everything in which I put my trust was failing.
Into the cold water I plunged and decided not to try and fight the waves from in the boat. So, in 50 degree water up to my chest, I pulled the boat by roape some half a mile along the shore back to our beach. Wet, cold, aching, embarrassed, and victorious I met my wife. Somehow, I did not feel pleasurable.
Through all of that experience I learned much about new paths. Today I have a kayak build just for lake waters that skims the top. It has two sets of oars and I have increased muscle strength. It is light and I am much more limber. I don’t go out in high winds. My range of travel is ten times the flat bottom and the fun factor is an hundred times. Pleasures of exploring inlets and quietly coming up on fish and fowl are much greater.
Yes, I do give rides to wife and family and friends. It is specifically a two person kayak and is well geared to that.
Walk Secure
Walking with God is similar. We find ourselves in hard situations for which we are not prepared or protected. He gets us out, though there is pain involved. It would be better if we had listened and trusted correctly, but our stubbornness leads us down hard paths. Should we choose to learn, we can take different steps in the path He intends for us and find pleasures forevermore.
Choose Paths
Choose to learn. Choose paths of health and healing. Choose paths of provision and protection. Whether it is your fun and enjoyment time or the needs of your daily strength of mind and body, the principles are set in creation and expressed in His words.
Trust in Him gives us education in every moment that will repair the present and prepare our pleasures. Some pain is necessary to teach us. Many times pain is simply our lack of trust and listening to His directives.
Phil’s Prayer Expansion of Psalm 16:1,11
Keep me covered in good, preserved in specialness, and restored to rightness, O God, My Father and Friend, for in You and only in You do I fasten my trust and set my expectation moment by moment.
You will show me and make fully known to me the path of life set out for me and destined and designed to lead me to good;
In Your presence in me, around me, and through me is fullness of joy in all aspects of my life, health, welfare, finances, comfort, stability, and expression;
At Your right hand of power and decision are pleasures forevermore.
Father, put light on my path. Help me avoid the avoidable pains and learn from the needed ones. You know what I need and how I need and when I need. I trust You. I trust Your discipline and direction. Teach me in Your ways and in the way needed for my path to take me where You want me to go.
Take me, Father, to the place and pleasures for which You have prepared and are preparing me.
Bring to me, Father, the promised place and pleasures for which You have prepared and are preparing both them and me.
Take me to full established thinking.
Take me to stabile and serving emotions.
Enable me to expanded productivity and service to others.
Wash my body with physical and physiological strength and enablement.
Expand my Spirit to understand the power and ability found only in connection close to You and Your Holy Spirit.
Touch my relationships with right words and actions so they may be full of love and expanded engagements that build joy and pleasure forevermore.
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