Day Nine "Fullness of Joy"

“You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever.” [Ps. 16:11]

One Christmas as a little boy a burning desire consumed my thoughts and heart. I wanted a “Mr. Quarterback.” Mr. Quarterback was a machine with a mechanical arm that would launch a football pass. I could rarely get people to play catch with me and Mr. Quarterback was the answer to my problem.

I could barely sleep Christmas Eve. Around 2:30 a.m. I could not stand it. I threw the covers off to see what I could find under the Christmas tree. There it was shining in green glory. Mr. Quarterback. I could hardly contain myself. It was too dark to go outside but I had to try it out.

As quite as I could I pulled the mechanical arm back without reading the instructions. I pulled it too hard. My mother told me she awoke to these heart wrenching words from my mouth, “Oh no! I broke it.” I never did get a pass from my dream gift. It never worked.

Life is filled with such disappointments. Not with God. The Psalmist testifies that in the presence of God is fullness of joy. The word “fullness” means plenty, or excess. The word “joy” can be defined as meaning gladness, delight, and extreme pleasure. Let’s put all of that together. In the presence of God a person can find plentiful excess of gladness, delight, and extreme pleasure. WOW! That’s what people are looking for. They are looking in the wrong places. God says the source of that gladness and delight is in HIM! We spend years looking everywhere under the sun but never lifting our gaze to Him.

He is not through though. In the bottom part of that verse it says, “In your right hand there are pleasures forever.” The word “pleasures” means surpassing beauty, endless delight, and lovely. This echoes the recurring theme over the past several days. Seeking God produces in us pleasures, delights, joy, and plentiful excess of all the aforementioned. Sadly few take Him up on this offer.

My challenge for all of us is to find out if this is true. Let us give ourselves over to this pursuit of God and remain in His presence and see what happens as results. What do we have to lose? We have everything to gain.

Steps to Revival

1. Will you pursue God with a new passion through reading scripture, prayer and worship?

2. Do you believe God is the ultimate source of joy and gladness?

3. If you truly desire pleasure, why not go after that pleasure in God?