A certain insurance company is currently running ads on the radio that ask what you would put on your pedestal. Would you put your family on that pedestal? Or would it be your rock collection? Maybe your car? Their point, of course, is that whatever it is you value most, their insurance company is ready and eager to sell you insurance that will protect you from losing whatever it is that you value most highly. That’s not a bad idea—insurance can help protect us from catastrophic loss. Unfortunately, no insurance can protect us from everything bad that might happen to us. It’s an unsettling thought, but pretty much everything we own, pretty much everything we value, can be taken from us. I remember reading several of the novels that Pearl Buck wrote about Similar things are happening today in parts of It is never God’s will that life be like that for anyone. The Bible makes it clear that God wants us to live peaceful, happy lives. It’s true that terrible things can destroy our dreams, but that is not God’s desire for us. There are really almost no guarantees in life. When it comes right down to it, what is there in this life that we can absolutely count on having forever? Fortunes fail, people die, our bodies fall apart—the truth is, nothing stays the same, and we really can’t control a lot of the things that can happen to us. There is, in fact, only one thing in life we can absolutely count on, and that is God. No matter what happens to us, God will always be with us, and we who put our trust in him will be with him for all eternity. Our friends and family, our physical bodies, our bank accounts, our jobs—all of these things will some day pass away. But God will always be there with us. There’s no earthly insurance policy that can promise to still be there when everything else in life is wiped out. Only God can make that promise. And as far as that pedestal—it’s God who belongs on that pedestal. When we start with God at the center of our lives, we have the beginnings of a well lived life. God’s Word has much to teach us how to live our lives well. Even though we can’t prevent catastrophic things from happening, we still have a great deal of control over our own lives most of the time. And the part that we can control is the part we want to think about today, because that is our responsibility—with God’s help. The Psalm we are reading gives us some guidelines concerning God’s idea of how we should order our lives. It’s good to know that God does not will for evil to come into our lives. It’s good to know that God wants us to live at peace. God’s will for us is a well lived life. This is Psalm 16, a Psalm of David.
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Do you sense the peace the writer has with his life and with his God? That is the result of a well lived life. We know that David was not perfect. But the over-weaning force of his life was that he put his trust in God, and his life was ordered around his trust in God.
Beginning with God is the best thing we can do in order to live a well lived life. If you put God first and order the rest of your life accordingly, you will have a well lived life.
So how, exactly, do we do this? David gives us some helpful hints in the Psalm. He begins by putting God first: “2 I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” He has learned that the goodness of God is better than anything else. Many things are good, but God is best.
When things are going wrong, what do you do? There are lots of good things that can help us. Maybe you listen to music, fix yourself a cup of tea, call a friend, or take a walk in the park—there’s an endless is this list of good things we can do in order to feel better. All of those good things are gifts from God. But the one thing—the only thing—that gives meaning to everything is to recognize that God is the source of all good things in our lives.
Of course, putting God at the center of your life; putting God first; seems a little nebulous. How do we really do this?
We begin our life with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The church helps us to seal our commitment to Christ through the act of baptism. Baptism is a public affirmation that we have decided to follow Jesus Christ, and that just as the water of baptism washes over us, our sins are washed away and we have new life in Jesus Christ.
The church also gives us an opportunity to remember our baptism and to remember what Jesus has done for us when we take communion. Communion is a reminder of Jesus’ incredible gift to us. He gives us complete forgiveness and eternal salvation. So when we come together to celebrate communion, our hearts have the opportunity of being refocused once again on our true center, Jesus Christ. Through our faith in Jesus, our lives are once again focused, with God at the center.
Of course, you don’t need to wait for communion to re-center your life on God. It’s just that when we come together and receive communion, it is a wonderful reminder that helps us turn our hearts towards God. The well lived life begins by putting God in his rightful place at the center.
The psalm warns us, “4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.” What this means is that when we worship that which is not worthy of our worship, we bring sorrow on ourselves. We may sail along through life for a long time without realizing that something is wrong, but eventually, a life focused on the wrong thing will bring us sorrow.
There are lots of good things you can pursue in this life. You might pursue art, or gardening, or your career. There is no problem with any of these things, as long as it does not become idolatry. When that important thing in your life becomes more important to you than your relationship with God, then it has become an idol. Pursue the things you love and do it with excellence, but keep God first. That’s how you live the well lived life.
Another aspect of the well lived life is contentment. The psalmist says “5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
The psalmist is content because he sees his life as a gift from God. He is thankful to God for his life. He understands that everything he has achieved; everything he owns; everything he is—all of it is a gift from God. He is grateful.
When we get the idea that we somehow deserve everything we have, we are in trouble. It’s pretty hard to be grateful if you think you think that what you have is your due. Yet, don’t most of us really feel that way much of the time? Don’t we tend to think that the reason we have been blessed is because we deserve it?
If we were to just stop for a minute and think—to realize that many people who are just as “good” as us have much less than we have—we would realize that we do not deserve to be so blessed. Then we can say in our hearts, God is good to me. I don’t know why, but God has blessed me, and all I can do is thank him. God wants us to be thankful and content, rather than always grasping for more.
As the psalmist reflects further on his life he says “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” If we are to live the well lived life, we will need to have personal boundaries. We will need to make decisions every day as to how we will use our time, our money, and our abilities. We will need to make decisions as to what we eat, how much we exercise, and how much and when we sleep. We will need to decide who we spend time with; how much of our time will be spent on ourselves, and how much we will give to others. All of these are boundaries that we ourselves determine. And wouldn’t it be good to be able to say with the psalmist, “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”
Even in the night, the psalmist’s well lived life is evident. A few nights ago, I woke up wide awake at two o’clock in the morning, feeling afraid. I’m sure you’ve experienced this: you wake with a start, and you’re not sure why you woke up. Your mind does all sorts of crazy things. Is there someone breaking into our house? Did I hear something? And then you lie there, wide awake, listening.
The psalmist has an answer even for this: “ 7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.” When you wake up in the middle of the night feeling afraid, do you know what to do? Do you remember that God is there, and you can talk to him?
I think one of the greatest gifts we have when we wake up at two o’clock in the morning feeling terrified is the gift of prayer and of scripture and prayers that we have memorized. Part of the well lived life is to take the time to memorize scriptures. Those scriptures that you have memorized can be a wonderful blessing to you in time of need.
Recently I had a wonderful visit with Jackie Warner, who is living at Foss Home. Jackie’s short term memory is gone, but her long term memory is still there. Somehow, I thought to remind her of the childhood prayer that so many of us learned long ago: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take.” Jackie loved it, and wanted me to say it over with her several times, and then she asked me to write it down for her.
Then, to my surprise, she began to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and she remembered all except a small part. Do you see what a blessing those memorized prayers can be to a person in a time when other things are failing?
We know that David treasured scripture, so when he says “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me,” don’t you imagine that in times of distress, those scriptures he had learned and committed to memory were coming to his mind and ministering to him.
Begin with God on the pedestal of your life, and turn to God’s Word for guidance, and you will have the best possible beginning for a well lived life. Put God first in your life, learn to be content, establish good boundaries, and fill your mind with prayer and scripture. Then, with David, the psalmist, you will be able to say,
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Amen
I remember reading several of the novels that Pearl Buck wrote about Similar things are happening today in parts of It is never God’s will that life be like that for anyone. The Bible makes it clear that God wants us to live peaceful, happy lives. It’s true that terrible things can destroy our dreams, but that is not God’s desire for us. There are really almost no guarantees in life. When it comes right down to it, what is there in this life that we can absolutely count on having forever? Fortunes fail, people die, our bodies fall apart—the truth is, nothing stays the same, and we really can’t control a lot of the things that can happen to us. There is, in fact, only one thing in life we can absolutely count on, and that is God. No matter what happens to us, God will always be with us, and we who put our trust in him will be with him for all eternity. Our friends and family, our physical bodies, our bank accounts, our jobs—all of these things will some day pass away. But God will always be there with us. There’s no earthly insurance policy that can promise to still be there when everything else in life is wiped out. Only God can make that promise. And as far as that pedestal—it’s God who belongs on that pedestal. When we start with God at the center of our lives, we have the beginnings of a well lived life. God’s Word has much to teach us how to live our lives well. Even though we can’t prevent catastrophic things from happening, we still have a great deal of control over our own lives most of the time. And the part that we can control is the part we want to think about today, because that is our responsibility—with God’s help. The Psalm we are reading gives us some guidelines concerning God’s idea of how we should order our lives. It’s good to know that God does not will for evil to come into our lives. It’s good to know that God wants us to live at peace. God’s will for us is a well lived life. This is Psalm 16, a Psalm of David.
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Do you sense the peace the writer has with his life and with his God? That is the result of a well lived life. We know that David was not perfect. But the over-weaning force of his life was that he put his trust in God, and his life was ordered around his trust in God.
Beginning with God is the best thing we can do in order to live a well lived life. If you put God first and order the rest of your life accordingly, you will have a well lived life.
So how, exactly, do we do this? David gives us some helpful hints in the Psalm. He begins by putting God first: “2 I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” He has learned that the goodness of God is better than anything else. Many things are good, but God is best.
When things are going wrong, what do you do? There are lots of good things that can help us. Maybe you listen to music, fix yourself a cup of tea, call a friend, or take a walk in the park—there’s an endless is this list of good things we can do in order to feel better. All of those good things are gifts from God. But the one thing—the only thing—that gives meaning to everything is to recognize that God is the source of all good things in our lives.
Of course, putting God at the center of your life; putting God first; seems a little nebulous. How do we really do this?
We begin our life with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The church helps us to seal our commitment to Christ through the act of baptism. Baptism is a public affirmation that we have decided to follow Jesus Christ, and that just as the water of baptism washes over us, our sins are washed away and we have new life in Jesus Christ.
The church also gives us an opportunity to remember our baptism and to remember what Jesus has done for us when we take communion. Communion is a reminder of Jesus’ incredible gift to us. He gives us complete forgiveness and eternal salvation. So when we come together to celebrate communion, our hearts have the opportunity of being refocused once again on our true center, Jesus Christ. Through our faith in Jesus, our lives are once again focused, with God at the center.
Of course, you don’t need to wait for communion to re-center your life on God. It’s just that when we come together and receive communion, it is a wonderful reminder that helps us turn our hearts towards God. The well lived life begins by putting God in his rightful place at the center.
The psalm warns us, “4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.” What this means is that when we worship that which is not worthy of our worship, we bring sorrow on ourselves. We may sail along through life for a long time without realizing that something is wrong, but eventually, a life focused on the wrong thing will bring us sorrow.
There are lots of good things you can pursue in this life. You might pursue art, or gardening, or your career. There is no problem with any of these things, as long as it does not become idolatry. When that important thing in your life becomes more important to you than your relationship with God, then it has become an idol. Pursue the things you love and do it with excellence, but keep God first. That’s how you live the well lived life.
Another aspect of the well lived life is contentment. The psalmist says “5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
The psalmist is content because he sees his life as a gift from God. He is thankful to God for his life. He understands that everything he has achieved; everything he owns; everything he is—all of it is a gift from God. He is grateful.
When we get the idea that we somehow deserve everything we have, we are in trouble. It’s pretty hard to be grateful if you think you think that what you have is your due. Yet, don’t most of us really feel that way much of the time? Don’t we tend to think that the reason we have been blessed is because we deserve it?
If we were to just stop for a minute and think—to realize that many people who are just as “good” as us have much less than we have—we would realize that we do not deserve to be so blessed. Then we can say in our hearts, God is good to me. I don’t know why, but God has blessed me, and all I can do is thank him. God wants us to be thankful and content, rather than always grasping for more.
As the psalmist reflects further on his life he says “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” If we are to live the well lived life, we will need to have personal boundaries. We will need to make decisions every day as to how we will use our time, our money, and our abilities. We will need to make decisions as to what we eat, how much we exercise, and how much and when we sleep. We will need to decide who we spend time with; how much of our time will be spent on ourselves, and how much we will give to others. All of these are boundaries that we ourselves determine. And wouldn’t it be good to be able to say with the psalmist, “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”
Even in the night, the psalmist’s well lived life is evident. A few nights ago, I woke up wide awake at two o’clock in the morning, feeling afraid. I’m sure you’ve experienced this: you wake with a start, and you’re not sure why you woke up. Your mind does all sorts of crazy things. Is there someone breaking into our house? Did I hear something? And then you lie there, wide awake, listening.
The psalmist has an answer even for this: “ 7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.” When you wake up in the middle of the night feeling afraid, do you know what to do? Do you remember that God is there, and you can talk to him?
I think one of the greatest gifts we have when we wake up at two o’clock in the morning feeling terrified is the gift of prayer and of scripture and prayers that we have memorized. Part of the well lived life is to take the time to memorize scriptures. Those scriptures that you have memorized can be a wonderful blessing to you in time of need.
Recently I had a wonderful visit with Jackie Warner, who is living at Foss Home. Jackie’s short term memory is gone, but her long term memory is still there. Somehow, I thought to remind her of the childhood prayer that so many of us learned long ago: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take.” Jackie loved it, and wanted me to say it over with her several times, and then she asked me to write it down for her.
Then, to my surprise, she began to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and she remembered all except a small part. Do you see what a blessing those memorized prayers can be to a person in a time when other things are failing?
We know that David treasured scripture, so when he says “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me,” don’t you imagine that in times of distress, those scriptures he had learned and committed to memory were coming to his mind and ministering to him.
Begin with God on the pedestal of your life, and turn to God’s Word for guidance, and you will have the best possible beginning for a well lived life. Put God first in your life, learn to be content, establish good boundaries, and fill your mind with prayer and scripture. Then, with David, the psalmist, you will be able to say,
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Amen
It is never God’s will that life be like that for anyone. The Bible makes it clear that God wants us to live peaceful, happy lives. It’s true that terrible things can destroy our dreams, but that is not God’s desire for us. There are really almost no guarantees in life. When it comes right down to it, what is there in this life that we can absolutely count on having forever? Fortunes fail, people die, our bodies fall apart—the truth is, nothing stays the same, and we really can’t control a lot of the things that can happen to us. There is, in fact, only one thing in life we can absolutely count on, and that is God. No matter what happens to us, God will always be with us, and we who put our trust in him will be with him for all eternity. Our friends and family, our physical bodies, our bank accounts, our jobs—all of these things will some day pass away. But God will always be there with us. There’s no earthly insurance policy that can promise to still be there when everything else in life is wiped out. Only God can make that promise. And as far as that pedestal—it’s God who belongs on that pedestal. When we start with God at the center of our lives, we have the beginnings of a well lived life. God’s Word has much to teach us how to live our lives well. Even though we can’t prevent catastrophic things from happening, we still have a great deal of control over our own lives most of the time. And the part that we can control is the part we want to think about today, because that is our responsibility—with God’s help. The Psalm we are reading gives us some guidelines concerning God’s idea of how we should order our lives. It’s good to know that God does not will for evil to come into our lives. It’s good to know that God wants us to live at peace. God’s will for us is a well lived life. This is Psalm 16, a Psalm of David.
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Do you sense the peace the writer has with his life and with his God? That is the result of a well lived life. We know that David was not perfect. But the over-weaning force of his life was that he put his trust in God, and his life was ordered around his trust in God.
Beginning with God is the best thing we can do in order to live a well lived life. If you put God first and order the rest of your life accordingly, you will have a well lived life.
So how, exactly, do we do this? David gives us some helpful hints in the Psalm. He begins by putting God first: “2 I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” He has learned that the goodness of God is better than anything else. Many things are good, but God is best.
When things are going wrong, what do you do? There are lots of good things that can help us. Maybe you listen to music, fix yourself a cup of tea, call a friend, or take a walk in the park—there’s an endless is this list of good things we can do in order to feel better. All of those good things are gifts from God. But the one thing—the only thing—that gives meaning to everything is to recognize that God is the source of all good things in our lives.
Of course, putting God at the center of your life; putting God first; seems a little nebulous. How do we really do this?
We begin our life with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The church helps us to seal our commitment to Christ through the act of baptism. Baptism is a public affirmation that we have decided to follow Jesus Christ, and that just as the water of baptism washes over us, our sins are washed away and we have new life in Jesus Christ.
The church also gives us an opportunity to remember our baptism and to remember what Jesus has done for us when we take communion. Communion is a reminder of Jesus’ incredible gift to us. He gives us complete forgiveness and eternal salvation. So when we come together to celebrate communion, our hearts have the opportunity of being refocused once again on our true center, Jesus Christ. Through our faith in Jesus, our lives are once again focused, with God at the center.
Of course, you don’t need to wait for communion to re-center your life on God. It’s just that when we come together and receive communion, it is a wonderful reminder that helps us turn our hearts towards God. The well lived life begins by putting God in his rightful place at the center.
The psalm warns us, “4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.” What this means is that when we worship that which is not worthy of our worship, we bring sorrow on ourselves. We may sail along through life for a long time without realizing that something is wrong, but eventually, a life focused on the wrong thing will bring us sorrow.
There are lots of good things you can pursue in this life. You might pursue art, or gardening, or your career. There is no problem with any of these things, as long as it does not become idolatry. When that important thing in your life becomes more important to you than your relationship with God, then it has become an idol. Pursue the things you love and do it with excellence, but keep God first. That’s how you live the well lived life.
Another aspect of the well lived life is contentment. The psalmist says “5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
The psalmist is content because he sees his life as a gift from God. He is thankful to God for his life. He understands that everything he has achieved; everything he owns; everything he is—all of it is a gift from God. He is grateful.
When we get the idea that we somehow deserve everything we have, we are in trouble. It’s pretty hard to be grateful if you think you think that what you have is your due. Yet, don’t most of us really feel that way much of the time? Don’t we tend to think that the reason we have been blessed is because we deserve it?
If we were to just stop for a minute and think—to realize that many people who are just as “good” as us have much less than we have—we would realize that we do not deserve to be so blessed. Then we can say in our hearts, God is good to me. I don’t know why, but God has blessed me, and all I can do is thank him. God wants us to be thankful and content, rather than always grasping for more.
As the psalmist reflects further on his life he says “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” If we are to live the well lived life, we will need to have personal boundaries. We will need to make decisions every day as to how we will use our time, our money, and our abilities. We will need to make decisions as to what we eat, how much we exercise, and how much and when we sleep. We will need to decide who we spend time with; how much of our time will be spent on ourselves, and how much we will give to others. All of these are boundaries that we ourselves determine. And wouldn’t it be good to be able to say with the psalmist, “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”
Even in the night, the psalmist’s well lived life is evident. A few nights ago, I woke up wide awake at two o’clock in the morning, feeling afraid. I’m sure you’ve experienced this: you wake with a start, and you’re not sure why you woke up. Your mind does all sorts of crazy things. Is there someone breaking into our house? Did I hear something? And then you lie there, wide awake, listening.
The psalmist has an answer even for this: “ 7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.” When you wake up in the middle of the night feeling afraid, do you know what to do? Do you remember that God is there, and you can talk to him?
I think one of the greatest gifts we have when we wake up at two o’clock in the morning feeling terrified is the gift of prayer and of scripture and prayers that we have memorized. Part of the well lived life is to take the time to memorize scriptures. Those scriptures that you have memorized can be a wonderful blessing to you in time of need.
Recently I had a wonderful visit with Jackie Warner, who is living at Foss Home. Jackie’s short term memory is gone, but her long term memory is still there. Somehow, I thought to remind her of the childhood prayer that so many of us learned long ago: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take.” Jackie loved it, and wanted me to say it over with her several times, and then she asked me to write it down for her.
Then, to my surprise, she began to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and she remembered all except a small part. Do you see what a blessing those memorized prayers can be to a person in a time when other things are failing?
We know that David treasured scripture, so when he says “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me,” don’t you imagine that in times of distress, those scriptures he had learned and committed to memory were coming to his mind and ministering to him.
Begin with God on the pedestal of your life, and turn to God’s Word for guidance, and you will have the best possible beginning for a well lived life. Put God first in your life, learn to be content, establish good boundaries, and fill your mind with prayer and scripture. Then, with David, the psalmist, you will be able to say,
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Amen
There is, in fact, only one thing in life we can absolutely count on, and that is God. No matter what happens to us, God will always be with us, and we who put our trust in him will be with him for all eternity. Our friends and family, our physical bodies, our bank accounts, our jobs—all of these things will some day pass away. But God will always be there with us. There’s no earthly insurance policy that can promise to still be there when everything else in life is wiped out. Only God can make that promise. And as far as that pedestal—it’s God who belongs on that pedestal. When we start with God at the center of our lives, we have the beginnings of a well lived life. God’s Word has much to teach us how to live our lives well. Even though we can’t prevent catastrophic things from happening, we still have a great deal of control over our own lives most of the time. And the part that we can control is the part we want to think about today, because that is our responsibility—with God’s help. The Psalm we are reading gives us some guidelines concerning God’s idea of how we should order our lives. It’s good to know that God does not will for evil to come into our lives. It’s good to know that God wants us to live at peace. God’s will for us is a well lived life. This is Psalm 16, a Psalm of David.
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Do you sense the peace the writer has with his life and with his God? That is the result of a well lived life. We know that David was not perfect. But the over-weaning force of his life was that he put his trust in God, and his life was ordered around his trust in God.
Beginning with God is the best thing we can do in order to live a well lived life. If you put God first and order the rest of your life accordingly, you will have a well lived life.
So how, exactly, do we do this? David gives us some helpful hints in the Psalm. He begins by putting God first: “2 I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” He has learned that the goodness of God is better than anything else. Many things are good, but God is best.
When things are going wrong, what do you do? There are lots of good things that can help us. Maybe you listen to music, fix yourself a cup of tea, call a friend, or take a walk in the park—there’s an endless is this list of good things we can do in order to feel better. All of those good things are gifts from God. But the one thing—the only thing—that gives meaning to everything is to recognize that God is the source of all good things in our lives.
Of course, putting God at the center of your life; putting God first; seems a little nebulous. How do we really do this?
We begin our life with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The church helps us to seal our commitment to Christ through the act of baptism. Baptism is a public affirmation that we have decided to follow Jesus Christ, and that just as the water of baptism washes over us, our sins are washed away and we have new life in Jesus Christ.
The church also gives us an opportunity to remember our baptism and to remember what Jesus has done for us when we take communion. Communion is a reminder of Jesus’ incredible gift to us. He gives us complete forgiveness and eternal salvation. So when we come together to celebrate communion, our hearts have the opportunity of being refocused once again on our true center, Jesus Christ. Through our faith in Jesus, our lives are once again focused, with God at the center.
Of course, you don’t need to wait for communion to re-center your life on God. It’s just that when we come together and receive communion, it is a wonderful reminder that helps us turn our hearts towards God. The well lived life begins by putting God in his rightful place at the center.
The psalm warns us, “4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.” What this means is that when we worship that which is not worthy of our worship, we bring sorrow on ourselves. We may sail along through life for a long time without realizing that something is wrong, but eventually, a life focused on the wrong thing will bring us sorrow.
There are lots of good things you can pursue in this life. You might pursue art, or gardening, or your career. There is no problem with any of these things, as long as it does not become idolatry. When that important thing in your life becomes more important to you than your relationship with God, then it has become an idol. Pursue the things you love and do it with excellence, but keep God first. That’s how you live the well lived life.
Another aspect of the well lived life is contentment. The psalmist says “5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
The psalmist is content because he sees his life as a gift from God. He is thankful to God for his life. He understands that everything he has achieved; everything he owns; everything he is—all of it is a gift from God. He is grateful.
When we get the idea that we somehow deserve everything we have, we are in trouble. It’s pretty hard to be grateful if you think you think that what you have is your due. Yet, don’t most of us really feel that way much of the time? Don’t we tend to think that the reason we have been blessed is because we deserve it?
If we were to just stop for a minute and think—to realize that many people who are just as “good” as us have much less than we have—we would realize that we do not deserve to be so blessed. Then we can say in our hearts, God is good to me. I don’t know why, but God has blessed me, and all I can do is thank him. God wants us to be thankful and content, rather than always grasping for more.
As the psalmist reflects further on his life he says “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” If we are to live the well lived life, we will need to have personal boundaries. We will need to make decisions every day as to how we will use our time, our money, and our abilities. We will need to make decisions as to what we eat, how much we exercise, and how much and when we sleep. We will need to decide who we spend time with; how much of our time will be spent on ourselves, and how much we will give to others. All of these are boundaries that we ourselves determine. And wouldn’t it be good to be able to say with the psalmist, “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”
Even in the night, the psalmist’s well lived life is evident. A few nights ago, I woke up wide awake at two o’clock in the morning, feeling afraid. I’m sure you’ve experienced this: you wake with a start, and you’re not sure why you woke up. Your mind does all sorts of crazy things. Is there someone breaking into our house? Did I hear something? And then you lie there, wide awake, listening.
The psalmist has an answer even for this: “ 7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.” When you wake up in the middle of the night feeling afraid, do you know what to do? Do you remember that God is there, and you can talk to him?
I think one of the greatest gifts we have when we wake up at two o’clock in the morning feeling terrified is the gift of prayer and of scripture and prayers that we have memorized. Part of the well lived life is to take the time to memorize scriptures. Those scriptures that you have memorized can be a wonderful blessing to you in time of need.
Recently I had a wonderful visit with Jackie Warner, who is living at Foss Home. Jackie’s short term memory is gone, but her long term memory is still there. Somehow, I thought to remind her of the childhood prayer that so many of us learned long ago: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take.” Jackie loved it, and wanted me to say it over with her several times, and then she asked me to write it down for her.
Then, to my surprise, she began to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and she remembered all except a small part. Do you see what a blessing those memorized prayers can be to a person in a time when other things are failing?
We know that David treasured scripture, so when he says “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me,” don’t you imagine that in times of distress, those scriptures he had learned and committed to memory were coming to his mind and ministering to him.
Begin with God on the pedestal of your life, and turn to God’s Word for guidance, and you will have the best possible beginning for a well lived life. Put God first in your life, learn to be content, establish good boundaries, and fill your mind with prayer and scripture. Then, with David, the psalmist, you will be able to say,
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Amen
The Psalm we are reading gives us some guidelines concerning God’s idea of how we should order our lives. It’s good to know that God does not will for evil to come into our lives. It’s good to know that God wants us to live at peace. God’s will for us is a well lived life. This is Psalm 16, a Psalm of David.
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Do you sense the peace the writer has with his life and with his God? That is the result of a well lived life. We know that David was not perfect. But the over-weaning force of his life was that he put his trust in God, and his life was ordered around his trust in God.
Beginning with God is the best thing we can do in order to live a well lived life. If you put God first and order the rest of your life accordingly, you will have a well lived life.
So how, exactly, do we do this? David gives us some helpful hints in the Psalm. He begins by putting God first: “2 I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” He has learned that the goodness of God is better than anything else. Many things are good, but God is best.
When things are going wrong, what do you do? There are lots of good things that can help us. Maybe you listen to music, fix yourself a cup of tea, call a friend, or take a walk in the park—there’s an endless is this list of good things we can do in order to feel better. All of those good things are gifts from God. But the one thing—the only thing—that gives meaning to everything is to recognize that God is the source of all good things in our lives.
Of course, putting God at the center of your life; putting God first; seems a little nebulous. How do we really do this?
We begin our life with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The church helps us to seal our commitment to Christ through the act of baptism. Baptism is a public affirmation that we have decided to follow Jesus Christ, and that just as the water of baptism washes over us, our sins are washed away and we have new life in Jesus Christ.
The church also gives us an opportunity to remember our baptism and to remember what Jesus has done for us when we take communion. Communion is a reminder of Jesus’ incredible gift to us. He gives us complete forgiveness and eternal salvation. So when we come together to celebrate communion, our hearts have the opportunity of being refocused once again on our true center, Jesus Christ. Through our faith in Jesus, our lives are once again focused, with God at the center.
Of course, you don’t need to wait for communion to re-center your life on God. It’s just that when we come together and receive communion, it is a wonderful reminder that helps us turn our hearts towards God. The well lived life begins by putting God in his rightful place at the center.
The psalm warns us, “4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.” What this means is that when we worship that which is not worthy of our worship, we bring sorrow on ourselves. We may sail along through life for a long time without realizing that something is wrong, but eventually, a life focused on the wrong thing will bring us sorrow.
There are lots of good things you can pursue in this life. You might pursue art, or gardening, or your career. There is no problem with any of these things, as long as it does not become idolatry. When that important thing in your life becomes more important to you than your relationship with God, then it has become an idol. Pursue the things you love and do it with excellence, but keep God first. That’s how you live the well lived life.
Another aspect of the well lived life is contentment. The psalmist says “5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
The psalmist is content because he sees his life as a gift from God. He is thankful to God for his life. He understands that everything he has achieved; everything he owns; everything he is—all of it is a gift from God. He is grateful.
When we get the idea that we somehow deserve everything we have, we are in trouble. It’s pretty hard to be grateful if you think you think that what you have is your due. Yet, don’t most of us really feel that way much of the time? Don’t we tend to think that the reason we have been blessed is because we deserve it?
If we were to just stop for a minute and think—to realize that many people who are just as “good” as us have much less than we have—we would realize that we do not deserve to be so blessed. Then we can say in our hearts, God is good to me. I don’t know why, but God has blessed me, and all I can do is thank him. God wants us to be thankful and content, rather than always grasping for more.
As the psalmist reflects further on his life he says “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” If we are to live the well lived life, we will need to have personal boundaries. We will need to make decisions every day as to how we will use our time, our money, and our abilities. We will need to make decisions as to what we eat, how much we exercise, and how much and when we sleep. We will need to decide who we spend time with; how much of our time will be spent on ourselves, and how much we will give to others. All of these are boundaries that we ourselves determine. And wouldn’t it be good to be able to say with the psalmist, “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”
Even in the night, the psalmist’s well lived life is evident. A few nights ago, I woke up wide awake at two o’clock in the morning, feeling afraid. I’m sure you’ve experienced this: you wake with a start, and you’re not sure why you woke up. Your mind does all sorts of crazy things. Is there someone breaking into our house? Did I hear something? And then you lie there, wide awake, listening.
The psalmist has an answer even for this: “ 7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.” When you wake up in the middle of the night feeling afraid, do you know what to do? Do you remember that God is there, and you can talk to him?
I think one of the greatest gifts we have when we wake up at two o’clock in the morning feeling terrified is the gift of prayer and of scripture and prayers that we have memorized. Part of the well lived life is to take the time to memorize scriptures. Those scriptures that you have memorized can be a wonderful blessing to you in time of need.
Recently I had a wonderful visit with Jackie Warner, who is living at Foss Home. Jackie’s short term memory is gone, but her long term memory is still there. Somehow, I thought to remind her of the childhood prayer that so many of us learned long ago: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take.” Jackie loved it, and wanted me to say it over with her several times, and then she asked me to write it down for her.
Then, to my surprise, she began to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and she remembered all except a small part. Do you see what a blessing those memorized prayers can be to a person in a time when other things are failing?
We know that David treasured scripture, so when he says “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me,” don’t you imagine that in times of distress, those scriptures he had learned and committed to memory were coming to his mind and ministering to him.
Begin with God on the pedestal of your life, and turn to God’s Word for guidance, and you will have the best possible beginning for a well lived life. Put God first in your life, learn to be content, establish good boundaries, and fill your mind with prayer and scripture. Then, with David, the psalmist, you will be able to say,
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Amen
1 Keep me safe, O God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing."
3 As for the saints who are in the land,
they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
4 The sorrows of those will increase
who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup;
you have made my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the grave,
nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Do you sense the peace the writer has with his life and with his God? That is the result of a well lived life. We know that David was not perfect. But the over-weaning force of his life was that he put his trust in God, and his life was ordered around his trust in God.
Beginning with God is the best thing we can do in order to live a well lived life. If you put God first and order the rest of your life accordingly, you will have a well lived life.
So how, exactly, do we do this? David gives us some helpful hints in the Psalm. He begins by putting God first: “2 I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.’” He has learned that the goodness of God is better than anything else. Many things are good, but God is best.
When things are going wrong, what do you do? There are lots of good things that can help us. Maybe you listen to music, fix yourself a cup of tea, call a friend, or take a walk in the park—there’s an endless is this list of good things we can do in order to feel better. All of those good things are gifts from God. But the one thing—the only thing—that gives meaning to everything is to recognize that God is the source of all good things in our lives.
Of course, putting God at the center of your life; putting God first; seems a little nebulous. How do we really do this?
We begin our life with God through faith in Jesus Christ. The church helps us to seal our commitment to Christ through the act of baptism. Baptism is a public affirmation that we have decided to follow Jesus Christ, and that just as the water of baptism washes over us, our sins are washed away and we have new life in Jesus Christ.
The church also gives us an opportunity to remember our baptism and to remember what Jesus has done for us when we take communion. Communion is a reminder of Jesus’ incredible gift to us. He gives us complete forgiveness and eternal salvation. So when we come together to celebrate communion, our hearts have the opportunity of being refocused once again on our true center, Jesus Christ. Through our faith in Jesus, our lives are once again focused, with God at the center.
Of course, you don’t need to wait for communion to re-center your life on God. It’s just that when we come together and receive communion, it is a wonderful reminder that helps us turn our hearts towards God. The well lived life begins by putting God in his rightful place at the center.
The psalm warns us, “4 The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.” What this means is that when we worship that which is not worthy of our worship, we bring sorrow on ourselves. We may sail along through life for a long time without realizing that something is wrong, but eventually, a life focused on the wrong thing will bring us sorrow.
There are lots of good things you can pursue in this life. You might pursue art, or gardening, or your career. There is no problem with any of these things, as long as it does not become idolatry. When that important thing in your life becomes more important to you than your relationship with God, then it has become an idol. Pursue the things you love and do it with excellence, but keep God first. That’s how you live the well lived life.
Another aspect of the well lived life is contentment. The psalmist says “5 LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.”
The psalmist is content because he sees his life as a gift from God. He is thankful to God for his life. He understands that everything he has achieved; everything he owns; everything he is—all of it is a gift from God. He is grateful.
When we get the idea that we somehow deserve everything we have, we are in trouble. It’s pretty hard to be grateful if you think you think that what you have is your due. Yet, don’t most of us really feel that way much of the time? Don’t we tend to think that the reason we have been blessed is because we deserve it?
If we were to just stop for a minute and think—to realize that many people who are just as “good” as us have much less than we have—we would realize that we do not deserve to be so blessed. Then we can say in our hearts, God is good to me. I don’t know why, but God has blessed me, and all I can do is thank him. God wants us to be thankful and content, rather than always grasping for more.
As the psalmist reflects further on his life he says “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.” If we are to live the well lived life, we will need to have personal boundaries. We will need to make decisions every day as to how we will use our time, our money, and our abilities. We will need to make decisions as to what we eat, how much we exercise, and how much and when we sleep. We will need to decide who we spend time with; how much of our time will be spent on ourselves, and how much we will give to others. All of these are boundaries that we ourselves determine. And wouldn’t it be good to be able to say with the psalmist, “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places.”
Even in the night, the psalmist’s well lived life is evident. A few nights ago, I woke up wide awake at two o’clock in the morning, feeling afraid. I’m sure you’ve experienced this: you wake with a start, and you’re not sure why you woke up. Your mind does all sorts of crazy things. Is there someone breaking into our house? Did I hear something? And then you lie there, wide awake, listening.
The psalmist has an answer even for this: “ 7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.” When you wake up in the middle of the night feeling afraid, do you know what to do? Do you remember that God is there, and you can talk to him?
I think one of the greatest gifts we have when we wake up at two o’clock in the morning feeling terrified is the gift of prayer and of scripture and prayers that we have memorized. Part of the well lived life is to take the time to memorize scriptures. Those scriptures that you have memorized can be a wonderful blessing to you in time of need.
Recently I had a wonderful visit with Jackie Warner, who is living at Foss Home. Jackie’s short term memory is gone, but her long term memory is still there. Somehow, I thought to remind her of the childhood prayer that so many of us learned long ago: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee Lord my soul to keep; If I should die before I wake, I pray thee Lord my soul to take.” Jackie loved it, and wanted me to say it over with her several times, and then she asked me to write it down for her.
Then, to my surprise, she began to pray the Lord’s Prayer, and she remembered all except a small part. Do you see what a blessing those memorized prayers can be to a person in a time when other things are failing?
We know that David treasured scripture, so when he says “I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me,” don’t you imagine that in times of distress, those scriptures he had learned and committed to memory were coming to his mind and ministering to him.
Begin with God on the pedestal of your life, and turn to God’s Word for guidance, and you will have the best possible beginning for a well lived life. Put God first in your life, learn to be content, establish good boundaries, and fill your mind with prayer and scripture. Then, with David, the psalmist, you will be able to say,
8 I have set the LORD always before me.
Because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
11 You have made known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Amen
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