The pursuit of ultimate happiness (reflections on psalm 16)
There is no shame in the fact that as humans, we want to be happy. I highly doubt that there is a person who would honestly deny that. It is a truth and a reality that points to our design - we are just made that way. It follows naturally, therefore, that we would pursue happiness in different things and in different ways.
This is a simple fact about being human, even though it may differ from human to human and be shaped by many factors. There are also things that contribute to our happiness, good things that are a part of God’s good world, things such as friendship, art, beauty, ice-cream, love, romance, comfort and a great career. The list could go on and on. This life is full of good things that make the heart glad. The reason for this is that the God who made us and everything else is good.
However, have you ever wondered why the good things that contribute to our happiness do not fix everything? Why they do not bring ultimate happiness - that which we long for? They are good, but they do not fulfill us. Yet we chase after these good things as though they were ultimate because we think they will satisfy us. This is what David says in Psalm 16:2: “I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
What a stunning statement! I am pretty sure that King David had his share of what he would have considered as “good things” in his life up to this point. It is clearly much deeper than that. It is a beautiful acknowledgment that the LORD is the ultimate good, his ultimate good. It is not things, but the LORD God himself is THE good thing. Compare it with this line from Psalm 73:25 “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” Whatever good we desire or have on this earth can be detrimental if the LORD is not the ultimate good in our lives.
In fact, because our hearts are twisted by sin (a natural bent towards rebellion against God) we can warp good things into mini-gods (idols) and expect them to be our ultimate good. However, instead of them bringing us the happiness we think they will bring, they lead us to sorrow (Psalm 16:4). David is likely referring to actual gods that those who were unfaithful were turning to at the time instead of YHWH. Our hearts are no different from theirs, even though the idols we chase after in our day might be. And so the result will also be the same - sorrow, suffering, emptiness.
The contrast, however, is striking! God is worthy of worship because he is supremely delightful. It is good for us to worship him with our lives. This is the beautiful truth we learn from this Psalm. David’s heart sings with gladness and contentment because he has God for his portion (verse 5). To see him as he is and to treasure him leads to life, contentment, rest, soundness and deep joy. God, our good and loving Creator made us to worship him because he is good and desires our ultimate happiness!
And in His goodness, God gives us himself to delight in and enjoy. What a thought - he gives us the very best because it does not get better than God! And so to worship him is our highest good and leads to deeply satisfying joy and pleasure, simply because of who he is. This begins now in this life (Psalm 16:5-8) and goes on into eternity.
To be sure, life will still be hard even when we turn to the God written about in this psalm, but we get to live this life with the promise of his presence - his provision and guidance, and with the hope of enjoying him more fully and perfectly in the age to come (Psalm 16:11), with everlasting joy and pleasures that will never end, far-surpassing anything we have ever known.
