Is God Enough?
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. (Psalm 16:5-6)
Today, if you lost everything you hold dear in this world, would God be enough? Would your heart be peacefully content? Joyful?
The only way for you and me to walk through this temporal life with hope that endures is to find our fullest joy and satisfaction in God himself. If our relationship with God is not our highest treasure then our faith will not endure all the unforeseen troubles that lie in our path. This is the key lesson from Psalm 16.
“The Lord is my chosen portion” is David’s testimony and the theme of his song.
To encourage you to come to the same resolution, the Holy Spirit reveals four indications from David’s life that the Lord was enough for him and, likewise, should be enough for you.
First, your most-valued community should be God and his people. The Lord is the only one whom David could rely upon for his well-being, ultimately. But David’s faith was not private, not isolated from others. Instead, he knew his spiritual health was partially dependent upon living in community with other “saints in light…in whom was [his] delight” (v. 3). In other words, he chose “the excellent ones” to be his closest companions, not those “who run after another god” (v. 4). Along with David, can you say, “Lord, I have no good apart from you” (v. 2)?
Second, your contentment needs to be in God and his providence. Again, David says, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.” But he goes on to say to God, “you hold my lot” (v. 5), and “the lines have fallen for me in pleasant places,” which are reminiscent of the boundaries of the Promised Land allocated by God himself. By keeping divine wisdom and goodness connected to the sovereignty of God, in his own life, David was able to acknowledge that he, too, had “a beautiful inheritance.” Are you content with the arrangement of matters in your life?
Third, your commitment must be to praise God, and follow his Word, at all times. Like David, say, “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel,” and “I have set the Lord always before me.” As a result, David can say, “I shall not be shaken” (v. 8). As a spiritual discipline, praise keeps your mind and emotions fixed upon God, instead of the trouble that threatens to shake you. Are you praising God, and heeding his Word?
Fourth, your greatest comfort will be from God and his presence, both here and in eternity. David looked beyond the troubles of the present to the hope of future glory in the presence of God (v. 10). The wellbeing of your mind and heart come from intentional reminders that God not only makes known to you “the path of life,” but also will one day bring you into his very presence where “there is fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” (v. 11).
Is God enough for you?
