Psalm 16 Where Good Comes From
Psalm 16
Amen! “I said to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good besides You!’ “
This is true as You created me…I do wonder how much of my good is personality (Hardwired), how much is to get people to like me, or something else I want (Selfish) and how much is due to the work of the Spirit.
“The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied”
Other ‘gods’ require bartering… i.e. You give something & they promise to give something… The problems with that are that there is only one God who has anything real to give and He gives to us freely out of grace because He knows we have nothing to trade…
And all the other ‘gods’ (All the prince of this world) give are empty promises, shadows and imitations that do not satisfy. He offers salt water to quench our thirst. It increases our desire, but does nothing to satisfy. He does a good job of painting a picture of the way things could be, but only deals in fantasy and dreams. He does not help with or give solutions to reality. This is especially powerful and hard to resist when the dreams are ‘good’ and the tastes he gives are potent and seem fulfilling…but they do nothing to satisfy our deepest needs. The deceiver is very good at showing us what we lack and what should be, but has nothing to make it so. This is what he did with Eve…‘God is holding out on you, things should be this way & they’re not’. Wow, it is especially tough when what he points out has a strong element of truth to it, as he did when he tempted Jesus. This is the way your family should be, this is the way true love is, this is the way good people act, this is what a good job is like, this is the American way… The only way to know truth is through His revealed word.
The truth is there is no good besides God and I need to know Him better to know truth and reality and satisfaction…it sure doesn’t make sense though. But then what did Jesus promise? He said, ‘He who wishes to find his life must lose it’ I have to lose everything and expect satisfaction from nothing else but Him…by faith, because of His amazing, compelling, unrelenting love and grace. He is the ultimate initiator and the consummate giver. Thank you God and help me to give up all for You.