Psalms 16:11
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.
Psalm 16 is a prayer by the writer asking God for deliverance from an immediate and impending difficulty. It is a real prayer for immediate deliverance. In the verse just preceding the above, the writer is confident that God, out of love, will not leave him in Sheol ... the grave. Apparently this situation was one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel. It would be easy (and certainly acceptable) to interpret the above verse in a spiritual manner and claim that the writer was talking about the blessings we have in Christ; making the Psalm Messianic in nature. Note what one commentator states about the psalm:
(Word Biblical Commentary): I have suggested in the Comment that the psalm, with respect to its initial meaning, is neither messianic nor eschatological in nature. Yet it is apparent that in the earliest Christian community, the psalm was given a messianic interpretation with respect to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Both Peter, in his sermon at Pentecost (Acts 2:25-28), and Paul, in the synagogue at Antioch (Acts 13:35), reflect this interpretation of the psalm in their preaching.
However, the writer, at the time was certainly in peril and was, at that moment, asking for deliverance. Perhaps this is a good indication that the text of Scripture can have alternate meanings. We have to be careful to interpret the text "historically" (what did it mean at the time) and not over spiritualizing it (what does it mean for "me"). There is no intent to imply that Scripture doesn't have a clear meaning. But, it is obvious in this text that the writer was looking for immediate deliverance AND YET we can see in the language used the references to Christ, NOW sitting at the right hand of God ... pleasures forever more!! The writer is rejoicing because in the midst of the struggle (whatever it is) he has found the "path of life." In the dark of the situation the light was found. The writer is not simply referring to a time he HOPES to have deliverance and fulness of joy and pleasures forever ... although, for all believers, that is a true statement. Here, however, the writer has found these things in the midst of threat of death. What we see is that God is the God of the Here and Now. God will ultimately save us. But, we don't have to wait to enjoy the path of life and the fullness of joy and pleasures forever. God wants us to rejoice in Him NOW. In the dark we can still have the LIGHT. Christianity is not JUST heaven later. Christianity is Christ NOW!! Our fellowship with Him is REAL today. We can allow the threat of the grave to steal our joy, but if it can steal our joy we never really had our joy in the right place. Christ is our joy. How can the writer think this way? Notice what was written earlier in this psalm:
Psalms 16:5
The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You support my lot.
Since the writer desired Christ it wasn't a large leap that with Christ, he realized he had joy, life and pleasure. The truth is, God is our joy today!! We will be blessed in heaven later. That is true. But, it is also true God wants us to have the path of life today ... deliverance from our individual peril!
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