Ps 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence [is] fulness of joy; at thy right hand [there are] pleasures for evermore.
The Psalms, more than any other book in the Bible is a book which gives us an in depth understanding of the love relationship that we can have with the God of the universe. The Psalms are written in poetry because poetry with its pictures and metaphors can best describe what a language cannot describe in ordinary words. In Edmond Rostand’s play Cyrano de Bergerac you have the main character Cyrano who is a gifted poet and his rival for Roxane’s love Christian who is a literary doofus. When each express their love for Roxane they express it in different ways. When Roxane asks Christian to tell her how he loves her he blurts out, “I love you a lot.” When Cyrano expresses his love for Roxane he says something like: “Love grows and struggles like…an angry child…Breaking my heart…his cradle…But…such a babe is dangerous; why not have it smothered new born? And so I do.. and yet he lives… I found…as you shall find…this new born babe…an infant… Hercules! Strong enough…at birth… to strangle those two serpents – Doubt and Pride. (Act 3).
As you can see, to simply say “God loves you” is meaningful but to really express it and understand what that really means one must use imagery, stories, metaphors and other poetic devices to really express the depth of that one word. I recall a young woman who was accepted into the medical school of the University of Chicago to train to be a physician. This is a very prestigious University and only the best of the best can be accepted into this school. She had an encounter with Jesus and fell in love with Him and wanted to devote her life to pursuing this love she had for Jesus and felt that her medical training would prevent her from pursing this love relationship that she was experiencing. So she turned down the opportunity and the scholarships to attend this elite school which some would say would be the ultimate of the American dream to pursue her love for Jesus, perhaps as a missionary or in evangelism. Her friends and family said she was insane, crazy or brainwashed by a cult. Yet, she said she told of an experience where the presence of God left her briefly and after many years she has never forgotten the horror, the devastation or that lost feeling when the presence of God left her for that brief moment. She would not trade that presence of God, that love relationship with Him for anything in the world, not even fulfilling her personal dream of attending a top medical school and become a physician. The love of God in Christ Jesus was far more important than anything this world had to offer. Yet unless you really experience it, how do you describe it? How do you explain such a thing so that people could understand.
God gave us a marriage/love relationship between a man and woman to help us understand in the natural why this young woman made her decision to abandon her own personal dreams. We could fill a stadium with books of love poems, stories, novels and screenplays that have been written of individuals who have given up great dreams, hopes and plans to be with the one they love. You have in the movie Fiddler on the Roof where Tevye’s daughter Hodel falls in love with a young Russian radical Perchik who is arrested and sent off to Siberia. Hodel goes to Siberia to be with him explaining that she is not going because he asked her to go, but because she wants to go, because she loves him. We see this story and no one questions this young woman’s decision to leave the comforts of her home and family to experience the harshness of a Siberia work camp with the man she loves, in fact we applaud her and we swoon over her decision and sigh over such love. Yet when a young woman gives up her dream of medical school to pursue her love for God, well she is crazy, she is brainwashed, she is the victim of a cult. But we can love God with the intensity that any young woman can love a man or a man a woman and give up their dreams to be with their beloved. We can understand their longing to be with their beloved, we can understand the thrill and joy they experience when just hearing their lover’s voice over the phone. Yet, if we claim such love for God, well, we are crazy, there is something really wrong with us. Yet God created a man and woman to be able to experience this deep love, this intimacy, this longing to help us understand what we can experience with God and more important to understand the deep love, the intimacy and the longing God has for us.
Have you ever been in love? Look at Psalms 16:11: “Thou will show me the path of life.” Actually in Hebrew it is rendered as “You cause me to know the path of life.” The word for to know is todi’eni from the root word yada’ which is an intimate knowing, but it is also in a Hiphal form so David is writing here that his love for God is causing him to be so intimate with God that he wants only to follow God’s path for his life. The word path is not derek which a Hebrew student would assume, it is the word orch which is a way of life. It is that intense love of God that caused this young woman to forsake the path of education and medical training which was her desire and to pursue the way of life that God had chosen for her. A way which would guarantee forever His presence in her life.
Note the next part of this verse: in thy presence [is] fulness of joy. The word fullness is soba which is a word used to describe a feast where you eat so much that you cannot eat another bit. You can’t even eat that warm, soft little brownie that the waiter puts in front of you because you are so full. That is the fullness of joy that David receives from the presence of God. The word joy is simchah which is a joy and love that a young man or woman feels where they meet their lover and takes their beloved in their arms, hugs them and kisses them. Suddenly, the world no longer exist, all that exist is just that moment in the arms of their beloved. They want that joy to go on forever. And you know what? That is exactly what God promises when He takes you in His arms and holds you close for He says: at thy right hand [there are] pleasures for evermore. The right hand for the majority of the people is the dominate hand and has always been the symbol of strength and power. When God takes us in His right hand He is saying that He has a grip on us that He will never let go. As he holds us we will have na’iym forever. Do you ever watch one of those movies where at the end the man and woman have at last found each other and in the closing scene they embrace and their lips touch each other. All of a sudden there is the most romantic music and singing in the background as the scene fades out and you sit back and sigh for this couple who will obviously live happily ever after. That word for plesures is na’iym which means singing and sweet sounding music. When God takes us in his arms and embraces us in love and we return that love to him the pleasure, singing and music of that moment is intended to go on forever.
Tell me why is it that a movie which shows a young man or woman giving up a promising career for the one they love and ends up in each other’s arms filled with joy and happiness is so popular and leaves you with such a good feeling but when you hear about someone giving up a promising career for the God that she loves and loves her, we think it is craziness? God gave us those love scenes in books, movies and poetry to help us understand that such love does exist between Him and us.
Recent Comments