Discover the genuine path of life, joy, and pleasure! 

“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 16:11.

Søren Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, and religious author, said, “Many of us pursue pleasure with such breathless haste that we hurry past it.” In the pursuit of finding our path of life, genuine joy, and lasting pleasures, we often hurry past it, is a truth hardly recognized and acknowledged, don’t we?

How do you know the correct path of our life? How do you experience genuine joy? Is it possible to experience pleasures forever?

Our today’s insight answers all these questions that haunted human beings over the years.

David, the king of Israel, wrote the psalm. He was a shepherd boy taking care of his father’s sheep. He lived in an unknown city called Bethlehem. It was a small town with no importance. Being an ordinary teenager shepherd boy in a remote town, he was nobody. During the night hours, he slept in the wilderness, watching over his father’s sheep — no fun at all for a teenager. However, even in those lonely days and nights, his heart was in the presence of the Lord God. He wrote songs about God and Him during those early days. Psalm 23 and19 are examples. He wrote the Lord is his shepherd, and hence he won’t lack anything. As he lay down to sleep in open places, he marveled at the heavens’ glory and beauty and praised the creator God in heaven. No matter where he was- in the valley, pasture lands, hills, and mountains, he continuously lived in the presence of the Lord by thinking, singing, and praising God.

However, as he centered his life around God, the almighty sovereignly weaved the path of his life. Samuel, the prophet of God, was dispatched to Bethlehem, to Jesse’s household, to anoint a king for Israel to replace a rebellious and disobedient king called Saul. Why? Jesse’s house? The God who knows the heart of all men spotted a young man after His own heart in Jesse’s family. Jesse, his seven children, never thought significant about David. However, God did! David was just a simple countryside shepherd boy for all of them. Jesse called all his seven children to meet with Samuel. Samuel did not pick any of them for the divine assignment. Finally, Samuel asked, “Are all your sons here?” Jesse said there is a youngest one, but he is keeping the sheep. Samuel said to call him soon.

When he came, the Lord said to Samuel, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” The Lord said to Samuel, “For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” The man looks at outward appearance. However, the Lord looks on the heart. The Holy Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. Samuel returned to his home in Ramah.

God was the center of David’s life. Is God the center of your life? If God is the center of your life, He will make known the path of your life. The Holy Spirit will rush upon you to fulfill His unique plans in your life, as He did to David.

Do you want to be joyful? Live daily in the presence of God. Listen to Him and talk to him. He will fill you with Joy. Why? The fullness of genuine joy is only in God’s presence. Nowhere else! Don’t be fooled by the world and its offers. People want to be joyful and look for joy and happiness in wrong things and places. Then they become sad, disappointed, and depressed because the joy the world offers were momentary and short-lived. Many ended up with mental diseases and suicide in the end.

Do you want to have permanent pleasures or lasting pleasures? Pleasures forever are in the right hand of God. Hold on to Him and His promises every day when you start the day and end the day, and He will give the lasting forever type of pleasures. Life and this world would throw evil arrows and dirty trash at you. However, God regularly turns those into trophies of your life.

A God-centered shepherd boy, God turned him into a king. Though he was alone and lonely at his young age, he continuously lived in the presence of the Lord. It made all the difference for him. God still speaks through his life and writings.

Would you pray with me? “Father in heaven, I want to live a God-centered life. I understand you made way for me to live a Go-centered life in the person and work of Your Son, Jesus Christ. I believe Jesus died, buried, and rose again for my sins. I accept Jesus as my savior and Lord. Please forgive my sins and save me today. Please grant me eternal life. Please show me the path of my life and fill in me your joy and pleasures. In Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.”