God’s Presence #2—Present For Joy

I have set I AM continually before me; I will not be shaken because he is at my right hand. … You make me know the way of life: fullness of joy in your presence; pleasures from your right hand forever. Psalm 16:8–11

While the psalmist alludes to the full and eternal fellowship we will one day enjoy in fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, he emphasizes that we have fellowship with God now. Therefore we can have joy now. By pledging and maintaining our allegiance to I AM, we can be certain that he will exert himself wholeheartedly on our behalf. Thus we can have confidence to face any threats to our happiness that arise. God’s presence affects us in two other very real ways. If we are Christ’s, we are “seated with him in the heavens.” So we have immediate access to the Father, and he is free to extend his goodness to us. We have no cause for anxiety because the Father will never send Jesus away. And, if we are Christ’s, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. We have the very love the Father and Son share for each other dwelling in us. So, no matter what the circumstances around us, we have access to the full delight of the godhead, which we experience as grace. To the extent that we make ourselves aware of and celebrate this gift, we will experience a sense of the unhindered joy we will one day know in its fullness.

Thank you, Father, for pouring out the joy of your love into my heart. Keep me pursuing the fullness of that joy as I follow along the path of life you have laid out, through Jesus, my Lord.