I’m working through Psalms right now and today, we are on Psalm 16. In this psalm, David is letting us know where his heart and hopes lie. If you look at the life of David, he had a lot going for him. He was the king of Israel and had pretty much everything that money could by. I’m sure that he easily could have derived his satisfaction and value from the wealth and status that he was able to accumulate. This however, was not the case for David. He was focused on pouring out his life to God.

In verse 4 he says, “Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.” Then in verse 11 he says, “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” David also went through a lot of hardships in his life.

He had plenty of opportunities to give up on God. He was trying to please God, but there were times when things just didn’t seem to work out.  David however, believed that God was going to come through for him. That all his service would be well worth it in the end. 

We can’t have a bartering mentality when it comes to God. If we think that we will give him our religious goods and services in exchange for his blessings, we will be sorely disappointed. Sometimes things will seem to work out perfectly for us, but we all have, or will go through seasons when we’ll wonder if God even cares. Something in us has to be absolutely certain that following God will be worth it when all is said and done.

God wants us to follow him completely based on faith. (2 Corinthians 5:7) Faith means being certain of what we don’t see. (Hebrews 11:1) We must be convinced, like David was, that God will not let us down. Even if our expectations don’t get met in this life and even if tragedy befalls us, we must be rooted in an unwavering confidence in God’s faithfulness. Bartering with God doesn’t work. Some people try it, but in the end they will be met with frustration. God is too big for us to tie down with our finite expectations. I believe, as we can learn in Ephesians 3:20-21, that we’ll find out someday that his eternal rewards are far greater than anything that we could ask or think.