Psalm 16: 11
(NIV) You have made known to me the path of life;
You will fill me with joy in Your presence,
With eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
(GWT) You make the path of Life known to me.
Complete joy is in Your presence.
Pleasures are by Your side forever.
God's goal for us is to be like Christ; to have His Life, His purity and wholesomeness, His beauty and glory, His authority under Him to rule over all Creation, and to enjoy all the pleasures and advantages that brings.
People who don't understand this can think that God is vindictive, looking for where He can whack us up the side of the head for every little infraction.
Not at all!
God is Love. Everything He does comes from that Love.
Love means He will bless us as much as we can stand.
Love also means He will not force Himself on anyone who rejects His offer, and let them have their own will--to spend eternity in the absence of all God is.
This is not what He wants, He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, because all their chances to choose Him are gone.
God told Ezekiel to tell the Israelites who were exiled to Babylon to turn around (repent) and turn back to the Lord God. He said, Rid yourselves of all the offences you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and live! (18:31-32).
And Ezekiel says again, As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel? (33:11).
God is good. He is our standard for discerning what is good and what is evil. The better we know God and learn His ways and follow them, the more He can bless us, both in this life and in the life to come.
But those who reject Good, deciding "for themselves" what they think they want, expecting that things will turn out "all right," tend to find themselves in the midst of trials and troubles, and even addicted to the pleasures of this World. Anything this World provides is never the end--only a means to an eternal end, whether good or bad.
How much better it is all around to submit to God, admit that He is Sovereign Lord, and seek His Truth.
When we seek Him honestly and sincerely, with an open mind to receive whatever He would give, even if it's not what I thought it would be; and trust Him no matter what; then even if troubles come in the meantime, we can still know that it will all come out right, and submit ourselves to His loving hand.
This life is our school. We are to learn during the few days of life that we have here. Schooling includes testing, as well as rewards.
And our final rewards will be beyond anything we can even imagine.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
