Besides You...

"I said to the Lord,

'You are my Lord;

I have no good 

besides You.'"

Psalms 16:2

As I begin these thoughts I'm struggling for words.  The reason this comes with difficulty is the immensity of this simple verse I quoted above.  It's funny how often new verses like this appear in my bible that weren't there before, but this is one of them.

As I read it I stopped....."I have no good besides You."  I couldn't go further, I had to read it again, "I have no good besides You."

What do I do with that?  How do I fit that into my life?  David, the author of these words was a wealthy king.  He had treasure, fame, and literally everything we in our day call the good things of life. 

A man who had it all takes a moment to contrast them to God and is basically saying that none of it has value in comparison to God. "I have no good besides You" is the ultimate value statement about life and all it offers.

Now, what do we do with it?  Would we shake our heads in agreement?  Would we say "amen" from the bleachers?  Is this how we see all that is around us?

I think not!

We live in a world of good things....a culture rich the the very best, the "good life" as they call it.  But it seems that David saw beyond the curtains and saw the God who made it all.  In contrast to having God all the rest is rust, rot and rubble.

This is something I will be thinking about for a while.....because to be honest I hesitate at this verse because it's not mine.  I have something I need to do about this.  More on that another day.