January 5

We discover a wonderful aspect of God’s provision for us in Psalm 36:8-10. The verses state, “You cause them to drink from the stream of Your pleasures, for with You is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light. O, continue Your loving-kindness to those who know You and let Your righteousness continue to the upright in heart.

We who believe in Jesus praise Him for the righteousness He has supplied to us through the washing away of our sins when we accepted His work at Calvary. We know that apart from Him, we have no ground on which to stand before our Holy God. Though our joy is complete in this alone, He does not end His mercy there. He has yet more to lavish upon us, more for us to receive.

Paul observed that our hope extends far beyond the realm of the temporal and embraces the eternal, yet here we see that God’s desire is to give us blessed lives while we sojourn in this tabernacle of flesh as well as joy unspeakable in eternity. Here, the Word assures us that it is our Lord’s good pleasure to allow us to drink from the stream of His pleasures!

There is a caveat, however! Though He wants us to drink from the stream of HIS pleasure, we are not to indulge the pleasures of sin that last only for a short while before they cause our downfall. It is only while we are with God—walking in His light under the cover of Christ’s salvation that His loving-kindness can be our portion. It is a sacrifice that costs us nothing and supplies us everything!