Fullness Of Joy
OCTOBER 17, 2026
SCRIPTURE COLLECTION
Today's Scripture Passage
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:9-11
Related Scriptures:
Psalm 4:7-8
Job 19:25-27
John 16:22
John 14:6
1 John 3:2
Notes & Reflections
As we come to the end of this Psalm, we find an unbelievable joy rising up in the Psalmist’s heart.
His conclusion is:
“Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.”
This conclusion is flowing from his faith that has played itself out through verses 1–8. Indeed, it’s a faith that is rooted in a never-changing God.
The Psalmist’s joy is overflowing because he knows that whatever may happen to him, his life continues because God is with him.
But he isn’t simply celebrating God being with him until his life is over; he’s pointing to a future resurrection. Peter pointed to the Psalmist’s hope in the resurrection in Acts 2:27. He says:
“For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.”
He was quoting verse 10 of this very Psalm.
Peter pointed to Christ’s resurrection, and his basis was the words of David.
The Psalmist’s thoughts about God’s preservation, his gift of faith, his high view of God being the one true God, his obsession with God being his ultimate satisfaction, all of these are things which will never come to an end. His God is one that allows his joy to never end.
Other religions spill into a bucket with no bottom. They terminate and even deteriorate at the point of death, maybe sooner. This is because their hope and joy are entrusted to something that can’t uphold or give what they desire. Indeed, they are not founded on the one true God.
The Psalmist and Peter have the same hope in the same God for their never-ending satisfaction. In 1 Peter 1:3–4, Peter spills out his worship when he says:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you...”
Peter, with these words, answers the Psalmist’s glorious statement in 16:11.
The Psalmist says:
“You make known to me the path of life...”
The path of life was found through the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
If only the Psalmist could have heard the conversation in John 11 between Jesus and Martha, I think his joy would have exploded all the more.
It says:
“Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?’” (John 11:25–26)
I think the Psalmist believed, or at least would have believed, this, maybe not in the same light as Martha, yet definitely in relation to all the light given to him in his life. He could only see a blurry image at first. But when he met his glorious God face-to-face, he saw the full picture, and he sees clearly. Indeed, he knows well what it means to experience the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore in the presence of his glorious and clearly visible Savior.
Did Old Testament believers really hope in a resurrection?
They did, though it was less clear as we see it today. In Job 19:26, we hear him say that in his flesh he shall see God. Even Isaiah says, “Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise” (Isaiah 26:19). Or even consider in Matthew 22:31–32, where Jesus points out that he is the God of the living and not the dead. What the people in the Old Testament lacked was the full picture, but they definitely believed in and hoped in the resurrection.
Study Questions
QUESTION 01
Why can the Psalmist be glad even when facing death?
QUESTION 02
How does Christ’s resurrection secure the believer’s future?
QUESTION 03
What does “fullness of joy” in God’s presence look like for you?
How To Cling Today
Cling to Christ today by trusting that he is a God of the living and not the dead.
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