In Psalm 16, David intimates that we can have peace both in this life and the next. Of course, you can have turmoil in or about either one as well. The decision is always ours to make.
We can determine to enjoy the fellowship of others or we can be loners of solitude. They both have their place in the grand scheme of things to one degree or another, but what sort of effect do they have? Aloneness builds up self exclusively, while group interaction builds up both the individual and those he/she interacts with. Proverbs 27:17 tells us that iron sharpens iron, and Psalm 133 compares brothers dwelling together in unity to the sweetness of fellowship with the Lord that was reserved for the High Priests. We are further instructed in Hebrews 10:24-25 that the stirring up of love and good works is the byproduct of not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together—all the more as we see the Lord’s Day approach.
If you have no brothers or other living relatives you are not going to be part of anybody’s will. If you do have family that yet lives, you may yet be in theirs. And what is a will? A document that declares that you, as an heir, are entitled to one or more gifts that another is passing on to you. Proverbs 13:22 tells us that good men have accumulated enough to share with their grandchildren. Romans 8:16-17 informs that the Spirit speaks to us as being God’s children and consequently God’s heirs along with Jesus, and thus part of God’s will. Remember that James tells us (James 1:17) that every good and perfect gift is from God above, though when we read the Romans passage in context, we see that in this case—a unique case indeed—as heirs we suffer along with Christ—and our inheritance is realized after we die! All in all, it’s better to be remembered this way than the way brother-in-law Louie was remembered in that 60s comedy album, “You Don’t Have to be Jewish” (“And to Louie, who always wanted to be remembered in my will, ‘Hello Louie”).
We often go to a lawyer’s office for the reading of the will. One term for lawyer is ‘counsellor’. The psalmist (in verse 7) thanks the Lord as counsellor for instructing his mind, and perhaps there could be no greater instruction for our minds (nor greater peace concerning this life and the next) than when He instructs that while the godly in Christ shall suffer (II Tim. 3:12), we live in the here and now, not the here and then. If we don’t have a grasp on the reward that awaits us, we have more stress in this life than we need to have.
b(Les)sings
Where there's a will, there's the Way.
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