Devotion - Monday April 27 - Delighting In The People Of God

Text: “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” - Psalm 16:3

Devotion: From the beginning, it has not been good for man to be alone (Gen. 2:18).  God did not design us as creatures to live isolated and apart from others like ourselves.  Through His common grace, He has blessed all peoples with the institutions of marriage and family.  Friendships and social connections are a significant component of a functioning society.

More particularly, in the Church, God weaves the lives of believers together to function as one multi-faceted unit.  The Apostle Paul explains that as believers, “we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom. 12:5).  As different parts comprising one whole body, we each have a different, but unique, function—we have differing, but complementary, gifts and roles (Rom. 12:4-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-30).  We are altogether one body, and, accordingly, we all share one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:12-13).

In Psalm 16, David praises the Lord as being the only source of true goodness in his life, and He describes God as being his inheritance, his counselor, his strength, and his joy.  Consequently, while he is socially connected to people of all sorts, those who know and serve the Lord are those in whom he most especially delights.  So it is with us, the Church, the body of Christ.  As we delight in God, we also delight in those who are “the saints in the land,” our fellow followers of Jesus.

Questions:

1. Why does David describe those who know and serve the Lord as “the saints in the land” and “the excellent ones”?
2. Do you delight in those who know and serve the Lord?  Why?
3. How can you more fully experience the benefit and joy of the different parts of the body of Christ working together in unity?