SENSE OR NONSENSE (Psalm 16)

I say to God, "Be my Lord!" Without you, nothing makes sense. (Psalm 16:2, MSG)

I loved, loved, loved this psalm. Every verse reminded me of a passage in the New Testament. How about the good news of the gospel singing in his words, You canceled my ticket to hell! (v.10)

But I love the place where David starts. Without God, nothing makes sense. With God, even when we can't see the pattern, we trust the pattern-maker.

Sense is an interesting word to use about God. Because we talk about our five senses, and many people only believe something they can smell, touch, see, hear, taste. We don't come to know God that way. Even the closest contact we have to God-in-the-flesh, Jesus Christ, comes through written histories. There is sufficient historical proof of His life, death, and even his resurrection (Who Moved the Stone? by Frank Morison), but it's not the same as touching President Carter's hand or hearing Neil Armstrong when he landed on the moon or seeing the planes crash into the Twin Towers.

The primary meaning for "sense" in the dictionary is "conveyed meaning." A generation later, David's son Solomon expressed the same sentiment in reverse: "Everything is meaningless." (Ecclesiastes). And they both came to the same conclusion: go to God for meaning. David actively invited God to be his Lord. "Without you," nothing has any meaning.

Solomon took a very different approach, as I would expect.He wrote an entire book about the things of this world that lack meaning. He came to the same conclusion: In a world that doesn't offer any meaning, fear God and keep His commandments. (Ecclesiastes 12:13)

For all that we can learn from in the physical world, man is made for something more. [God] has also set eternity in the human heart. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV) Every person has a God-shaped hole in their hearts. Without Him, we lack the answer to life's central questions. The ones people have used in sharing the good news of salvation for generations, because the quest for answers hasn't changed: Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going?

The God who holds the answers deserves our allegiance, our loyalty, our love.

Today's favorite verse: My choice is you, God, first and only. And now I find I'm your choice! (Psalm 16:5, MSG)