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"I said to the Lord, \u2018You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing\u2019\u201d (Psalm 16:2).

Helena and I choose Psalm 16 as our wedding text and Rev. De Bolster, then president of Redeemer College, preached from it during our marriage ceremony. I admit that I don't remember what he said. I do remember that it was a very hot July afternoon.

Regardless, it was a good choice. The psalm invites us to live life from the perspective of verse 2, "I said to the Lord, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'"

Consider this question: "What makes life good?" Before you go on, answer the question for yourself. Don't give the right answer. Be honest and give the answer that is true for you. What makes your life good?

In Psalm 16, David invites us to give this answer, "As long as God is with me, life is good. And since God is always with me, life is good."

David was not avoiding the troubles of life. He knew enough of them: facing Goliath, running for his life from Saul, his terrible conduct with Bathsheba and Uriah, his son rebelling against him. I suspect that David would have agreed with the Heidelberg Catechism that we have three basic enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil (A 127).

These three continually attempt to draw us away from God. Thus, David begins his Psalm with, "Keep me safe, O God." The good life begins with trusting in God to keep us close to Him. David\u2019s opening plea is for more than physical protection. It includes the petition Jesus taught us to pray, \u201cAnd lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one\u201d (Matthew 6:13).

Let\u2019s return to the question, \u201cWhat makes life good?\u201d When you answered it for yourself, did you include any spiritual considerations. I suspect many of us think first of material success when we think about the good life. If so, we have succumbed to the culture of materialism. How can it be that we, who follow Jesus, give so little thought to spiritual wellness?

Further, David takes delight in those who belong to God and is abhorred by those who oppose Him. We can't delight in God while turning our noses at His people. Enjoying the presence of God means we will stick with His people and delight in them.

At the same time, there will be within us an abhorrence of all things evil. We will flee from them. Not that we will avoid people who don't believe in Jesus, but we will flee from activities that draw us away from God.

From here, David describes how his life is good and secure because all things come from God himself. At the end he gives us one of the few Old Testament glimpses of the future resurrection. Peter quotes from these verses in his sermon on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:25-28). David glimpses that life after death is still physical, human, body life. And that such life will be lived with God in a way we do not experience yet.

David recognized that God would not abandon him, even when he died. He would also, I think, agree with the opening words of the Heidelberg Catechism, "My only comfort is that I am not my own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ."

I'm didn\u2019t grasp all of this when we choose Psalm 16 all those years ago. But what better way to go through life than with these words of security.