Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. (Isaiah 58:14)
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. (Psalm 36:8)
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. (Psalm 37:4)
Of these two passages from the Psalms I would automatically say that the first applies to the New Earth and the second applies to the present life. But I wonder if I know that or am simply speculating. Here is the next verse after the first one: For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light. (Psalm 36:9) Then compare And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal… And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: (Revelation 22:1a, 5a) So what Revelation describes in the New Jerusalem is essentially the same, water of life and light from God. But Jesus is the light of the world, and he offers the water of life to us now (John 1:4; 4:14). So these things described here can be attributed to this world and the next.
Jesus gives us what we really want. I have often wanted things so badly, and when I received them found no pleasure in them. On the other hand I have gained great joy from things I never wanted. Jesus knows me better than I know myself, he is more qualified to decide what I want than I am. I submit to Jesus' wishes for my life and he wishes to make me happier than I can make myself, and he does.
Christians sometimes suffer, and we must prepare ourselves for this possibility by enduring the small discomforts in order to save others. But even in suffering, the Christian has more peace about the present, hope for the future and joy about the past than the successful sinner.
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