That we may see the wondrous blessedness of this mighty gift of God Himself, given by Himself to us, let us investigate one simple question: Wherein does true happiness consist?
I. Is it not above all in that which, in the highest sense of the word, we may call rest? This is no inactive, useless state. So far from it, is it not then, above all, when the man is thus at rest that he has really the best chance of developing all that is in him, and bringing all his talents to perfection? As on the imperturbed calmness of night the growth of all things seems to depend, so the man, unruffled by agitating passions and wearing anxieties, can then best expand his nature and fulfil the object of his being.
II. This rest, this power of being at rest, belongs, of all the functions of man's being, to the heart alone, or, in other words, to the seat of his affections. And why? Because love satisfies the heart, and the heart can love, yea, is such that it can love Him who, being Himself infinite, is, if only He gives Himself to be loved, at once and for ever all that love can crave. By the sense of utter blankness which the heart experiences when it loves not, by the absolute incapacity of all earthly things to fill it, by its own strong cravings and yearnings, we learn that it is God's will that its real and best affections should be concentrated on Him alone. Even as the needle rests from its strange, uneasy trembling then only when it points true to the pole, so the heart can then only be at rest when it is filled with the love of God.
III. This then is the reward of God's faithful people. This loving God, all-wise, all-tender, all-sympathetic, all-great, all-sufficing, revealing Himself as Man to man, is He who gives Himself to the human heart to satisfy its longing for love. He who made the heart such that it yearns after Him and can find no peace but in Him, Himself becomes its portion. God is the reward of His people (1) in life; (2) in death; (3) in eternity. "At Thy right hand there is pleasure for evermore."
W. J. Butler, Cambridge Lent Sermons,1864, p. 225.
References: Psalms 16 Clergyman's Magazine,vol. xx., p. 206; J. Hammond, Expositor,1st series, vol. iv., p. 341; I. Williams, The Psalms Interpreted of Christ,p. 279.