O Lord, I called upon your name
Psalm 16

`This paraphrase was prompted by a Bible study at Goldings Church in Loughton in August 1995. It was included in ‘Come Celebrate’, a collection of hymns by contemporary authors published by Canterbury Press in 2009. A later text on the same psalm, ("Keep me resting in the peace"), set to the Scottish folk tune KELVINGROVE, is on the Jubilate website (see link).

The psalmist is David, and central to the hymn was what happened when a large crowd gathered to hear the apostles  on the day of Pentecost when God had sent the Holy Spirit upon them in power (in Acts chapter 2), after Jesus had died, was risen again and had ascended to Heaven. Peter explained how Psalm 16 is a wonderful prophecy pointing to the triumph of Jesus over sin and death, with the promise that all who trust in him will be partakers of his risen life. The study had a strong theme of joy running through it, affirmed here in the refrain: ‘and greater joys in heaven share’. The pleasures never dreamt of here are those to which Paul alludes in 1 Corinthians 2:9, while we find the 'pleasant places'' that give rise to the name of the tune in verse 6 of Psalm 16, as the singer, aware of God's blessing and guidance through thick and thin, delights in the prospects shared by everyone who looks forward to all God has prepared. As Derek Kidner commented on 'the path of life' (Psalm 16 verse 11): "To walk that way is to live, in the true sense of the word, already. It leads without a break into God's presence and into eternity."