There is something irresistibly powerful about beauty. How consuming and arresting is one glimpse of something beautiful. Psalm 16 breathes an aroma of beauty. There is a loveliness, a fragrance in this psalm that can easily be missed. The most obvious appearance of this beauty is in the word pleasures. The Hebrew word includes thoughts as wide as pleasant, delightful, sweet, and lovely. Please don’t miss the fact that this word can also be speaking of something lovely or beautiful as in the form of something attractive, or in the delightful sound of music.

There is something about beauty that attracts the person who is gazing at it. The sight of beauty creates a yearning in the heart to drink in more, to see more, to enjoy more, to delight more, to be satisfied more in that beauty. Outstanding beauty has an outstanding attraction.

See what David is saying in verse 11. He is saying that the LORD will fill him with eternal pleasures. The filling that is the craving of every heart in this world, the filling that perpetually escapes the grasp of every heart in this world, is poured out in copious measure in the presence of God. The Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6).

The sense of longing in David’s heart as he sees in his God an exquisite, desirable, drawing beauty runs through this psalm. What thrills his heart most is the prospect of being so exposed to the beauty of God, being driven to the point of insanity with desire, to be satisfied, filled by that beauty. He wants to (I speak reverently) inhale the thrilling aroma of God! He wants to feast his eyes on the loveliness of God’s person. He wants to hear the overwhelmingly sweet sound of His voice, speaking words that fall like music on the ear. He wants to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD! (Psalm 27:4).

Do you see this beauty in God? See where David sees it: He sees the consummation of God’s beauty in His presence (v11). He sees God’s beauty in the way God has ordered his life. This comes out in verse 6 where he declares the lines to have fallen in pleasant places. This word translated pleasant is exactly the same word as the one appearing in verse 11 translated pleasures. David sees beauty in the way the LORD has orchestrated his life.