Shalom,

I echo Psalm 16:2:

²I say to the Lord, You are my Lord; I have no good beside or beyond You.

Amen! And then I really like verse 3:

³As for the godly (the saints) who are in the land, they are the excellent, the noble, and the glorious, in whom is all my delight.

The Message Bible says this:

³ And these God-chosen lives all around—
what splendid friends they make!

As my Pastor says,"Fellowship with like-minded believers is time well spent"! Another Amen to that!

My favorite verses (today anyway!) in Matthew 16 are verses 15-18:

¹⁵He said to them, But who do you [yourselves] say that I am? ¹⁶Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. ¹⁷Then Jesus answered him, Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood [men] have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek, Petros--a large piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek, petra--a huge rock like Gibraltar] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it].

Notice that Peter's name means a piece of the rock. Some denominations like to think that Jesus said He would build His church on Peter! That is NOT what He said! He said that He would build His church on that huge Rock (like Gibraltar ) of the revealed knowledge of God's Word! In verse 17 He told Peter that it was God Who had revealed to Peter the answer he had given! That's what we're seeking for everyday we spend in the Word! We are looking for the Spirit of God to reveal the Word to us so that we can comprehend it and stand strong on it!

As we continue on in 2 Chronicles we see the kings getting further and further away from seeking God and doing things His way! The people would pay a high price for this as the land continually went into captivity of some sort. It pays to do things God's way and it ALWAYS costs to do it any other way!

Shalom in Him!