What on earth does a picture of a warrior have to do with JOY? I'm so glad you asked! Let me tell you...
Psalm 16:11
"You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
Notice the last line...at your right hand...
Let's go back and look at Psalm 16:8
"I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."
There it is again! Do you see it?
"...at my right hand..."
So here is why that is important.
A fully armed warrior carried his weapon in his right hand and his shield in his left. When a warrior had the honor of defending a king or other noble person, he was placed, you guessed it, AT THE RIGHT HAND of the person! That is where the defending happened!
In verse 8, we notice that since the Lord is at our right hand, we will not be shaken! And why should we be?? There is no one greater to defend us than the Lord God Almighty!
Moving back down to verse 16 and the reason for JOY...
The same God who is at our right hand defending us, has also made known the path of life. He fills us with His joy and places the promises of an eternity with us once again at our right hand. He defends that promise from Satan's attempts to thwart it and will deliver us!
What a GREAT reason to have JOY today!!
