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Psalms

Psalm 16

By Pastor Doug
The hope of the faithful and Messiah's victory
A Michtam of David.

The meaning of the word Michtam is uncertain.  Some believe it means 'golden' or engraved in gold, or it could mean 'cover', while others believe it is a poem containing pithy sayings or 'a hidden secret.'  There are six Michtam Psalms.  This Michtam's might indicate it was a very personal Psalm for David.  Maybe David recited or sang them secretly to himself, in which case all the possible meanings could apply.  It could well have been a secret poem that he kept in his heart for his time with the Lord.  It may have been more precious than gold and gave him a covering that was reminiscent of being hidden in the Lord.  These sayings or words may have been the words that sustained him when he was in need.

 

1Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
David began the Psalm asking God to preserve him.  It sounds like David was in some kind of danger when he wrote this.  Yet the language suggests he was just seeking God's ongoing care and protection.  The tone of the Psalm is not one of complaint or panic or fear.  It seems to be established for David that his trust will fall to the Lord.

 

David said, "Preserve me, Lord for there is no other.  There is no better way for us to show our love and respect for the Lord than to trust Him.  Nothing else we have is of any more value than just putting ourselves into his hands saying, "You are my God and I trust you."

 

Trusting God sounds easy for us because we automatically think God will make life easy.  That's just a lie of the devil.  God didn't promise us an easy life.  Life is hard sometimes.  We've all experienced it in many different ways.  As Christians we can be thankful that God is with us in those times.  With each trial we learn to trust him more.

 

2O my soul, you have said to the LORD,
        "You are my Lord,
        My goodness is nothing apart from You."
3 As for the saints who are on the earth,
        "They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight."
When we declare Jesus as our Lord we embark on a personal relationship with Him.  It's truly astounding that we can put our trust in God.  Without Him as our Lord we are nothing.  David knew that there was no goodness in him apart from the Lord. 

 

Isn't it also amazing that all of God's people also get to interact with each other?  I think some times we take this for granted.  We are God's people and as we are joined together in fellowship we are the body of Christ.  We are the saints and we should delight in each others presence.  David said we are the excellent ones.  Isn't that cool? 

 


David said God I trust you and I am excited to be among your people. He loved being with the saints of God who also trusted in the Lord.  


 


 4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
         Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
         Nor take up their names on my lips.
But what about those that didn't trust in the Lord?  David knew this life was sometimes difficult.  There were many tests and trials.  For the saints these things were an opportunity to trust the Lord.  But for the unbeliever there was just sorrow.  Those that chased after other gods would find their sorrow multiplied.  David stayed away from the pagan practices going on around him.  In verse 4 he said he refused to offer drink offerings of blood.  Those that worshiped idols or false gods offered drink offerings of the blood of men.  David rejected this and refused to take up the name of the other gods on his lips.


 


 


 5 O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
         You maintain my lot.
 6 The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
         Yes, I have a good inheritance.
In verse 5 David acknowledged that the Lord was his portion.  David had no earthly inheritance, his inheritance was with the Lord.  David's lot in life was established by the Lord.


     
David saw that the boundaries of his life and influence had fallen to him in a pleasant way and that his inheritance was very good.  Now we know that David didn't have an easy life.  But he is looking to God and saying, the life you marked out for me Lord is a good life.


 


Eternal life is the inheritance of those in Christ and we can all say we have a good inheritance!


 7 I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;
         My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
 8 I have set the LORD always before me;
         Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.
Part of our life with God is His counsel to us.  None of the pagan gods of David's time or the idols of our time can offer counsel like the Lord can.  God counseled David in life and he knew what it was for the Lord to instruct him through his own heart in the night seasons.  This night seasons suggest many nights repeatedly.  The counseling at night was regular.


 


David said that he made it his practice to set the Lord before him.  David had decisions to make.  They may have been the every day decisions of a king and military leader or it may have been the big life changing thing where he was seeking after the Lord's will.  Each of us faces the same things every day.


 


We have hundreds of decisions and sometimes we have those big bombs that are dropped right in our life and we are looking for God's leading.  We can take a lesson from David when he set the Lord before him.  And because he put the Lord first in seeking an answer he found that he was in a place of good standing and security.  When the Lord is at our side we can say, "I shall not be moved."


 


9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
        My flesh also will rest in hope.
10 For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
        Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
11 You will show me the path of life;
        In Your presence is fullness of joy;
        At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore


We know that with every decision we make there are benefits and there costs.  David weighed these things out and concluded that he was glad in his heart and he knew that even after his body died his life would go on.  The life commitment to the Lord would lead to a gladness of heart; a rejoicing and even a resting that went beyond the flesh.  David knew that God would not leave his soul in Sheol.  Sheol is the abode of the dead.  It is the grave or hell.  David had a settled confidence that the Lord wouldn't send his soul to hell.  And then prophetically he adds in the second part of verse 10 that the Holy One wouldn't see corruption.  David may have been writing in a general sense of the Holy One referring to him but prophetically it is speaking of Jesus Christ.  He is God's Holy One and He would not be allowed to see corruption in the grave.


 


As born again believers we have yielded our life to the One who paid the price.  We are redeemed from death caused by sin.  We are on a path to life eternal.  Even though we think of eternal life as this thing to come after we die, we should also know there is a fullness of joy that comes in the present.  Our eternity starts in this life and flows into the next.  We find that we are living life at God's right hand.  We are experiencing his guidance, protection and favor right now.