Psalm 16

A Miktam of David.

1 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

The single request in this psalm is for preservation. David was in some kind of distress and he declares his trust in YHWH in the midst of it. He also declares his devotion to him by stating that YHWH is his greatest good. This is the essence of worship -- to assign ultimate value to God. This is stated in hyperbolic language, not just that God is his greatest good, but actually his only good (by comparison). Another way of stating this might be that without the LORD, there is no good for the psalmist. This is particularly striking coming on the heels of Psalm 14 where the fool prides himself on living as if there were no God, pretending to enjoy the good life while devouring others. Not only does the psalmist trust in God, but He is the singular focus of his life. 

And separated from God, there is no good. Even the best things in this life are empty without an acknowledgement of the one who made them all possible. Take a look at the well-off people in this world -- they’ve got the good life right? Money, health, power, influence, fame -- all these things that we assume will bring us happiness. But without God, life has no meaning and death is frightful. The poorest, weakest, least influential human being on this planet has more than the wealthiest, healthiest, most powerful if she has God. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights. Knowing God is the greatest good you’ll ever have in this life. Everything else can be taken from you, but if you have YHWH as your refuge, you have more than enough. 

3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. [To the saints in the land, the excellent in whom is all my delight, I say:]

4 The sorrows of those who run after [who acquire] another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.

Not only does David consider the LORD to be his highest good, he also values the community of believers. They are the saints in the land, the holy ones, the excellent ones in whom is all his delight. The godly person not only delights in the law of the LORD (Ps 1:2), but he also delights in others who are like-minded. He loves the church. This is in contrast to those who pursue another god (or gods), worshiping through sacrifice and prayer. David pledges his loyalty to YHWH declaring that he will not pour out the offerings that other gods demand; he won’t pray to them or swear by them. He will give them no credence whatsoever. He won’t submit himself to their demands. David is a single-minded worshipper for several reasons, but the one alluded to here is that sorrows increase for those who pursue other gods. The gods of this world have always been the same, they just go by different names. NT Wright identifies them as sex, money, and power. Pursuing any of these is a certain way to cause you grief. The headlines are replete with stories to evidence these as are any number of sociological studies that do the same. Western culture has produced the most affluent society in history, but we’re also less happy with suicide a leading cause of death. Lottery winners destroy their family. Porn addiction wreaks havoc in marriages and the hook-up culture leads to greater loneliness. The gods of sex, money, and power are assumed to be good and desirable, but they don’t deliver on their promises. David reminds himself of this even as he watches others being led in the unhappy worship of idols. The Christian life should be characterized by joy, delight in the LORD and delight in his people. A chasing after false gods brings you grief. 

5 The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.

6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

The psalmist sees himself as a levite, a priest, perhaps because has just been thinking about the community of faith. He counts himself among them even though he is not a levite by birth. Of course, David acted very much like a priest, leading worship, writing songs that will reinforce the theology of the nation. Even though he was not a levite by birth he uses the language here of a chosen portion, a cup and boundary lines -- all priestly conventions. The “chosen portion” may refer to the sacrifice, the cup to the drink offering, and the boundary lines to the levital inheritance. The levites didn’t get land. Every other tribe was allotted land in Israel, but the priests were to live among the people and the Lord was to be their “land”. He was their inheritance. David thinks of himself as a levite. The LORD himself is his inheritance, his portion, and his cup. David has had a very good life. Although the youngest of eight, he was anointed king as a young man and rose by his exploits and his faith to become king. It’s a legendary story, and David expresses gratitude in these verses. He also expresses the devotion of one who values the LORD above all else, even the trappings of the monarchy. David has spent a lot of time in the tabernacle, observing the priests, perhaps envying their proximity to the holy place. But he also understands that what is theirs is also his. This is the good news for the Christian, the doctrine that we call the priesthood of all believers. We are all priests. We all have access to the holy place through the sacrifice of Jesus and the cup that he drank. His portion and his cup became our salvation, our inheritance. 

7 I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.[my kidneys instruct me]

8 I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

David vows to praise the LORD who gives him counsel. This presumably comes from his word, the law. But there also is another form of direction that comes from the heart. I don’t think that David is saying here that he also listens to his heart in the modern sense of that expression. Today, following your heart suggests the one follow his emotions because we associate the heart with the emotions. The common cultural statement of this is the mantra: “Do what you feel. Be true to yourself. Listen to your inner voice.” Like most things there is some truth there, but there are some strong caveats, the primary one being, what informs your heart, your inner voice, your feelings? The conscience, the moral compass are informed by truth, and as Jeremiah 17:9 says, the heart is deceitful above all things. You can’t trust only your heart, and you shouldn’t trust your heart if it instructs you do do something contrary to God’s instruction. So David listens to his heart in so far as it is formed and connected to the revealed truth of God. This takes place in the night, in those moments where he lies awake in bed and ponders his life and the decisions before him. David declares that he has set the LORD always before him. That is, he follows him, worships him, looks to him for wisdom. He also declares that the LORD is at his right hand, beside him. Before him and beside him -- what a wonderful posture in which to be. Because of this, he will not be shaken (Ps 15:5). This doesn’t mean that challenges will never come (David is a king, father, and husband after all), but it means that David can be a person of stability in the midst of the uncertainties of life. 

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being [my glory] rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.

10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. [the pit]

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.

Because the psalmist has put the LORD in his proper place -- both in front of him to be worshiped and beside him to experience his presence, David can rejoice and rest. The heart that instructs him at night is glad, and his whole being (his glory) rejoices. That’s an interesting use of the word glory, and one can see why the LXX made the meaning more clear. Here “glory” is used as a synonym for one’s person, the sum of their being. The psalmist is glad in every fiber of his being, every cell of his body, even to the parts which can’t be seen or placed under a microscope. The reason for this joy in the midst of what started as a lament is the certain hope of life after death in God’s presence. This is one of those rare glimpses of the Hebrew view of the afterlife, and thankfully it couldn’t be clearer. In fact, it’s so clear that the New Testament writers use this text to support the resurrection of Jesus. The psalmist moves to second person voice as in indicator of the intimacy that he now feels. So secure is God’s presence beside us that you will not abandon us to Sheol. You won’t let our bodies see corruption in the grave. You have shown us the path of life -- it is following him, it is setting the LORD always before us. In that path we find fullness of joy and eternal pleasures at your right hand. Every day, thousands of people pass from this life to the next. It is a veil that we cannot see beyond, a door that we cannot go in and out of. So we look to another source of wisdom to know what is beyond our experience. This can’t be proven by the scientific method, but the text of scripture and the historically verifiable resurrection of Jesus strongly suggest that the moment of death is the point at which the believer is ushered into the presence of God and given a new body. The older I get, the more meaningful this text and this truth becomes. This truth moved David’s eyes from his immediate trials to his future joy, and this enabled him to rejoice in the present.