Psalm 16

Introduction

Since we are in between Maycember and the summer, I wanted to take a week to walk through my favorite Psalm with you.

I know that life has been busy for so many of you the last few months, and you are trying to catch your breath before summer hits full swing.

This psalm of David is about having a quiet soul. It is about knowing God and walking in his presence and the benefits on our lives that living such a life brings.

This passage has been a spiritual baseline for me. I have come to it hundreds of times throughout my life to center me and help me.

It is a place or rest and quiet. And we all want a quiet soul. Today, I want to deal with the roots of our restlessness.

Read Psalm 16.

Explanation

Psalm 16:1–2 ESV

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.”

Question #1: Do you take solace in Jesus? Is He a place of rest for you?

Your soul was made to rest in Jesus. If it isn’t it tells you something about what you think about Jesus or your resting in something else.

In verse one, we see David asking Jesus to preserve or keep Him.

That word preserve isn’t an immediate response statement. David isn’t yelling, “Help! Throw me a life-vest.” Now he does in other Psalms, but he isn’t doing it here.

This “preserve me” means long-term preservation. David is saying, “God will you watch out for me.”

David is acknowledging that God can protect him from his future circumstances and future self.

Future circumstances - God can help him through whatever he faces.

Future self - God can rescue Him from Himself.

With this reality, David acknowledges that He trusts God to care for Him.

Leave it all in the hands that were wounded for you. // Elizabeth Elliot

There are some people that when you ride in the car with them, you can take a nap or look at your phone or whatever. And there are some people you are always watching.

Why? Because you don’t necessarily trust their driving.

In Christ, you have one you can trust and rest in.

The ultimate statement of soul satisfaction for your heart is “God, I have no good apart from you.”

“Lord, my good, there is none beside you.”

Your good only comes from the Lord, and it pales in comparison to any other good.

He is all that is good, and He is the giver of all that is good.

Everything good I have comes from you, and “Oh, Lord, you far surpass the greatest good you have given me.”

At points in my life, I have had to get on my knees before the Lord and say, “God, I could say that I see you as my only good. And I could say that nothing compares. But you and I both know that is a lie.” Help me.

Psalm 16:3–4 ESV

3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. 4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.

Are you pursing Jesus or something else with your life?

Your soul was made to pursue Jesus.

David is referring to Godly people, “holy ones,” and Godly leadership, “excellent ones.” He delights in them, and he sees their lives as ones worth pursuing.

And he contrasts these individuals with those who “run after other God’s.”

So often we come at idolatry in the wrong way. We say, “don’t pursue this” and “don’t pursue that.” Stop doing this and stop doing that.

What we rarely say is this, “that pursuit will always end poorly.”

Your soul will suffer in the pursuit of that thing.

How does your soul suffer under the weight of idolatry… the pursuit of another God?

Your idols, your lower case gods, are cruel taskmasters. They can be drugs, or they can be your children’s sports or activities. They can be sex or pornography, or they can be the approval of the people around you that you are chasing with money and status. Idols are the things you run after until you are weary, and you feel as though you cannot say “no.”

Idols and false gods will always disappoint, because they are the antithesis of God, Himself.

They are temporary as opposed to an eternal God.

They change, decay, die, and are disposed of, while our God is immutable - He never changes.

They are powerless to really change our lives as opposed to the omnipotent God.

They are limited and limiting in KNowledge while God is ALL-knowing.

They are foolish, while God is all-wise.

The reason some of you are nervous about your idols is because you think them to be wise or wise enough, but your definition of wisdom is too small.

Tozer once said, “Wisdom, among other things, is the ability to devise perfect ends and achieve those ends by the most perfect means. It sees the end from the beginnin, so there can be no need to guess or conjecture. Wisdome sees everything in focus, each in proper relation to all, and is thus able to work toward predestined goals with flawless precision.

They are fickle, and God is faithful.

A. W. Pink // No one ever yet has trusted Him in vain.

There is no person throughout all of human history who has trusted Jesus and been disappointed in the final outcome.

Psalm 16:5–6 ESV

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.

Is Jesus your satisfaction?

You are meant to find all of your satisfaction in Jesus.

V5 is a curious one. David names three priestly items in this passage, yet David is not a priest.

As you know, the priests ate and drank from what was sacrificed, and they were not given land. Why? Because the Lord was their portion.

They were devoted to God in such a way that their very sustenance, their ability to live and breathe, was attached to God’s redeeming work.

What is David saying? “God, you are enough.”

Is He enough for you?

If He isn’t… you will never find peace. Peace cannot be found in anything else.

If He is… you will never lose peace. For true peace is only found in Him.

Psalm 16:7–8 ESV

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. 8 I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

Is He my wisdom and strength?

Your soul is meant to find wisdom and strength that comes from Jesus.

There are two things that I consistently pray for in a hospital room: wisdom and strength. On our hardest days, we know that God gives us a supernatural propensity for wisdom and strength. It is not in the day that David’s heart - bolstered by the Lord - instructs Him. It is in the night.

In hard times, God grants wisdom - to know what to do and how to act - and strength - the ability to act.

The Psalmist tells us that God gives us two things in hardship: wisdom and strength.

God is our counselor, our helper, and our shoulder.

As I previously stated, its the

God is also the strength at our right hand, BECAUSE we have set Him before us.

Don’t expect strength if God is not at your right hand.

God grants strength to those who are walking in his presence.

It is BECAUSE God is at David’s right hand that He will not be shaken.

It is in the interaction with God that David has counsel and strength.

APPLICATION:

I can tell you the amount of discord you have in your heart by the amount of wisdom you take from the world. Because the world counsels you differently from God. The world counsels you towards it and yourself, yet the Word counsels you towards God. Only one brings peace.

I can also tell you that relying upon your own strength. I have heard people say, “God won’t give you more than you can handle.” That is false. God often gives us more than we can handle so that through his power we accomplish what we alone could not for the sake of His glory.

Psalm 16:9–10 ESV

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

Is He your Security?

Therefore beckons us to the previous verse. Why is David’s heart glad and his being rejoices and his flesh dwells secure. Because God is his wisdom and strength.

I want to tell you once of the things that produces the most anxiety in my life - flying. I really don’t like flying.

I know planes are safer than any other form of travel. I know that pilot has years of experience. I know that my plane has been checked by the highest of standards. I know that planes don’t go down due to turbulence.

But I am constantly grappling for some type of control.

That bump was too big.

Is the wind to bad to land?

The wing looks a little bent.

And sometimes, I just wish I could be the one to fly the plane. I would be in control.

But my being in control would be a major detriment to my health and the health of the people around me.

Dropping control looks like letting go of the “Are you sure about that God? statements.

And it also means stepping out of the cockpit.

Some of you have been in fight or flight mode for a long time. It’s time to allow God to take the lead role for protecting you.

Psalm 16:11 ESV

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.

Is He my Salvation?

The path of life is Jesus. No other way to Jesus bring eternal life.

He is the bread of life.

He is the fount of living water.

He is the drink.

But eternal life isn’t simply the bare minimum eternally. So many people talk about heaven as though it is worse than earth. It will be infinitely better. Why

We will be in the presence of God.

And in the presence of God there will be

Fullness of joy

Pleasures forevermore

You cannot beat FULLNESS of joy, nor can you beat pleasures FOREVERMORE.

Invitation

Your soul was made for Jesus in every way.

Give yourself to Him and never be disappointed.

Return to him and find rest again.