Walking With God # 6: I Shall not be Moved, Psalm 16

INTRO: When I was a kid, we played a game called “king of the hill”. King of the hill was a game where one boy stood at the top of a hill, while all the other boys tried to knock him off the hill. Each of us would run up the hill, try to knock the other boy off, and become king.

I have an uncle, Billy, who is only 4 years older than me, more like a cousin.Billy has a younger brother, Brian, who is 7 months younger than me. Anyway, me, Billy, Bryan, a couple of cousins, & I don’t know who else, rough-housed together. One of our games was king of the hill.

Billy was older than us, & bigger than us, so whenever Billy was king of the hill, he was hard to knock off. Billy was hard to move. I don’t know if I’m making up the next part or not, but if I am, just go with it because it makes for a good illustration. You could have teams in “king of the hill.” If you played teams, guess who you wanted as your teammate? That’s right, Billy. Because Billy was hard to move. When Billy was on your side, you had confidence that you were not going to move.

Psalm 16 is a psalm of confidence- When the Lord is by our side, we shall not be moved. A Michtam of David. 1 Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. 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.” 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. 5 O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot.

6The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. 7 I will bless the Lordwho has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. 8I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope. 10For 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.

Title- Michtamis a transliteration of the Hebrew rather than a translation because the meaning is uncertain. Only 6 psalms have this description, Psalm 16, then Psalm 56-60. Some think it comes from a word meaning “inscription, or engraving,” which when applied here would convey “something preserved that should never be forgotten” (John Phillips). Others suggest it may come from a verb meaning “to cover,” in which sense it would mean “a psalm of hidden, mysterious meaning.”Charles Spurgeon- The Psalm of the Precious Secret, & given what we will learn about its meaning, that title rings true.

Vs. 1- Preserve- to keep, watch over, guard. Trust- take refuge, to find a safe location or shelter. ILL: In early June, our region experienced a tornado watch, warning, high winds; & a terrible hailstorm. Libby was out & about before it hit, & we had a lot of back & forth about whether she should stay where she is or come home. Finally, we opted for her to come home because it was so dark where she was, we were both scared she was going to be caught in it. So, she made it home, we sheltered in place (i.e., everyone went into the bathroom while I watched from the porch & out the window). But when I realized it was getting bad, I went into the bathroom with them, we heard the hail hit, & our dining room windows breaking. They don’t call it shelter in place for nothing.

We know from experience that hail, high winds, & tornados can move us. We will go from where we are to a place that is safe. David is telling us that the safest place there is to be is in GOD. He is our refuge, He is our shelter, He is our safe place. When we are in Him, we shall not be moved. This is a high level of confidence- not merely something that we have on the surface, but something we must have in our soul.

Let me offer you 4 things about the soul’s confidence & what it means that when we trust in God, we shall not be moved.

1. Confidence in GOD, 2-4

David gives us an inside view of his self-talk. O my soul in italics means it is supplied by the translator. The literal rendering is “you have said,” & from all appearances he is talking about himself, what he has said to the LORD. He addresses God in 3 ways here: vs. 1, God- El (Creator God); vs. 2- LORD- YHWH (Covenant God); 2b- Lord- Adonai (Lord, Master, King); David’s declaration is that the Creator God & Covenant God, is his King.

David’s disclaimer is that he has no goodness apart from God. This statement is an acknowledgement of God’s supreme goodness & man’s inherent sinfulness. It flies in the face of the humanistic ideal that “we can be good without God.”The literal meaning is that we have nothing good besides God, we have no good thing except God.

Vs. 3, David’s delight is in the saints (holy ones) of God- i.e., the excellent ones.Excellent- inspire awe or reverence in others. The Lord’s people are his delight, his joy. J.M. Boice- “Those who love the Lord will love the company of those who also love him.”

Vs. 4, David’s disdain is for those who run after other gods. Hasten- (root) acquire as one’s wife. In the OT, unfaithfulness to God is often compared to unfaithfulness in marriage. God is portrayed as Israel’s faithful husband, while Israel is the unfaithful wife chasing after foreign gods. Those who marry themselves to idols multiply their pain. David refuses to involve himself in the worship of other gods because He has already declared His trust in the One True God. To live a life that is unmoved, we must put our confidence in God.

2. Confidence in His GOODNESS, 5-6

While David acknowledges that he has no goodness apart from God, he also acknowledges that God is the supreme good to have. God (YHWH) is his portion (part), a daily ration of food. Pair it with the word cup, it helps us to understand that God in His goodness, is our provider.

Inheritance is used twice in our translation, but not the same word in both places. Inheritance (5)- possession or share, the allotment of something received, e.g., daily share of food. Inheritance (6)- is more definite, a hereditary property passed to an heir on the death of the owner. David is not saying that God is dead, but that God is good.

David’s life is evidence of God’s goodness. “You maintain my lot” = you hold my life. God, in His goodness, is our protector.

Vs. 6- the lines are boundary lines. For David, everything within that boundary is pleasant, i.e., it is his happy place. God is his portion, God is his inheritance, God is his happy place. God is our provider, our protector, our place of contentment.

Philippians 4:12-13, Iknow how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. When we have confidence in God, we can have confidence in God’s goodness.

3. Confidence in His GUIDANCE, 7-8

David blesses the Lord (barak, i.e., praises Him). God has blessed him, and he blesses God. Why? He has given him counsel- to advise; Heart- kidneys, where we know right from wrong, i.e., conscience; Instructs- to chastise, rebuke, discipline. David praises God as His counselor, His conscience, & His correction. John 14:26, the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

What comes out of those benefits is a COMMITMENT- to put God out front in first place, and trust that He is by our side, which brings supreme confidence. I shall not be moved- to sway, stagger, be shaken.

ILL: Secret Service- agent out front, 2 on either side, 1 behind. That one in front, at the first sign of danger, drops back to the side of the president, while those on either side whisks him off to safety.  With God as our guide, & at our right side, we shall not be moved.

ILL: Blind Side- in the NFL, the vast majority of quarterbacks are right-handed. When a right-handed QB drops back to pass, they are almost totally blind to what’s happening on their left side, aka the blind side. The left tackle position is one of the most important & highly paid positions in the NFL. We are vulnerable to taking shots on our sides. With the LORD as our guide, and the LORD by our side, we are safe.

4. Confidence in His GOSPEL, 9-11

Therefore- Whenever you see the word therefore, you should always look to see what it is there for.In this case, it’s like the “so what” statement. I have confidence in God, in His goodness, and in His guidance, therefore I am GLAD. Heart (different from vs. 7)- refers to the inner seat of our being- our mind, will, emotions. When David sees what God has done for Him without, He cannot help but be glad within!

Glory Rejoices- reference to the whole self which shouts in exultation (rejoices). Flesh will rest in hope: after death, his body will dwell in confidence/security. What is the hope of the person who trusts in God, whose entire confidence is in God? THE HOPE OF RESURRECTION

This passage is quoted twice in the NT, applying it to Jesus Christ as proof of His resurrection.In Acts 2:24-36, Peter quoted vss. 8-11 and applies David’s words to Jesus. Acts 2:29-32, Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Paul quotes it in Acts 13:35-37, Therefore He also says in another Psalm: ‘You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption.’ 36 “For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep, was buried with his fathers, and saw corruption; 37 but He whom God raised up saw no corruption.

OT saints did not have a robust theology of the afterlife nor the example of Christ’ resurrection from the grave, yet David made this remarkable statement of confidence in God.David’s trust was in God that after he died, God would show him (reveal) the path of life, that in the presence of God there is fullness of joy (total satisfaction), at God’s right hand there are pleasures (sources of joy)that abound forever.

These last verses are a confident statement of rest (in hope), resurrection (from the dead), and revelation (of eternal life).

JM Boice- He reasoned that if God had blessed him and kept him in this life, then God, who does not change, would undoubtedly keep him and bless him in the life to come.

What about you? Where is your confidence? Is it in God? Is it in His Goodness & Guidance for your life? Have you trusted in the Gospel?

There is no other way that we can say- I shall not be moved.