Psalm 16 - AMP

Hey friends!

Go ahead and grab your bibles today for the last Youth of the year we’re going to look at Psalm 16.

Psalm 16 a Psalm of David says starting in verse 1,

“ 16  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.” 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

We know from the bible that David who wrote this Psalm, was a man who really went after God’s heart. The Psalms are prayers and worship toward God from this man who was definitely not perfect, we know the stories and things that David got up to, but what we find through reading the things that he wrote was that he knew that God had everything under control.

In this Psalm we see David hits on a few points; what he knows about God, what he understand about the world, and then what he knows as being true. And I think this is a good reminder as we all transition into a summer that would maybe be completely different than we’ve experienced ever. We may not have the same rhythms of maybe camp or gatherings with people that would normally encourage us in our walk with Jesus.

So David starts this Psalm with sharing that he knows that in God he can find safety. He knows that he can trust God in the midst of the good and difficult times that he is to face. And you know what guys, this is a statement that we need to lean in on in this time that we are in. Knowing that we can find safety with God, in his word. He says that he knows that there is no good apart from God. That everything that he sees and knows that wrong or bad doesn’t come from God.

He then shares that from the world he understand that there are a lot of distractions. There are a lot of “good things” that pulls us away from God. You see the world around us trains us to find our own source of satisfaction. We are told to fill ourself up with entertainment and activities; binge watch Netflix or Disney+ or play video games until we can’t anymore, that those things will satisfy us. Especially as this summer comes around it’ll be easy to binge on those activities or to even just veg. What I want to encourage you with is that that thinking will leave us in a place where we are empty, where we are just wanting more. Where we are never satisfied.

That’s were David transitions in this chapter and he shares the truths that he knows.

I wanted to quickly share something with you all. I’m not a camper. I’m a city boy at heart, I come from a place where you just can’t go out in the bush and live, in my experience of camping in Bermuda if you do go camping you aren’t ever too far from your house, where you can go to restock or get a hot shower. But last summer here in BC I had the opportunity to go on a wilderness camp week with our local bible camp. We lived out in the bush, and had to purify our own water, the whole experience. One of the things that I experienced on this trip was hiking a mountain. And I can tell you from experience there is nothing better than getting a cool drink from a little mountain spring after a long hike. It refreshes and rejuvenates like nothing else.

In this Psalm David says that God is his chosen portion and his cup. That means that he finds his satisfaction and fulfillment in God alone. For him God is like that mountain spring, it refreshes him, it rejuvenates him, it gives him what he needs to sustain him through the day.

And to strengthen this point David says that God instructs him, that God is always before him. He knows that when he fills his tank with God that he will be sustained and pointed in the right direction.

Jesus talked about this as well when he was speaking with a woman whose life was wracked with sin. He says in John 4:13-14, “13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” He tells this woman that if she were to fill her life with the gospel Jesus that she will never be thirsty again, that she will be sustained and find fulfillment in Him.

So that probably leaves you with a question right? What does it look like to fill our lives with Jesus? Guys it starts with picking up your bible. And maybe you’re not a reader, maybe you find some of it daunting. What I’m saying here is to maybe start small. I’d suggest starting with reading the book of John, in the New Testament. It’s written by one of Jesus’ best friends and is all about the life of Jesus. And if you need to take it slow. Start by reading a few verses and I’d encourage you to write down something that stood out to you.

When you read more of God’s word it becomes what David ends Psalm 16 with, it becomes his path of life, it will being us into God’s presences and in that place we will find there is fullness of joy and where we will be surely satisfied.

Let’s pray together.

Guys have a great day! We love ya, miss you all and hope that we can hang together soon! Stay safe out there!