Running to God: Psalm 16

 

The speaker of Psalm 16 has an amazing relationship with the Lord. He runs onto the stage in verse 1, makes a beeline to the Lord, and cries out, “Help me!” (Protect me, save me, guard me.) “Here’s the deal,” he says, “I’m hiding in you. You are my refuge, my safety, my one spot, my only hope.”

Then he grants the Lord everything, “You are the Lord. You are the One. I have nothing worth anything anywhere in all myself or my life apart from you.” Talk about putting your eggs into one basket! What a confession this is.

Scholars concede that verses 3 and 4 are difficult, as in not clear, not understood. Let’s just say that the psalmist makes reference to other people, whether for good or for bad, but dismisses them all and turns back to the Lord.

“You are the One. You are my reward and blessing.” The original of verse 5 reads, “You are my piece of inheritance and my cup.” Not a house, nor a piece of property, not a castle, nor acres and acres of land, but You, a person, you are my inheritance and my daily provision. “I will settle myself down in You and drink of You.” Crazy, huh? Can we even imagine relating to another person in this way? I can only think of someone who is madly in love. Verse 5 also says, “You make my lot secure.” That speaks of knowing someone who both owns the lottery and controls the machine that chooses the numbers. This person matches up the winning number with the ticket I hold in my hand. Can’t get any more certain than that.

I also like the Septuagint translation of the last part of verse 5, “You are he who restores my inheritance to me.” The word restore means to bring back what was lost, to bring back what was once beautiful, whole, powerful, good, and strong. Think about the entire Bible from start to finish. What was lost in Genesis? What gets restored in Revelation? Humankind’s innocence was lost in Genesis–peace, prosperity, walking and talking in the presence of God in a place that was paradise. All this is restored in Revelation. But not just people lost out when Eve surrendered to God’s enemy and ate the apple–God lost out. The Creator and his Son, who was always by his side, they lost what they created to an enemy who destroyed and ruined what they had made for their eternal enjoyment. The Bible tells the story of how all God’s creation gets restored to God. In verse 5 the psalmist speaks of his inheritance portion of all this. Then in verse 6 we see the psalmist surveying his inheritance. “Yep,” he says, “I got the best piece. My inheritance is really good, better than anything else.”

By now we might be wondering who this psalmist is. His tone is so certain, so sure, so totally convinced that he himself is the winner of all. Who talks like this? Verse 7 gives a clue. The psalmist is someone who is close to the Lord. All night long the Lord keeps him awake instructing him, giving him guidance and counsel; we might even say child-training him, educating him, discipling him. Verse 8 tells us the psalmist is someone who sees the Lord always directly in front of his face. He never loses sight of him, never loses track. Further, the Lord is at his right hand. The right side symbolically is the position of power, the leading side, the side of protection and favor. Such confidence in the Lord is amazing.

The psalmist’s confidence in his Lord translates into an overwhelming sense of gladness and joy that in verse 9 completely floods the psalmist’s heart and every other part of him. Even his body rests securely, not the least bit anxious about anything. Verse 10 is the most amazing statement of all. The psalmist speaks out his faith and confidence in God by saying, “You will not leave my soul in hell, neither will you allow your Holy One, me, to see corruption.” In other words, even when I die, the psalmist is saying, You, God, are not going to leave me dead, and you’re not going to allow my body to rot as every other living thing since creation itself does when it dies. I’m different. I’m special. You God will not allow my body to rot at death, nor will you let me stay dead.

There is only one human being in all of history who can make a claim like this one and have it come true–Jesus Christ, God’s Son. The apostle Peter said so in Acts 2:25-28. There he quotes Psalm 16:8-11 and applies these verses pointedly to Jesus shortly after all the apostles and many others witnessed his resurrection.

Psalm 16 closes in verse 11 with this great verse, quoted here from the NET Bible, “You lead me in the path of life; I experience absolute joy in your presence; you always give me sheer delight.” What could be better than this?

Before I leave here, I just want to point out what strikes me about Psalm 16.

1. When the psalmist runs to God for safety in verse 1, he is running for a reason. He’s in trouble.
2. The psalmist, God’s Son, has total confidence and assurance in who God is. He knows that God is able to help him and is eager to do so.
3. The psalmist knows who he himself is. He is someone whom God very certainly wants to help.
4. The psalmist speaks to God from a point in time far before the historical events that equate with this psalm, the events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. In other words, this is prophecy. Christ the Son existed eternally before he became human, before his incarnation. This is how through the human penman he was able to foresee and foretell his future through this psalm.
5. This one is important for us as readers. What is true of Christ in this psalm is also true of all those who give allegiance to him as their King. Just as the psalmist places his trust 100% in God as his Lord and benefactor, so believers must place their trust 100% in Christ as the King whom they follow and rely upon in everything. The New Testament teaches this everywhere.
6. All the blessings the psalmist receives from God, God also gives to those who own Christ, to those who by their allegiance to him are found to be in him.

Romans 8:11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. (ESV)

Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Romans 8:38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

7. Therefore, we can read Psalm 16 with Christ as speaker, or we can read it with ourselves as speaker. It works both ways.