Psalm 16

How do you evaluate whether your life is going well or not?  What do you tend to focus on? Tough moments reveal that people, institutions, our own health, and life in general will all let us down but we I believe we can have contentment in God.  That contentment can even become joy, not contrived or forced but genuine, honest delight.

David writes Psalm 16 from a good time in his life but we know he faced plenty of adversity.  Spending time with God really can be something that shifts our focus and mood, even changing the shape of our day.

Transcript

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How do you evaluate whether or not your life is going well? What do you tend to focus on? You know, tough moments reveal that people, institutions, our own health, even life in general will all let us down in some way or another. But I believe we really can have contentment in God. That contentment can move into joy, not forced or contrived, but genuine, honest delight. Welcome to Meet Me in the Word. I am so glad that you've joined in with us today. We're in Psalm 16, where David really hones in and focuses on the Lord, and that moves him into worship and an expression of gratitude. We're going to go ahead and soak this up together, but before we do that, let's pray. Jesus, thank you that you are with us. God, that you see us and understand it. You understand everything that's happening in our lives. God, we we recognize and acknowledge that when we do focus in on you, when we do spend that time with you, it can change that moment for us, and it really can shape the rest of our day. God, we're here to do that now. So would you meet with us? Amen. Go ahead and turn over to Psalm 16, and we'll read that together and then kind of move into some reflection and observation. Psalm sixteen, it's a miktum of David. And no, we don't really know what mictum actually refers to, but it's some kind of a title of of maybe the kind of poetry that he was writing here. Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, You are my Lord, apart from you I have no good thing. I say of the holy people who are in the land, they are the noble ones in whom is all my delight. Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods, or take up their names on my lips. Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup. You make my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Surely I have a delightful inheritance. I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on the Lord, with him at my right hand I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my tongue rejoices, my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful ones see decay. You make known to me the path of life. You will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Let's take a moment just to pause and listen to God. You can go ahead and pause this podcast for a moment if that helps you. All right, let's make a few observations of Psalm sixteen together. It really is encouraging, isn't it? It's beautiful and and it really is just got a positive tone to the to the whole thing. And I wanted to start by acknowledging the central theme is that the Lord is everything that we need. And David really sets that up for us in those first couple of verses, especially verse two, where he says, I say to the Lord, by the way, capital uh L, capital O, capital R, capital D, whenever we see that in all caps, that's your translators letting you know that he's actually using God's proper name. Uh, and that's just how that comes across to us, which is contrasted with you are my Lord, which is just an acknowledgement of like you're my you're my leader, you're my master. Uh so he I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. Apart from you, I have no good thing. And he's just delighting in the Lord and recognizing that God is the source of life and joy and all uh all of that for him. And then we move into verses three and four, and David kind of looks outward. He looks outward at the people uh that are just kind of in the nation and he and he contrasts them, right? He looks at those who are holy and and he and he sees them and he delights in them and he says this they're wonderful. But he contrasts them, contrasts them with those who run after other gods. That first group, again, brings him delight, while the second confirms to David that participating in any of what they're doing is just it's not an option. He says, I'm I'm not gonna go there, that pour out libations is a reference to sacrifice, right? Libations of blood. No, I'm not gonna sacrifice to these other gods. I I see these people following them, but I'm not gonna participate in that. And he kind of seems to come to this place of of of rest and and conviction, maybe, that serving the Lord is the right move, that the Lord is deserving of all of his loyalty, of all of his allegiance. He's the one that has done these great things in his life. He doesn't need to look beyond that. Verses five through eight, then David looks pretty intensely at the Lord, right? So that gaze shifts a little bit here. He was looking outward at just at the people and how they're responding to the Lord, and then now he really focuses himself uh directly at God, and it's it's intense and it's joyful. Uh and I I love that about this this moment. He he says things like, Yeah, God, you're you're my portion and my cup, you're my security, right? God is the one who has given David pleasant boundary lines and a good inheritance, right? For him, for David, that included success and favor during life. Although he did face plenty of adversity, and we read about a lot of that in the other Psalms. In fact, if you've been tracking along with me uh through the Psalms, you'll have noticed that we've already gone through a bunch where David yearns for things like justice and and for and to be delivered out of the hand of the oppressor. So it's not like his life was all perfectly easy, but he's having a moment where he recognizes God's goodness in his life. What about for us? You know, it may include those things. That it might not, right? You might find yourself even currently in a in a place where you're like, yeah, me too. Boundaries are falling in good places for me. My life is feeling good or even comfortable. And if that's you, then celebrate that. Praise God for that. And if that's not you, what I want you to hear now is that those words do include the joyful hope of eternity with Jesus. And that's not to say that good things may not come your way in in this life, but absolutely, like a hundred percent, we anticipate just the glory and the goodness of an eternity with Jesus. So we can look to that uh with that sense of hope. And then he comes into this joyful praise, especially here in verses seven and eight. Just verse seven really sunk in for me in particular. I will praise the Lord who counsels me. Even at night, my heart instructs me. And that line there, even at night, my heart instructs me. You know, for me, it's not about like the desires of my heart, like just kind of doing whatever I want. It's not that. It's that, God, you've moved in, you've joyfully invaded the space of my thoughts and my feelings. You've you've come in and you've done that good work and you are doing that good work. And so even in a in a place where I'm not like attempting to think about God, I want to, right? And and just full disclosure, that doesn't always happen for me. But when it does happen, that's a delightful experience. And I want more of that. I'll I'll bet that you want more of that as well. Just this sense that that even as we do whatever else that we might happen to be doing, that that our hearts are pointing us back to the Lord Jesus, that we're not running off after other things, because we know that we're all perfectly capable of doing those other things as well. Verses 9 through 11, uh, to me this is the result, right? The result of God's presence in our lives. And and we we've already celebrated that and enjoyed that, appreciated God for who he is and and and honored him in that sense, but then then what what happens to us, like even beyond that moment? And I see three strong things here. Gladness, right? We can be glad, like genuinely happy because of Jesus. Security, life, all of those things are present because God has been present and is present in our lives. And even when death comes, it does not fulfill its ultimate goal. That leads me into just reminding us that verses 8 through 11 aren't just written down here. They're actually quoted in the New Testament, and they tie into that idea of death not being the final answer. Right in verse 10, this is kind of specifically what it's referring to, because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful ones see decay. That actually gets quoted a couple of times in the book of Acts, and verses 8 through 11 are quoted in Acts chapter 2, when Peter is giving that passionate sermon right after the tongues of fire have come down and and uh and rested on the disciples' uh heads in the in the upper room. Uh many of you will know what I'm talking about. If you don't know what I'm talking about, I would encourage you to read the story of Acts chapter 1 and Acts chapter 2, and it's a really powerful moment uh that happens as the church is launched uh out of Jerusalem. Because Peter connects those dots, uh, and he doesn't just quote it, by the way, I forgot to say this part. Uh what David was writing wasn't just something pertaining to him or to his moment, but but as Peter points out, right, in Acts chapter 2, that these words are rightly describing Jesus, our Savior. And so it it has that extra layer there of not just like praising God and celebrating celebrating what he has done and is doing for us, it it actually points us very, very directly to the person of Jesus. And so when we read those words with Jesus in mind, uh we're like, oh, yeah, that's a that's a great one. See, I got all excited there about you know just it being quoted in Acts and all that kind of stuff. And I was like, dude, focusing on the main thing. There you go, you're welcome. All right. So all of that is is there. And and for me, this is just a really rich psalm. One of one of the, I mean, they're all great, but one of the ones that kind of sinks in uh in a special way for for me. Let's reflect really just here on two things, um, and then we'll end our time together. I want to encourage you to do these two things. First, ask God to show you where he's showing up in your life. Sometimes that isn't always perfectly clear to us, but I think we can make that request of him. Just say, Lord, I I know you're doing it, right? I I know that you're showing up in my life, but I'm not always seeing it. God, would you would you remind me, would you just reveal to me where you showed up today, even? The times where I was kind of oblivious and and I just was doing my own deal and and just didn't recognize it. God, would you just show me that? The second part is just take some time to thank him. Thank him for what he's done, for what he is doing and for what he will do. Take a time a moment to write it down. It can be like a little bullet point, it can turn into something that's longer. Any of those things are are wonderful, but just be intentional about it, and uh and I know that'll be time well spent. And when you get through all of that, you can come back to that first question. How do you evaluate whether or not your life is going well? What are you focusing on? I'll bet it'll change as a result of having spent some time with the Lord. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for this wonderful day that you've given us. God thank you that we we do. We we do get to meet with you, and that is just a massive deal. Help us to never take that for granted. But be with us now, give us joy and give us courage. Amen.