2025 07/20 Psalm 16; God Our Good ;Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20250720_psalm-16.mp3

Psalm 16 is one of my favorite Psalms. Psalm 15 asks the question of YHWH ‘Who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?’ and it summarizes the character of one who is transformed by Jesus. It concludes ‘He who does these things shall never be moved’. Psalm 16 describes the heart of this one whose greatest treasure is God.

Psalm 16

A Miktam of David.

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.

Prayer for Preservation

Psalm 16 begins with a prayer ‘preserve me’ and gives a reason ‘for in you I take refuge’. Why would the Lord preserve someone who is not trusting him, taking refuge in him? God has the power to preserve all those who hide themselves in him.

My Master and My Good

This Psalm opens with a declaration; ‘I say to YHWH, you are my master’; that is a statement of submission and surrender. The next declaration is a statement of the complete sufficiency of YHWH; ‘I have no good apart from you’. What are the goods that you enjoy? Good friends, good family, good food, good health, good sleep, earning good money, good entertainment? Apart from God, all these goods are no good at all. Every good gift comes from God, but to receive every good gift without a relationship with the giver, is to have no good. But to have God, to enjoy a reconciled relationship with God, even when every circumstance seems against you, is to have all you need. Romans 8 tells us

Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

‘All things’ even includes all the things we would class as ‘bad things’. But in right relationship with God, aeven the bad things God works together for our good. ‘I have no good apart from you’. Can you say that?

Understand, it is only those who make the first declaration who can also make the second. Those who have not surrendered to YHWH God as sovereign Master will never know the fullness of his goodness.

Saints or Sorrows

There is a contrast in the next verses between saints and sorrows. The saints, the ones who pursue holiness like that described in Psalm 15 are the ones who are the excellent ones, the mighty ones. It is the ones who are surrendered to the Lord, who choose God as their greatest good, who are those we take pleasure in, those we delight in. This is one of the things that makes church so pleasurable; we are gathered with the saints, those whose greatest good is the Lord, whose greatest desire is to enjoy him.

This is in contrast with those who run after other gods. YHWH God said

Deuteronomy 5:7 “‘You shall have no other gods before me.

Deuteronomy 6:13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—

For those who run after other gods, their sorrows shall multiply; this is an echo of the fall from Genesis 3:16

Genesis 3:16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; …

Where Eve ran after another god, submitted to a different master, her sorrows were multiplied.

The Psalmist is resolved; he will not worship other gods. He will not participate in their worship, he will not pray in their name.

My Portion, My Cup

Psalm 16

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.

In verse 1, YHWH is my good. Here in verses 5-6, YHWH is my portion, my cup, my lot, my inheritance.

When God gave Israel the land of promise, they were to divide it equally and cast lots to determine which portion went to what tribe. All except for the tribe of Levi.

Numbers 18:20 And the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel.

Did they get the short end of the stick? No property allotment, no permanent possessions, no land holdings? ‘I am your portion and your inheritance’; is the LORD enough?

Numbers 18:21 “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, 22 so that the people of Israel do not come near the tent of meeting, lest they bear sin and die.

Which would you rather have? David’s heart was clear on this matter:

Psalm 84:10 For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.

When David was hiding, running for his life from Saul who was hunting him like wild game, in 1 Samuel 26, when Saul was sleeping David crept into the camp, took a jar of water and Saul’s spear which was stuck in the ground by his head, but refused to lift up his hand against the Lord’s anointed. David’s actions demonstrated his lack of ill will, but his primary complaint was this:

1 Samuel 26:18 And he said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? What evil is on my hands? 19 Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is the LORD who has stirred you up against me, may he accept an offering, but if it is men, may they be cursed before the LORD, for they have driven me out this day that I should have no share in the heritage of the LORD, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ 20 Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the LORD, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

David’s main complaint was being cut off, not from his inheritance in the tribe of Judah, but from the presence of YHWH.

Set the LORD Always Before You

Psalm 16

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.

YHWH gives wise counsel and correction, and David responds with worship. He has set YHWH always before him. We believe in the omnipresence of God; that simply means that there is no place where he is not; he is fully present everywhere. But to set the LORD always before me is to be focused on and fully aware of his presence. YHWH has his attention, YHWH is his focus, he is determined to follow wherever the Lord leads.

YHWH is before him, and YHWH is at his right hand. YHWH is his focal point, and YHWH is his ever-present help. In Psalm 15, he who lives in right relationship with God and neighbor will never be moved. Here it is because the Lord is always with him that he will never be shaken or moved.

Result: Joy and Security

What is the result of this God-centered existence, taking God as greatest treasure and closest friend, considering the nearness of God my greatest good?

Psalm 16

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.

The result is holy joy and exuberant rejoicing. Joy of heart and whole being, including security for the flesh, the most fragile and susceptible part of us. David’s confidence is staggering; even when being hunted his flesh would dwell secure, that he would not be abandoned to the place of the dead, that his body would not decay. David spoke greater than he knew. Both Peter and Paul pick up on this and point us to Jesus as fulfillment of this word. Peter in Acts 2 says:

Acts 2:23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 25 For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken; 26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. 27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ 29 “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

And Paul in Acts 13

Acts 13:34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way, “‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’ 35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, “‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’ 36 For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, 37 but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38 Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39 and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

Both Peter and Paul discerned that David was speaking beyond himself about the greater David, the greater Anointed one, Jesus and the resurrection.

Fullness of Joy in Person and Work

The Psalm closes with this confidence:

Psalm 16

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.

Apart from God we have no good, sorrows are multiplied. YHWH God is our greatest treasure. When we come to know this, come to experience this, we have found life, real life, what life is meant to be. Jesus said:

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus is the path of life, and Jesus is the life. Jesus reconciles our relationship with his Father. If God is our only good, our portion, our cup, our lot, our inheritance, it is in his presence that there is fullness of joy. Joy in the face of God, joy in him, his person. And pleasures forever at his right hand. Who he is brings fullness of joy. What he does brings the kinds of pleasure we were made for. Pleasure at his righteous acts, overflowing joy at who he is. This is what we were made for.

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Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org