Dwell in the Word: Psalm 16
Contemplate these questions as you dwell in Psalm 16:
1. How does the imagery of God as a refuge in Psalm 16 provide comfort and assurance in times of trouble?
2. In what ways does David's choice to seek refuge in God rather than in worldly things challenge our own daily decisions and priorities?
3. How does the promise of the resurrection in Psalm 16 and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ influence our understanding of eternal hope and security?
Transcript:
Psalm 16 starts out with a powerful prayer. The psalmist cries out asking for God to preserve him. This is a prayer that each of us has probably said at some point, we may not have used those exact words, but we have come to a point where we feel as though we can't make it on our own, and so we cry out to God. And we see why David is crying out to God in the circumstances that he is facing here in Psalm 16. It is because he understands that God is his refuge.
That is where he goes when he knows that everything else fails. This imagery of refuge is strong because we can understand this. When a storm is coming, you head to the place where you are most likely to find safety. If you are facing the armies of your enemies you aren't going to put your trust in a small tent. You're going to head to the greatest fortress you can find and for David that fortress is Yahweh. He knows that he is the 1 who provides safety for His people.
And this psalm goes on to explain how He rests on the Lord as it continues. He proclaims the truth that He has no good apart from the Lord. As we've seen over the last few psalms, there is a general idea that humanity has a problem and that is our lack of righteousness that resulted from our rebellion against a holy God. Instead of running from God because of this lack of good, he instead finds his refuge in God. He is making a decision to turn to him instead of hoping in something other than the Almighty Maker of heaven and earth.
Now the idea of a refuge was powerful imagery, but there is more vivid illustrations in this psalm as it continues. And it is a quite beautiful poetic imagery that we get from David here. He says that there are those who will run after other gods instead of turning to Yahweh, but in doing so they are actually increasing their guilt before God. He says that their sorrows will multiply and then he isn't going to pour out the drink offering of blood that the pagan nations around them would have offered to their small G gods. And David uses this idea of a drink offering and he turns it around in them and instead of drink offerings of blood the Lord is his portion, the Lord is his cup. And the image reversal here gives us the idea that he is choosing what is good instead of taking what the world is telling him to do. And how does he do this? He sets the Lord always before him. He knows that he is the 1 who is able to support and sustain him.
And notice that this is more than just a short temporal thing. In verse 9, he says that his heart is glad and that his whole being rejoices and his flesh dwells secure. And then when we come to verse 10, we see that David trusted his soul will not be abandoned to Sheol and God will not let his Holy 1 see corruption. This is really an amazing statement because the hope of the resurrection is found in the Old Testament, but it's not something that's mentioned very often. But here we see David trusting that he will not be abandoned to the grave and that he will see the fullness of joy in the presence of the Lord forevermore.
David has hope that Yahweh protects him from the affliction of the moment, but he also has hope that God rescues him from the greatest affliction that we all know, death and hell. And this is where we see the Lord Jesus Christ unlocking this psalm for us today. This passage is pointed to in the New Testament when talking about Jesus and the resurrection. The 1 who was truly holy and took on the wrath of God for our sin, he did not see corruption, he did not see decay, And it is His victory over the grave that gives us hope.
And it is in this hope that we have in Christ where we take our refuge. And so may we step out into the world today confident in our salvation, knowing that we have refuge in Christ, not just for the struggles that we will face today, but His victory over death gives us the guarantee that we will also find fullness of joy as we dwell in the presence of the Lord forevermore.
