Psalm 16 From Fear to Faith

Psalm 16: Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.

² I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
³ I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
⁴ 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.

⁵ Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
⁶ The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
⁷ I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
⁸ I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
¹⁰ because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
¹¹ 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.

Pastor Adam Ashoff gave a sermon on this Psalm recently. He started by saying, “The strength of your faith is as strong as the object of your faith. When we focus on God and who He is we are strengthened.

David was in a distressing situation when he wrote this Psalm. He starts out asking God to keep him safe. God is his only help: he has no other escape. (When everything is going well it’s hard to remember that God is our only good.)

David calls Him “My God” and “Lord.” This is the God who is with Him always and who will not break his promise: “to keep you and not forsake you.” God will never go back on His word.

In verse 3 he thanks God for the saints put around him. And in verse 4 he rejects those who believe in false gods. You can just see him gathering strength as he sees and remembers all that God has done and is doing for him. So that by verse 9 his heart is glad and his heart rests secure. And in verse 11 he knows he will have eternity with God.

This Psalm is a lesson how to turn to God when we feel overwhelmed and defeated. To work our way back to joyful and secure.