The Song of Secure Delight

Psalm 16 is so full of confidence and peace that it might take us by surprise if we’ve been going through the psalms sequentially. There are a series of lament psalms, followed by the dismissive fool of Psalm 14, followed by the wondering worshiper of Psalm 15, yet here we find David leaving behind any doubts or questions to rest in a place of faith. And to match this tone of peace, nowhere in this psalm do we hear other voices speak — not God, not David’s enemies, not the cries of the oppressed. David is enjoying some quiet solitude with God. He begins the psalm with a prayer: “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” It initially sounds like the panicked cries of Psalms 12 or 13, but notice that he asks God to protect him because he has already taken refuge; in other words, “I know you will shelter me, because you are already my shelter.” David goes on to confirm that relationship, telling the LORD (Yahweh), “You are my Lord (adonay, my master, my authority); I have no good apart from you.” As the psalm goes on, David will name some of the blessings that his Lord has given him, but right at the outset, David says to his master, “They are not good in themselves. You alone are my good, and anything good comes from you.” There’s no contradiction between saying God is our only good and delighting in God’s gifts so long as our delight comes back to the source. Otherwise, the gifts become gods. As an initial example, David talks about the people of God in verse 3: “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” The Hebrew of this verse is very tricky, but the most common interpretation is that one expression of God’s goodness to us is the company of people who also love and serve God. By contrast, David points out the alternative, those who reject God: “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.” David doesn’t even want to mention false gods or those who sadly think that worshiping them will bring them joy, because David knows that they’ll find only sorrow. But he, on the other hand, is single-minded on his chosen loyalty to the Lord because he alone is the source of all that is good.

David continues his confident praise in verse 5: “The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.” In the ears of an ancient Israelite, the words “portion,” “lot,” “lines,” and “inheritance” would immediately evoke the language of Joshua dividing the promised land into family allocations for the twelve tribes, with the exception of the Levites, who are given the promise that God himself is their portion and inheritance. David uses these words not to talk about land but about everything that the LORD gives us, even food and drink and a legacy after we die. It’s a beautiful metaphor: “When I am with God, I am in the promised land. I’m content with how God has arranged my life, and all I will ever need, I find in the LORD.” Of course, we can’t always see God’s providence and plans, so the next verses speak to the situations in which we live by faith rather than sight: “I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.” When the future is uncertain, God gives us counsel and guidance. In the Bible, the heart is portrayed as the source of our will and decisions and choices, so when David’s heart is instructing him, it’s like he’s training himself to choose God again and again. In the darkness of night, when we’re most prone to fear, David’s heart runs to the LORD. In this psalm, David describes a relationship with God as both a journey and a destination. The LORD is always before him; he’s the one to which we run when life is hard, because he is the refuge. But he is also our traveling companion who is at our right hand, our counselor and comforter in the midst of troubling circumstances. All of the metaphors in this middle section of Psalm 16 — our promised land, our nourishment, our advisor — they all build our trust in the one who gives us everything we need and more. The lines have fallen for us in pleasant places. Even when the night is frightening, even when earthquakes threaten to shake us, the people of God will not be moved, because God is with us.

Verse 9 is a turning point as David builds to his conclusion: “Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.” In body and soul, inwardly and outwardly, David is at peace. It’s that sense of wholeness that we sometimes catch in glimpses, like everything is in its right place and all is well. But those moments are rare in this life, which is why David makes this powerful declaration in verse 10: “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.” There’s been a lot of debate among Bible scholars about the extent to which the Old Testament teaches about life after death. Some say that here David is simply saying that God will protect him from premature death and decay, while others say that David has hope for some kind of blessed afterlife after he dies. For myself, I see no reason why both views couldn’t be right. There are many prayers in the psalms for God to preserve our life and save us from death (remember that verse 1 had that idea, “Preserve me, O God”), and yet there is also a sense here that a life with God would be incomplete if it were just a mortal life. It’s the human longing to be near God and enjoy him not just now but forever. It’s a confidence that God can protect his covenant people from death, but even if he doesn’t, he will not abandon us after death. As one scholar put it, “God is not one to give up on his friends.” Everyone singing Psalm 16 knows that we will die, but if we believe Psalm 16, we will also know that death is not the end of our story. And so the psalm comes to a satisfying conclusion in verse 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.” The word “presence” is literally “face,” so although God said that seeing his glorious face carried the penalty of death, it is still the deepest yearning of God’s people to know utter intimacy with the one who made us, loves us, and saves us. David ends in a place of pure satisfaction, complete belonging, the joy of being. This is life as it was always meant to be; these are the deepest pleasures that human beings can ever experience.