Complete Care Psalm 16:1-11

In God’s Presence We Find Complete Care

I was corrected by one of our teens for saying “Psalm chapter 16.” It is a psalm, a song, and it is number 16. My pet peeve, and now yours. I told the church I would read the first verse, tell a story, and then read the rest. Verse 1 says, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” The psalmist knows the world is dangerous, physically and spiritually. We are in a constant state of having needs and needing them met. Why do you go to work? Because you want to provide, and because someone pays you to do what you might not otherwise do.

The Land Full of Possibilities

In Acrefair in northeast Wales there is a fenced park with a sign at the entrance, the land full of possibilities. It is the kind of park that became popular in the UK after World War II. They realized children should be raised to face their fears and overcome them. So it looks like a junkyard, with pallets stacked up, fires the kids start, and kids climbing over everything. As a parent, you shudder. But one person keeps it safe: the play worker, who is there every hour the park is open and steps in when needed. If we took a picture of our lives, it might look like that, a little chaotic, scary, and dangerous. We come to church dressed in our Sunday best, but if we are honest, our lives look more like that park. And that is why we have this song. The safety is not found in the stuff but in the person. It is in God’s presence that we find complete care.

He Cares for Our Material Needs

Verse 2 begins, “I say to the Lord, you are my Lord.” Much of our fear is about material needs: retirement, a job we dislike but are afraid to leave, a family that needs a bigger house. They can seem so small that God would not care, but he does. There is something we have to do first. The first Lord is Yahweh, the one with no limitations who owns everything. The second is Adonai, master. To find complete care in God, we must first give up the care of ourselves. “I have no good apart from you.” We say we worked hard, but plenty of people have worked hard and it did not work out for them. We know God is in control, but do we live like we believe it? Our God does not practice like doctors do. He knows exactly what is best even when we have no clue.

Verses 3 and 4 contrast two ways of living. Of the saints, “they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.” I looked out over the water at the beach, and water in itself has no color. The sun hitting it creates the blues and greens. Those who trust God are beautiful in the same way, because we see him caring for them in every step. But “the sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply.” It is like being hit by waves, and as soon as you stand up another one knocks you down. Pagan peoples performed rituals to appease gods and meet their needs, like a rain dance. We do it in other ways, too. Do I need a better job, or do I ask God if he has a better job for me? A child who strains to open a jar and will not ask for help is what we look like when we try to meet our own needs.

Verse 5 says, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.” Before the things we need, the most important relationship we need is with the Lord. Jesus did not say no man goes to heaven except through him, though that is true. He said no man comes to the Father but by me. The purpose of our salvation is that we would know the Father. I wonder if our trust issue is really that we do not know the Father as well as we should. In verse 6, the lines have fallen in pleasant places, the promised land. The generation that did not trust God after the twelve spies wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and the next generation received the land. David says, I see this in other people, and I see it in my life.

He Cares for Our Spiritual Needs

Jesus almost always met a physical need before he met the spiritual one. Our material needs will end when we die, but our spiritual need lasts forever, and it is met when we worship. Verse 7 says, “I bless the Lord who gives me counsel.” The night is the darkest time, when you lie awake with doubt. As we think about who God is, it builds confidence. In verse 8 we set the Lord always before us, so that no matter what we see, he is in our focal point, at our right hand, the place of strength. We do not totter in faith, because his words never fail. Verses 9 through 11 are how it works in real life. Our emotions come from our heart, and in God’s presence our heart is changed. We are glad, my whole being rejoices, and my flesh dwells secure. “You make known to me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy.” If you want joy and peace, stop looking at this world and give yourself to who God is.

It Is About Christ

Peter quotes these last three verses in Acts 2:25 and says David was speaking about Jesus. All the promises of being in God’s presence are out the window without Jesus. Our sin separates us, but his soul was not abandoned to hell and he saw no corruption. He rose the third day. Through him we can come to the Father.