This Morning's Devo

I’ve just got to share this from my devotional today.

I am currently reading through the Psalms, and today was Psalm 16. As I engaged with its words, they exploded off the page, speaking of and from Christ. The beauty and depth of God’s word astound me.

Before I share more about the depth of this psalm, read it with an eye toward the words being spoken by Jesus and about Jesus. Christ would have known this psalm by heart. Traditionally, the Jews read/sang this psalm in the morning, at the start of a fresh new day, one that speaks of every promise—of life itself:

You Will Not Abandon My Soul

A Miktam of David.

16 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.

Friends, we don’t have to guess about the truth that, though this psalm was written by David, it ultimately speaks of Jesus. Peter writes in Acts 2:25-31:

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.

The apostle Paul also quotes Psalm 16 as speaking of Jesus’s resurrection (Acts 13:35-37).

For David says concerning him...he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ,

Some of the things that jump out at me from Psalm 16:

David’s love and ultimately Christ’s love for us as his saints:

            ³As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.

Christ ultimately chose to drink the “cup” of the LORD in the garden of Gethsemane, knowing that God would absolutely keep him (Matt. 26:39):

            ⁵The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.

Christ knew that his inheritance was/is beautiful (we are coheirs with the Lord, Romans 8:17):

            ⁶The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Psalm 16:9 goes on to speak of Jesus being at the “right hand” of God, both spiritually and later physically, and therefore Christ knew he would “not be shaken.” Because of that, Jesus’s heart was glad, his “whole being” rejoiced, and he could proclaim that his “flesh dwells securely.”

Continuing, the psalm says this about Jesus’s resurrection:

¹⁰For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

 ¹¹You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

As Peter says (Acts 2:25-31 above), this psalm, written about a thousand years before Christ’s birth, speaks of Jesus’s resurrection to new life. This morning, during my devotional time, I took it to heart anew. I reveled in the fact that Christ has given us a beautiful inheritance. We can rest in the assurance that we, as believers in Yeshua, shall also “not be shaken.” We are joint heirs with Christ.

We know that Jesus received the promise of resurrection life, and that we will, too. He will not abandon us to Sheol; He has made known to us the “path of life.” We, like Christ, can have fulness of joy in the Lord’s presence, and at our right hand are “pleasures forevermore.”

Reread Psalm 16 with an eye to how it not only speaks of and by Christ, but also how it speaks of you, who are in Christ.

Blessings!

Nancy