Or, Where to Find Fullness of Joy for Years to Come
Scripture: Psalm 16:1-11
Date: December 27, 2015
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Another year ends and a new year begins in a few days. Even those who don’t make resolutions usually due some reflection. I’ve always thought that this was a good time, though certainly not the only time, to examine one’s direction and consider if any corrections to the course should occur.
If the season doesn’t motivate some personal Q&A before God, the Spirit will. He is always bringing us to the Word as to a mirror, illuminating what parts of our face are out of place (James 1:23-24). Sanctification is that ongoing process of the Spirit changing stuff, from the inside out, sometimes massive and sometimes modest, so that we can be more complete in our image-bearing.
Part of the Spirit’s change order addresses the organ of change: our affections. I suppose the organ is actually the heart, not the blood-pumping machine in the chest but the passion-producing engine. When God transforms a man, He transforms a man’s wants. I used to say that doing depends on doctrine, and that’s fine. But I might update it: Doctrine deepens desires that direct doing.
What do you want this last Lord’s Day of 2015? What is the state of our soul heading into a new year? Are you asking God to tune your affections, to inflame your affections not just to do justice but to love righteousness? Are your desires for God’s blessing almost at demand level, not because you think you deserve God’s blessing but because you are desperate for it?
There is a song that expresses this perspective, and it happens to be the next psalm in my iterative series. In July we covered a couple psalms, the last one about the man who will never be moved, the man who is welcome in worship and fellowship with God in Psalm 15. Now we come to Psalm 16 which extends what the blessed life looks like. It is the path of life, where to find the fulness of joy for years to come.
Psalm 16 is A Miktam of David. There are five more miktams bunched together, 56-60, all written by David and all to the Choirmaster. What “miktam” means exactly, and why this one isn’t with the others, has no satisfactory explanation. Knowing that it is of David is more helpful, nor is it too surprising since he wrote more than any other singer-shepherd-songwriter. No specific life situation is included in the heading.
That said, the tone of the song doesn’t seem to be during or after a crisis. The refuge in verse 1 and the security in verse 9 seem to be general confidence about being God’s hand rather than an immediate emergency.
There are six signs that point to a man being on the path of life. Those same signs characterize a man who is on the path.
The blessed man’s first focus is on God.
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
(Psalm 16:1–2)
The song opens with a supplication ( Preserve me) and then an assertion ( I say to the LORD). Three names for God are used in the first two verses: God (El, an abbreviated form of Elohim) the omnipotent Creator, LORD (Yahweh) the Covenant Keeper, and Lord (Adonai) the Ruler. God is Maker, Mediator, and Master.
This brings up a key assumption I’ve been making so far in this message: we must care about God. He is the one to whom we must give account. Government officials, bank lenders, doctors, spouses, parents, none of these are the source of a blessed life. They may be the fruit of blessing, but blessing comes from God whether you acknowledge His grace of not. A good year begins by going to God first.
God is David’s security. God keeps safe, He is a refuge, a protector, “a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1). Do you need walls from the arrows of accusations? Are you threatened by darts of doubt that seek your harm? Get close to Him and under “the shadow of His wings” (see also Psalm 17:8; 36:7; 57:1; 63:7).
God is also David’s satisfaction. He proclaims, I say to the LORD: ‘You are my [Master]; I have no good apart from you.’ David declares allegiance and advantage. The best good doesn’t come from having authority over others but from being under the best authority. The good doesn’t come from a genie. God is not a powerful servant for us. He is Lord who lavishes good upon us.
A blessed man concentrates on the Lord. His starting point is God. Where will you go in trouble? How will you define blessing? On what or on whom will you depend to get it?
Even though there are serious translation headaches, I think that the ESV’s offering works well. There is a contrast between verses 3 and 4 that demonstrate the blessed man’s fellowship.
As for the saints in the land,
they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.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.
(Psalm 16:3–4)
There are saints and idolators, excellent ones and bloody ones.
David starts with the community of Yahweh worshippers, the saints. Their lives are marked by holiness and he praises their reputation as excellent ones or “majestic ones” (NAS). David loves his people.
He also identifies and disassociates from the community of false worshippers. David had been to Gath and had looked at Dagon, the half-man, half-fish god of the Philistines. He had been to Moab and seen the bloodthirsty god Chemosh. He wants nothing to do with them because he is committed to the LORD as His Lord. He refuses to compromise loyalty by joining pagan practices. He also wants nothing to do with them because he knows that their sorrows…multiply. False gods don’t care about their worshippers. False gods demand and take and relieve no miseries. In addition, the true God punishes those who reject Him.
Observe that David does more than distance himself from the dark side, he delights in the saints. He speaks well of them and seeks their company. God is his good, and God gives good fellowship to men. We were made for it and when we recognize their value we will pursue—even at great cost—their friendship. Great men of God have been alone, but they counted it a hardship and hindrance.
A blessed man will crawl over broken iron to have his countenance sharpened (Proverbs 27:17). What is your attitude toward God’s people? Do you make path-crossing a priority for your joy?
No form of the word thanks occurs in these verses, yet gratitude dominates this part of the song.
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.
(Psalm 16:5–6, ESV)
The terminology of these verses connects with the division of Canaan according to tribes. When God gave Israel the Promised Land each tribe was assigned property (except Levi). David looks around at the assets he’s been given and knows not only that it is good, but also the source of that good.
The portion and cup refer to food and drink and illustrate God’s provision of strength. Lot refers to additional resources of an estate. The lines are property lines. His place looks good on a map.
Of course, these are more concepts than concrete wealth. In the first line, The LORD Himself is the food and drink, and the pleasant land and beautiful heritage are ways to describe whatever he saw because he was thankful to the Lord for providing.
A blessed man sees the good in his station more than he seeks to change his station for good. To covet is to wish the lines were drawn differently, and this wish is to complain against the Drawer. Can you see the feast set on the table or does it seem to you that the wine always sparkles better on your neighbor’s table?
It is as if our heart tanks have holes requiring constant attention. The blessed man is busy patching the holes and filling the tank.
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.
(Psalm 16:7–8)
To bless the LORD is to return good to Him. He doesn’t need it but we need to do it. He gives…counsel, statutes and truth and rules that make us want to praise-plus. When He’s counseled us by His Word then, in the night when panic induces run-away fears, our heart is ready to instruct us. Actually, the Hebrew says “nights” plural, and it also says “kidneys,” the control center of emotions. You will need to talk to yourself. Do you think that you can extinguish doubt by sitting back? It will be more like watching doubt burn the house down. Pour the water of the Word on it. Be ready in season and out.
There must be conscious intent to think on “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable” (Philippians 4:8). Let the LORD be your glasses, the one you see first and the one through whom you process everything. Remember that because He is for you, you are unmovable.
The blessed man increases his consciousness of God. Where do you go for counsel? When you’re in the dark, do you seek the light?
The blessed man knows rejoicing in body now and resurrection in body later.
Therefore my heart is glad,
and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
(Psalm 16:9–10)
David mentions his heart, his whole being, and his flesh. He is no dualist who is disinterested in the physical. Already in the song he’s mentioned his lips (v4), his kidneys (v7), and his hand (v8). That’s not to say that David denies external problems but to say that God does not deny our need for physical help.
This state is a result of good counsel; verse 9 starts with Therefore, building on top of the previous truth. It is God-consciousness that keeps perspective for rejoicing and peace.
[C]almly to rejoice is the lot of no man but of him who has learned to place his confidence in God alone, and to commit his life and safety to his protection. (John Calvin)
Verse 10 goes further and extends rejoicing and peace to the afterlife. It’s sad how few men think David could have been hoping for something eternal. They deny that he had any expectation of life after death in the body. We know now because both Peter and Paul quoted verse 10 in Acts sermons (2:22-32; 13:26-37 respectively) that Jesus is the ultimate holy one, that in one way David’s flesh was corrupted in the grave. But while David didn’t have the rest of the story, his glad confidence in verse 9 would have been quite short-lived if he had no hope of partaking in the everlasting life and pleasures of verse 10.
So he recognized that God guides, guards, and gladdens (Philipps). Every blessed man has this confidence. In his flesh he will see God, he will be resurrected from the dead. Do you have hope for this life? Do you have hope in this life only (see 1 Corinthians 15:19)?
The blessed man follows the godward positioning system for life, fullness of joy, and eternal pleasures.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
(Psalm 16:11)
The path of life is the path that consists of life and leads to it. This path is characterized by life due to both the journey and the destination. The life is experienced now, blessing now, knowing if you’re on the path now, and also beyond now. It gets us to His presence and right hand eventually, though now only by faith.
We will know if we’re on the path of life as we recognize His presence, a fellowship with Him in which there is fullness of joy. He invented joy for men. He shares His joy with us. And in the place of His authority, His right hand, are pleasures forevermore. Pleasure doesn’t come when we (attempt to) take God’s throne but when we’re rightly positioned to His throne.
It is important to be on the path, but He makes it known. He has hidden it from the wise of every age but not from those who take refuge in Him. His Son reaffirmed the mission to give us fullness of joy (John 15:11) which we know when we abide in Him.
The blessed man is a pilgrim going to the Celestial City in gladness. Do you want joy? Do you want pleasure?
It is almost as if the Lord is the path. He Himself is the refuge, He Himself is the portion/sustenance, He is the guide. In His presence is joy and pleasure. It’s as if He is the way, and the truth, and the life.
Every one of us will take some path through 2016. Psalm 16 is a song with a strong wisdom flavor. Be wise, and even more, want blessing.
Focus first on God. Delight in God’s people. Give thanks to God in everything for this is His will. Receive God’s truth and preach vigilantly to your soul. Present your body as a living sacrifice to God and expect resurrection. And pray for passions to pursue true life, full joy, and unending pleasures.
As C. S. Lewis once wrote, God doesn’t find our passions too strong but too easily satisfied. May you not be easily satisfied because you want what only God can give (rather than what the gym can do for you, or a new job, or a wage increase, or a new relationship, or anything else instead of Him).
The charge is to practice and improve your focus. Seek security in God when you are brought low and serve Him in gladness when you abound. To improve, discipline yourself to delight in His Word and to delight in His saints. Don’t be satisfied if your cup is only half-full of His joy. Step and see that the path of the Lord is good.
And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32, ESV)