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.”
Psalms 16:1-2
To my friends in the body of Christ, I believe we’re already on the same boat when it comes to responding to glaring and obvious setbacks and ‘wrong’ things that aim to drag us down in this reality. For sure, we’ve read, proclaimed and applied how we say we will not fear. We are not shaken, nor will we be shaken. We sing that we would be still, and we would know that God is God. And sure, there’s certainly nothing wrong with this.
But read out what it says in verse 2 – The Psalmist boldly declares that because the Lord is HIS Lord, that he has ‘no good apart from (Him)’. I don’t know about you but the first thing that came in my mind was that we understand God’s superiority, not only over the bad, but also in what the world would have us understand as ‘good’. In other words, we would not be shaken by the things what appear to lift us up in this reality as well. We would not be shaken by billions in our bank accounts, just as we would not be shaken by nothing in our bank accounts. We are bold to say this, again, because we recognize who the Lord is – besides being THE Lord of the heavens and the earth, everyone in the body of Christ can also proclaim, ‘You are MY Lord.‘
Friends, I don’t know where you stand in terms of what is happening to you or what you’re getting to happen, but I pray that you continue to move in the peace and power overflowing in and through you through Christ, who is above the good times and the bad times.
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.
Psalms 16:6
Pretty sure I’ve written about this verse before, but off the bat, if I was to take this verse and proclaim it as encouragement for my fellow members in the body of Christ, I would share that God is infinite, that He Himself is beyond borders. It’s under His authority that things are drawn and borders are established, concerning how we are blessed. And from what we receive, we are able to give. Indeed, what a beautiful inheritance to be had.
I don’t know why but I felt like I needed to share about this verse today, no matter how short it turned out to be.
I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
As we continue down the Psalm, we read on how we are given counsel and instruction by the Lord Himself. I understand that we would do well to surround ourselves with good counsel, but I also believe that wisdom comes from the Lord. Wisdom may be revealed to us or burst forth from within, from the same mind which we proclaim is the mind of Christ we work in harmony with. Wisdom may also be revealed from the smallest of details, down the most obvious of messages, in any given moment happening outside of us.
Either way, we are blessed, because we have a God who speaks to us, and also allows us to go forth and speak for ourselves. And apparently, it’s something we can rely on any time – observe that our hearts may be instructed, of all times, ‘in the night’.
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
The Psalm concludes with a couple of verses which really speak out on the power and peace that only God could bring. I mean, it’s not enough that His goodness would keep us from shaking, but we see that our God truly causes our heart to be glad, with the rest of our being rejoicing… so much so, that our very flesh, as shared, our flesh dwells, and it is truly secure.
For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.
You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalms 16:7-11
It’s nice for us to keep coming back to the word, if only for us to be reminded of how our God is good. In this one Psalm we have seen a powerful perspective on how God is Creator, and is therefore superior in all ways, above all of His creation – and we clarified that while it’s very good for us to be quick in our prayers when something bad happens, let us also take the time to spend time who have been blessed by better circumstances in this world.
What’s so awesome about this is that if God was this way, there was certainly no need for Him to redeem us. In Christ’s superiority He could have erased all of this reality, but because He loves us, He was the one who stepped down to be born and to grow up with us, to experience all that we suffered, and to enjoy all that we had fun with as well. For us to know of Christ’s finished work is to see precisely that – that in His wisdom, more importantly, His goodness, He was the One who reached us, when it was painstakingly clear that we had absolutely no chance of reaching Him.
And while He was with us, behold: The One who makes known to us the path of Life, well, He Himself said that He is the Way. The One in whom there is fullness of joy, He is the Truth that sets us free, and free to rejoice even in the hardest of circumstances, or the most testing of situations. Finally, the One who provides us with pleasures in His right hand, He Himself said that He is the Life – and not only do we enjoy the fruit, but through Christ alive in us, we produce the fruits, overflowing with love, peace, patience, and joy. We overflow with faithfulness, Godliness and self-control.
Here, as always, we see another aspect of the sheer goodness and glory of our God. I’ll say it now, and I’ll keep saying it – It’s always a treat to look at the Word through the lens of Christ and His finished work.
God bless us all.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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