Our Security is in God
(NIV) Psalm 16
1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
5 LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your
faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Don’t you love the Psalms? Part of my daily reading includes the Psalms, and when someone is grieving or dealing with chronic pain or disease, I always point them to the Psalms. Why? Because David experienced everything we have or could ever experience, and he recorded his defeats and triumphs, his joy and his sorrow, in that marvelous book.
In Psalm 16, David is running from Saul and at this point he believes his death is imminent. David, whose harp playing had once soothed Saul when he was overcome by depression and anger, has now become the object of Saul’s jealousy. Yet David knows, believes and understands that his hope is in God.
When we place our hope in God, our circumstances may not be altered, but the way we react to our circumstances will inevitably change. No one embraces life altering disease or injury, particularly if we have led active, healthy lives. But life happens and when we can turn our focus on God, claiming Him as our portion as David did, then we, too, can have the security of our faith.
May we, like David, seek after God regardless of our circumstances, praising Him through pain, resting in Him through hardship.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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