Psalms 16:1 - Meaning and Application

This psalm is called Michtam, which some translate as “a golden psalm.” It is very precious, more valuable than gold, even fine gold, because it speaks so clearly about Christ and his resurrection. Christ is the true treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament.

David first runs to God for protection with cheerful, confident faith, as Psalm 16:1 says: “Keep me safe, O God, because I take refuge in you.” He asks God to guard him from danger, and especially from sin, which he is always facing. Those who place themselves in God’s care and follow his guidance can expect the benefit of both. This also points to Christ, who prayed, “Father, save me from this hour,” and trusted God to deliver him.

David then speaks of his solemn commitment to God as his Lord, as Psalm 16:2 says: “I have said to the Lord, You are my Lord.” Because of that, he can safely trust him. It is both our duty and our good to acknowledge the Lord as our Lord, submit to him, and then lean on him. The name Adonai means “my support” or “the strength that holds me up.”

This must come from the heart. David says, “O my soul, you have said it,” because covenanting with God must be heart work. All that is within us should be involved. Those who have declared the Lord to be their Lord should often remind themselves of what they have said. If you have said, “You are my Lord,” then say it again, stand by it, and never take it back. Take comfort in it, live in a way that matches it, worship him, and keep your eyes on him.

David also gives himself to honoring God by serving God’s people, the saints, in verses 2 and 3. He says, “My goodness is nothing apart from you, but it is for the saints.” Those who have taken the Lord as their Lord must, like him, be good and do good. We should not expect happiness without goodness. And whatever good is in us or done by us, we must humbly admit that it does not add anything to God. We cannot earn anything from him by our service. God does not need our help. He is not improved by what we do, and nothing we do can add to his perfect greatness and joy.

The wisest, best, and most useful people in the world cannot be profitable to God (Job 22:2; Job 35:7). God is far above us and happy without us. Whatever good we do comes from him, so we owe him, not he us, as David admits in 1 Chronicles 29:14, “Of your own we have given you.” If God is ours, then for his sake we must extend our goodness to those who belong to him, the saints on the earth. What we do for them, he is pleased to count as done for himself, since he has made them his representatives.

There are saints on the earth, and we must be saints on earth if we ever hope to be saints in heaven. People renewed by God’s grace and devoted to his glory are saints on earth. They are excellent people, great in God’s eyes, though some are very poor in this world and need David’s help. God makes them excellent by the grace he gives them. “The righteous is more excellent than his neighbor,” and God counts them excellent. They are precious and honored in his sight, his jewels and his special treasure. Their God is their glory and a beautiful crown for them.

All who have taken the Lord as their God delight in his saints, because they bear his image and because he loves them. David, though he was a king, was a companion of all who feared God, even the least of them (Psalm 119:63). That showed where his delight was. It is not enough to delight in the saints. When there is need, our goodness must reach them. We should be ready to show kindness, meet their needs, and work hard in love for them.

This also points to Christ. The salvation he won for us was no gain to God, because our ruin would have been no loss to him. But the good of that salvation reaches us, and God delights in us through Christ (Proverbs 8:31). Christ says, “For their sakes I sanctify myself” (John 17:19). He delights in the saints on earth even with all their weakness and many faults. That is a strong reason why we should delight in them too.

David then rejects the worship of false gods and any close fellowship with their worshipers, in Psalm 16:4. He speaks of the fate of idolaters, who rush after another god as if they were driven mad by their idols. Their sorrows will be many, both from the judgments they bring on themselves from the true God they abandon and from the disappointment they find in the false gods they trust. Those who multiply gods multiply grief. Anyone who thinks one God is too few will find two too many, and even hundreds will still not satisfy.

David also says he will have nothing to do with their worship. “Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,” he says, not only because those gods are false, but because the offerings themselves are cruel. At God’s altar, blood was not to be drunk, because blood made atonement, and the drink offerings were wine. But the devil taught his worshipers to drink the blood of sacrifices, to train them in cruelty. David says he will have nothing to do with those bloody gods, and he will not even speak their names with delight or honor. In this way, we too must hate idols and idolatry completely.

Some apply this also to Christ and his work. It shows the kind of sacrifice he offered. He did not offer the blood of bulls and goats, which the law required. He offered his own blood. It also points to the many sorrows of unbelieving Jews, who rushed after another king, Caesar, and still rush after another Messiah, whom they wrongly expect.

David then repeats his solemn choice of God as his portion and happiness in Psalm 16:5, takes comfort in that choice in verse 6, and gives God glory for it in verse 7. This is the language of a devout soul in its best spiritual moments. Most people take the world as their chief good and find their joy in its pleasures. But David says, “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup.” He chooses the Lord as his portion and is glad to be content with him, however poor his life may be in this world.

If we would be wise and well for ourselves, we must take God in Christ to be our portion. First, he is the portion of our inheritance in the life to come. Heaven is an inheritance, and God himself is the inheritance of the saints there, because their lasting joy is to enjoy him. We should treat that as our home, our rest, and our lasting good, and see this world as no more truly ours than the road is ours when we travel through it.

Second, he is the portion of our cup in this life. A cup here means what nourishes us, refreshes us, and keeps us from fainting. Those do not really have God as theirs who do not count his comforts as the strongest help for their hearts. They learn to use those comforts as enough to balance every hardship of this present time and to sweeten even the bitterest suffering.

We also trust him to secure this portion for us: “You maintain my lot.” God has promised himself to us, and he will graciously keep what he has promised. He will not leave us to ourselves so that we lose this happiness, nor will he allow our enemies to steal it from us. Nothing will pluck us out of his hands or separate us from his love, and from the sure mercies promised through David. The saints and all their blessed hope are kept by the power of God.

Third, we rejoice in this portion and take delight in it, as in Psalm 16:6: “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.” Those who have God for their portion have good reason to say that. They have a worthy portion, a beautiful inheritance. What could be better? What more could they want? They can say to their souls, “Return to your rest, O my soul,” and look no farther. Even while gracious people still long for more of God, they never long for anything greater than God himself. Since they are satisfied with his love, they are richly content. They do not envy the carnal joy and worldly pleasures of others, because they count themselves truly happy in what they have and fully happy in what they hope for.

Those whose lot is cast, like David’s, in a land of light, in a valley where God is known and worshiped, have reason to say, “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.” This is even more true of those who have not only the means, but the end, not only Immanuel’s land, but Immanuel’s love.

Fourth, we should thank God for this gift, and for the grace that helps us make so wise and happy a choice. In Psalm 16:7 David says, “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel,” meaning counsel to take God for his portion and happiness. We are so ignorant and foolish that, if left to ourselves, our hearts follow our eyes. We choose our own false hopes and give up our own mercy for empty lies. So if we have truly chosen God as our portion, and have preferred spiritual and lasting blessings above things that are only seen and temporary, we must gladly admit that divine grace, God’s own help, guided and enabled us to make that choice. If we enjoy the blessing, let God have the praise.

Fifth, we must make good use of it. Since God has given us counsel by his word and Spirit, our own inner thoughts also teach us in the night season. When we are quiet, alone, and withdrawn from the world, our conscience, which Jeremiah 17:10 calls the reins, not only looks back with comfort on the choice we have made, but also teaches us the duties that come from that choice. It questions us, instructs us, and stirs us up to live as people who have God for their portion, to live on him by faith and to live for him in obedience. Those who have God for their portion, and who mean to be faithful to him, must allow their consciences to speak this plainly and honestly to them.

All of this may be applied to Christ, who made the Lord his portion and was pleased with that portion. He made his Father's glory his highest aim, and it was his food and drink to seek that glory and to do his Father's will. He gladly carried out his work, following his Father’s counsel, and trusted him to maintain his lot and bring him through all he had undertaken. We may also apply this to ourselves as we sing it, choosing God again as our own, with holy delight and satisfaction.