Psalm 16 Complete Jewish Bible
16 (0) Mikhtam. By David:
(1) Protect me, God,
for you are my refuge.
2 I said to Adonai, “You are my Lord;
I have nothing good outside of you.”
3 The holy people in the land are the ones
who are worthy of honor; all my pleasure is in them.
4 Those who run after another god
multiply their sorrows;
To such gods I will not offer
drink offerings of blood
or take their names on my lips.
5 Adonai, my assigned portion, my cup:
you safeguard my share.
6 Pleasant places were measured out for me;
I am content with my heritage.
7 I bless Adonai, my counselor;
at night my inmost being instructs me.
8 I always set Adonai before me;
with him at my right hand, I can never be moved;
9 so my heart is glad, my glory rejoices,
and my body too rests in safety;
10 for you will not abandon me to Sh’ol,
you will not let your faithful one see the Abyss.
11 You make me know the path of life;
in your presence is unbounded joy,
in your right hand eternal delight.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
I Will Have No Good Apart From God …
Psalm 16:1-3 New American Standard Bible 1995
The Lord the Psalmist’s Portion in Life and Deliverer in Death.
A [a]Mikhtam of David.
16 Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.
2 [b]I said to the Lord, “You are [c]my Lord;
I have no good besides You.”
3 As for the [d]saints who are in the earth,
[e]They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.
What do you treasure in this life?
We all have something that brings us great delight or somewhere that just seems restful and right.
Sometimes, though, we catch a glimpse of life without those earthly pleasures.
Maybe it’s illness or even bereavement that clarifies things for us.
What kind of car you drive away from the hospital when you find out that your loved one has been diagnosed with malignant cancer doesn’t matter, does it?
The same goes for your clothes, your jewelry, your gadgets, your house—all of a sudden, they’re not nearly as important as they once seemed.
We can and should enjoy what God has graciously given us.
He “richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). It’s not that the good things of the earth are bad. But what we have in God is so delightful, so rich, that coming to know Him is like discovering a treasure hidden in a field.
That treasure so enraptures us that in our fullness of joy, we will do whatever it takes to get that field and the abundant delights it contains (Matthew 13:44).
Matthew 13:44 New American Standard Bible 1995
Hidden Treasure
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
Without the treasure we have in God, as Psalm 16 tells us, we ultimately have no other good.
When we sit down to a bowl of toast, cereal or oatmeal or whatever breakfast may be, in our minds we ought to be saying, Apart from You, Lord, I have no good thing. You’re the one that made the grain to grow. You’re the one who provides my food.
When we get up and walk out of the door, and have health and strength to do so, who makes it possible for us to walk? When we lie on our beds at night and we can enter into the rest of the evening, who alone makes it possible?
You have no ability even to see these letters, to hold up this book, or to comprehend what you are reading apart from the enabling grace of God.
Only He can preserve and sustain us. Only God gives to us “life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:25).
In the end, we will have no good apart from Him—but He has way more than enough goodness to go around. He is the source of all our treasures—and He is Himself our greater treasure.
When we see Him as He truly is, our natural response will be to make Him the center of our life, around which revolve thoughts, decisions, feelings, actions.
That is, you will say to Him, “You are my Lord,” for in His presence “there is fullness of joy,” and at His right hand are “pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11).
Where else would you possibly prefer to take refuge, and what else would you treasure more than Him?
The Source of Happiness: our One pathway to God’s life
Psalm 16:7-11 Complete Jewish Bible
7 I bless Adonai, my counselor;
at night my inmost being instructs me.
8 I always set Adonai before me;
with him at my right hand, I can never be moved;
9 so my heart is glad, my glory rejoices,
and my body too rests in safety;
10 for you will not abandon me to Sh’ol,
you will not let your faithful one see the Abyss.
11 You make me know the path of life;
in your presence is unbounded joy,
in your right hand eternal delight.
God created us to enjoy the greatest of happiness: communion with him. We experience true happiness by loving God and enjoying intimacy with him.
In the presence of God there is fullness of joy.
The best gifts in life come from God.
But some people prefer to look elsewhere.
Many seek happiness in money; others, in fame and political power.
People also seek happiness in pleasures, or they follow their dreams of success, hoping to find fulfillment in their lives. But, in the end, they will only discover that those things offer only drugged fleeting. mirage and not true happiness.
Happiness is a legitimate desire.
Many people look for it eagerly every day of their lives, but they end up empty-handed.
The source of happiness is not in things or in our own selfish pursuits, but in God. The best things of this world cannot make us happy, but God can, because he created us, calls us by name, and makes us his own. We become truly happy only when we know God and love him, share Him, with all our heart and soul.
If we do not have a safe guide, it is impossibly easy to take the wrong pathways in life. And whom can we utterly trust but God to faithfully show us the way?
It’s been said that Psalm 16 is a psalm of lament. Yet by the time we finish reading it we can also come to a conclusion that it is a celebratory psalm. Just notice the ending of this psalm, “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.”
“The path of life” – everyone’s talking about how to find it.
Books in Walmart are filled with such title.
“Joy in your presence” – in a world so dysfunctional and empty joy is the one missing ingredient. “Eternal pleasures at Your right hand” – while earthly goods only offer temporary pleasure God-derived pleasure offers a better alternative, a more lasting fulfillment in the pursuit of His will.
Who would not want any of these?
Psalm 16 also echoes Psalm 14’s assertion that there is no one who does good.
It states, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
This is why we teach that goodness in and of ourselves alone is never enough to earn our ticket to heaven.
We need someone outside of us to redeem us from the sin nature passed down on us.
This is where a Savior needs to come in to save us – a Savior who once proclaimed through unequivocal terms, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).
And this Savior’s name is Jesus.
Psalm 16 also contains an admonition, “Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.”
King Solomon, touted to be the wisest person who ever lived, knows this principle all too well.
He pursued various gods in his lifetime – wealth, fame, education, sex and pleasure. He held nothing back and got everything he desired. When he assessed all that he had done and achieved in life, he astonishingly concluded that apart from God everything is but an absolute futility, like chasing after the wind.
The things that truly matter most in life are few and far between.
Faith in a a living and sovereign God is foremost of them. As the psalmist David looks up to this God and affirms His mighty presence he begins to worship, “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.”
While this psalm is considered a Messianic psalm which is ascribed to the suffering Jesus prophetically, we can say with David, “You will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave.”
In God, death loses its sting. Make God your refuge and He will keep you safe and secure – not from trouble but in spite of or in the midst of it all (Psalm 16:1).
In the name of God, the Father, and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 40 Complete Jewish Bible
40 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:
2 (1) I waited patiently for Adonai,
till he turned toward me and heard my cry.
3 (2) He brought me up from the roaring pit,
up from the muddy ooze,
and set my feet on a rock,
making my footing firm.
4 (3) He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will look on in awe
and put their trust in Adonai.
5 (4) How blessed the man who trusts in Adonai
and does not look to the arrogant
or to those who rely on things that are false.
6 (5) How much you have done, Adonai my God!
Your wonders and your thoughts toward us —
none can compare with you!
I would proclaim them, I would speak about them;
but there’s too much to tell!
7 (6) Sacrifices and grain offerings you don’t want;
burnt offerings and sin offerings you don’t demand.
Instead, you have given me open ears;
8 (7) so then I said, “Here I am! I’m coming!
In the scroll of a book it is written about me.
9 (8) Doing your will, my God, is my joy;
your Torah is in my inmost being.
10 (9) I have proclaimed what is right in the great assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, Adonai, as you know.
11 (10) I did not hide your righteousness in my heart
but declared your faithfulness and salvation;
I did not conceal your grace and truth
from the great assembly.”
12 (11) Adonai, don’t withhold your mercy from me.
Let your grace and truth preserve me always.
13 (12) For numberless evils surround me;
my iniquities engulf me — I can’t even see;
there are more of them than hairs on my head,
so that my courage fails me.
14 (13) Be pleased, Adonai, to rescue me!
Adonai, hurry and help me!
15 (14) May those who seek to sweep me away
be disgraced and humiliated together.
May those who take pleasure in doing me harm
be turned back and put to confusion.
16 (15) May those who jeer at me, “Aha! Aha!”
be aghast because of their shame.
17 (16) But may all those who seek you
be glad and take joy in you.
May those who love your salvation say always,
“Adonai is great and glorious!”
18 (17) But I am poor and needy;
may Adonai think of me.
You are my helper and rescuer;
my God, don’t delay!
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 