Psalm 16:1-5 English Standard Version
You Will Not Abandon My Soul
A Miktam[a] of David.
16 Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.[b]
4 The sorrows of those who run after[c] another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.
5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
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.
People make all kinds of choices – great, neutral, simple, easy, safe, complex, life and death, tasty (Psalm 34:8) distasteful but necessary, 100% catastrophic.
David says, in the midst of his words about choosing to follow and come under the protection, care, benevolence of God, that many people will inexplicably choose otherwise. They worship, take another god or gods: little gods, or idols.
David observes how they singe mindedly pursue idolatry and how that lifestyle never seems to take long before it reaps a multiplication of big sorrows in lives.
Sorrow is defined as:
A feeling of deep distress caused by loss, disappointment, or other misfortune suffered by oneself or others.
synonyms: sadness, unhappiness, misery, despondency, regret, depression,despair, desolation, dejection, wretchedness, gloom, dolefulness,melancholy, woe, heartache, and grief.
In the midst of ten other uplifting verses, verse 4 of Psalm 16 is the one sad one.
It does not seem to be a specific rebuke or a call to repentance for the people of God who’ll one day go or they have already gone wayward and become spiritual adulteresses, but a “just saying”, matter-of-fact, or it-is-what-it-is, truthful assessment of the sinful human race that the people of God are surrounded by.
I have not wanted to write on this verse, because it is ugly. It is not good news.
The fact that people “choose otherwise” and “wed themselves” to another god, is greatly distasteful and repulsive to me. It is discouraging and mind-blowing.
But, I get it, that we all need salvation and deliverance. I was not born saved. I was 41 years old and had to be broken (left hip) down and saved and so set free.
I was deceived by my own thoughts and beliefs and my own hatred of God and in bondage to all those lustful things which draw a young man into true misery.
Jesus saved and delivered me. The thought of not serving him is distasteful, but I understand and have compassion for those who are deceived and in bondage.
Humans were designed for relationship with God, the one and only true God.
That relationship involves bowing and kneeling down to and coming under the reign and sovereignty of God, and receiving 24 hours a day 7 day care from God.
From the beginning, we were created in the Image of God to worship, serve God.
We obey God and live our lives before God with one another.
God is good and God is love, by the way.
God does not force people to come into relationship with him.
He relentlessly loves people who have not chosen him and is kind to them.
Yet, many people will still choose to wed themselves otherwise. We are designed to be worshipers and serve God and to be 100% cared for by God.
The idea is we have, of our own free will chosen to be in a covenant relationship with God where we are giving fidelity to God, and we are taken care of by God.
Folks who say, “thanks but no thanks”, to God, then and now, are choosing to make themselves vulnerable to idolatry. By choosing not to follow God, they are open to following someone else. And who, whom you follow is your “god”.
David had to have observed the pagan religions of his geographic area, who did “drink offerings of blood”, and “spoke the names”.
This was the popular pagan idolatry that surrounded Israel.
David, in line with the OT commands, says, “I will not do that”.
Remember the first of the 10 commandments is, “No other gods”, and the second is, “No graven images (carved idol or representation of a god used in worship)”.
Something we observe, is that if a person does not choose God, that they often choose “gods”.
It is easy to see this with people in other religions, especially ones that involve prayer and/or have statues (idols).
Sometimes, people who say they have ‘no religion’ are also choosing another god or gods.
That god or those gods are things like their self, humanism, or libertine-ism, for example. Narcissism is a very popular religion today. Money also gets a lot of worship time. And money is not the root of all evil, but the love of money is.
What David is saying in this side-note in Psalm 16, verse 4; is that these other paths that people choose, are paths of deep sorrow, sadness, and grief.
There is no happiness outside of the God of the Bible, the One God, The Creator, and His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Those outside, who have chosen others, can really only distract themselves, get “mood altered”, be in more of a distracted state of mind, and be more and more deceived, then living and becoming deceivers to others who have yet to choose.
Death, destruction, and massive heartache seems to be their only assured and chosen inheritance.
Challenging Situations Where Christians Must Run to God.
Psalm 16:4-6 The Message
4 Don’t just go shopping for a god.
Gods are not for sale.
I swear I’ll never treat god-names
like brand-names.
5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only.
And now I find I’m your choice!
You set me up with a house and yard.
And then you made me your heir!
In our greatest needs and facing our most difficult obstacles, we desperately need God. It’s urgent we run to Him and not the failing philosophies of man.
Every need we have is answered in who God is.
Here are some (far from all) of the times we need to run to our Father God.
1. Run to God When You Need Wisdom
We aren’t God, and His thoughts and ways are way beyond us (Isaiah 55:8-9).
But that does not mean we shouldn’t run to Him when we get confused, or when we desperately need His perspective for decisions or to deal with tough circumstances.
The writer of Proverbs (3:5-8) we should not lean on our own understanding — our own wisdom — but rather we submit to God and allow Him to direct us.
The wisest place to begin that submission is in the living Scriptures, which offer every manner of guidance for many areas of Christian living (2 Timothy 3:16).
God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah, “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know” (Jeremiah 33:3 ).
Paul said we should come to God with all our requests (Philippians 4:6).
That certainly would include a plea for wisdom. James specifically encouraged believers to pray for wisdom or discernment concerning their trials (James 1:5).
James 1:5-8 The Message
5-8 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.
When nothing makes sense, or when you struggle to understand, turn to the matchless wisdom of God.
2. Run to God When Fears Assault You
Rather than run in fear or pull inward, Christians are encouraged to press forward with God who reaches out His hand and says, “Do not fear; I will help you” (Isaiah 41:13).
When fears assault, we need courage that comes from His presence.
When afraid, we can run to and trust in Him (Psalm 56:3-4).
God is our refuge, our strength, and our hiding place until the storms of life pass by (Psalm 27:1; 46:1-3; 57:1).
The Son of God advised His disciples concerning fear.
He told them He would supply His own supernatural peace, and then He urged, “do not be afraid” (John 14:27, 16:33).
Even when we must face horrendous circumstances, threaten to swamp us or drown, it is God’s presence and peace that carries us through. (Mark 4:35-41)
When fears mount up and threaten to overcome you, remember the Overcomer, Jesus, who came to bring you salvation and peace.
3. Run to God When Life Seems to Fall Apart (Psalm 42)
How truthful or fake do you believe this statement is:
“It’s easier (harder) to accept God’s providence — His caring provision for us based in His sovereign control — when we’re unchallenged by struggles or loss. But when so many things seem to fall apart at the seams and we instantly, innately, fail to see something positive happen, it’s too close to impossible to see any flicker of light.”
Joni Eareckson Tada has suffered greatly as a quadriplegic and with cancer.
In Is God Really in Control? she wrote about the times we wonder what God is up to when life seems to fall apart.
“Real satisfaction comes not in understanding God’s motives,” but in our own efforts at understanding His character, in trusting His promises, and in leaning on Him and resting in Him for everything as the Sovereign who reigns over us, who always knows exactly what He is doing and always does all things well.”
When we experience pain in life that, from a human standpoint, makes us feel everything is falling apart, it’s wise to turn to, lean on, and rest in Father God.
Nothing takes God by surprise, and nothing is outside the span of His control.
All the details of our story — even those things we cannot understand this side of Heaven — are designed with His holy purposes for us and His glory in mind.
He is sovereign, loving, and good. If you are a follower of Christ, one of the Father’s purposes is to make you more like Jesus (Romans 8:28-29), and He can use anything to accomplish that, even things that confuse us or bring us pain.
Keeping always in the forefront of our minds that God alone is in complete control will help us face your greatest troubles.
When life seems to crumble, put on sneakers, run to and take comfort in Him.
God, Our first and best choice for our closest friend
Proverbs 17:17 The Message
One Who Knows Much Says Little
17 Friends love through all kinds of weather,
and families stick together in all kinds of trouble.
One of God’s greatest gifts to humanity is relationships. We are created for relationships; we are all designed by God to be in community with others.
We will meet many people over our lifetime.
With some, we will have no more than brief interactions in passing by, and with others we will have friendly acquaintances.
Still others will become friends, even close friends, and others will become best friends forever companions for life.
With some friends our relationships can feel as close as family, like a brother or sister, and we may love them just like family members.
These are friends who will be there in both good times and bad, triumphs and tragedies, times of joy and times of sorrow.
Did you know that, in Jesus, God is actually our closest friend?
He isn’t a passerby who merely sizes us up, or an acquaintance who enters our life from time to time. Jesus is our brother, our closest friend, who gave up his own life so that we can become the adopted children of God, members of God’s everlasting family, and coheirs in his eternal inheritance (see Romans 8:14-17).
https://hymnary.org/text/what_a_friend_we_have_in_jesus_all_our_s
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 42 The Message
42 1-3 A white-tailed deer drinks
from the creek;
I want to drink God,
deep drafts of God.
I’m thirsty for God-alive.
I wonder, “Will I ever make it—
arrive and drink in God’s presence?”
I’m on a diet of tears—
tears for breakfast, tears for supper.
All day long
people knock at my door,
Pestering,
“Where is this God of yours?”
4 These are the things I go over and over,
emptying out the pockets of my life.
I was always at the head of the worshiping crowd,
right out in front,
Leading them all,
eager to arrive and worship,
Shouting praises, singing thanksgiving—
celebrating, all of us, God’s feast!
5 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He’s my God.
6-8 When my soul is in the dumps, I rehearse
everything I know of you,
From Jordan depths to Hermon heights,
including Mount Mizar.
Chaos calls to chaos,
to the tune of whitewater rapids.
Your breaking surf, your thundering breakers
crash and crush me.
Then God promises to love me all day,
sing songs all through the night!
My life is God’s prayer.
9-10 Sometimes I ask God, my rock-solid God,
“Why did you let me down?
Why am I walking around in tears,
harassed by enemies?”
They’re out for the kill, these
tormentors with their obscenities,
Taunting day after day,
“Where is this God of yours?”
11 Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul?
Why are you crying the blues?
Fix my eyes on God—
soon I’ll be praising again.
He puts a smile on my face.
He’s my 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.
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). 