Psalm 16
Today, we will take a step back from the series in the book of John. As you saw in your program and as we talked about last week, we will start a new series on relationships in February. But right now, we are going to turn our hearts to focus on God’s provision and prepare to take communion together.
The passage for today is chapter 16 from the book of Psalms. It is a beautiful psalm of trust and of testimony of what God has done for us. Because it is a personal prayer in the first person, I’d like for us to read the entire Psalm together out loud. The words are on the screen, so please direct your attention there and let’s read aloud together. Now since we all have to look up and keep our eyes open in order to read off the screen, I can’t ask you to bow your heads and close your eyes in prayer. But, I want you to read the psalm with a mindset and a heart attitude of prayer. Even though we are all together in a group, I want each person to read it with the frame of reference that you individually are speaking to God.
Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I said to the LORD, "You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing."
As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.
The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out offerings of blood to those gods or take up their names on my lips.
LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.
The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.
You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. ~Psalm 16:1-11
And all God’s people said, “Amen.”
We could stop there couldn’t we? It is enough to read from the Psalms of David. David has this way of writing that puts things into perspective for us. David is always refocusing his attention on God and his relationship to God. He is always reminding himself, “What is the truth?”
We’re so prone to dwell on our circumstances. The moment things go wrong or we feel unhappy, the wheels start turning and we’re off to the races trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. It’s either that, or we’re worrying about what else is going to happen, or what we’ve done wrong to deserve this. My psychosis is even deeper. I often catch myself trying to figure out what I’ve done wrong or what someone else has done wrong to cause a difficult situation. It’s a kind of subconscious eastern mysticism, good karma versus bad karma. Of course, this kind of thinking is not limited to the far east. In the Sound of Music, Maria and Captain Von Trapp sing this song, “I must have done something good.” In the same way, when bad things happen, we start to think, “I must have done something bad.” Sin is bad, and it has consequences, but it’s not like God is keeping score; because well, if he was keeping score, it would be game over for us.
So, what is Psalm 16 about? Where does David start in verse 1? He’s praying about safety. More than likely, he’s concerned about his circumstances. There were plenty of times in his life where things were not in his control. If David is worried though, he certainly doesn’t give us time to dwell on it. Because what does he immediately do? He launches into a beautiful testimony to the Lord. He offers praise and thanks. I want to stop on one phrase there in verse 7, “even at night my heart instructs me.”
Now we all have our giftedness right? I don’t mean to brag or anything, but one of my gifts is … sleeping. Melissa and I have a joke. I fall asleep. Melissa on the other hand, well she climbs asleep. When my head hits the pillow, I’m asleep. On the other hand, she has to review the day and think out anything that is unresolved. So, for me, it’s pretty rare that I’m awake at night to hear my heart instruct me.
Friday night though, I did wake up. I had a bad dream, not a nightmare really, but it woke me up. Not a heart pounding, gasping or crying out kind of a dream. I just woke up unsettled and even though my heart was not racing, my mind was running pretty good. I don’t know exactly how long I laid there awake, but I was predominantly trying to work out a decision that I want to make. I was listing out options and weighing different factors and even began thinking what if I got up right then and started working on it. At some point, “my heart instructed me.” I had this thought, “Who do you put your trust in?” Do you really need to get up in the middle of the night and work on this? At that point, I began praying. But, I was praying specifically about the thing I was worried about. That wasn’t bad. I needed to give it over to the Lord. But then, “my heart instructed me” again, “Why are you praying exclusively for yourself?” Then, I thought it was pretty silly for me to keep rehashing what is really a trivial issue that will long be forgotten a month from now. So, I started praying for what I could think of that urgently needed praying about: people and situations that genuinely need intercession.
We need to allow ourselves the opportunity to have the Lord counsel us and our hearts instruct us. There’s a song I like by Eli. It’s called Captain. The song is about the singer approaching Jesus (our Captain) crying out that the sea has turned treacherous and he’s afraid of drowning. At the end of the song, there is this powerful line, “And though you’ve always led me to solid ground, I still question if you’d let me drown.” If you ever have that sensation, you have to step in and check yourself. “Hey, I’m headed down the wrong path of thinking here.” David sets the example for right thinking. God loves you so much, he won’t let you drown. He wants good things for you not harm. Whatever circumstance you begin with: doubt, fear, health problems, financial problems, legal problems, anything, go to the Lord and put your hope in Him just like we did by reading this Psalm aloud. We have to fill our hearts up with the truth so that our hearts have the chance to instruct us. We have to push out the lies and shut down the blasphemous questions with the truth.
What is the truth? David tells us: All good things come from the Lord. Other Christians should be our delight. We should not chase after the things that unbelievers pursue. God has provided for us. Our inheritance is a delight. We must choose to praise Him with thanksgiving. We must choose to put Him first. When we do, we will not be shaken. Then, we will be filled with joy and our body will rest. We will not die, but we will have eternal life, a life of eternal pleasure.
Anyone who has believed in Jesus Christ for salvation can enjoy these things that David talks about. But, we get the choice. Just like Friday night, when the Lord counseled me, “Who do you trust?” I had to choose, and I chose to put my trust in the Lord. I may be embarrassed by what someone else tells me or thinks about me, but when I choose to put my trust in the Lord, I’m never disappointed. He won’t disappoint you either, when you put your trust in Him.
We’re going to take communion together in just a minute. The title of today’s message is “My Portion and My Cup.” We read the line together, but I’ve not said a word about it. This phrase is deep and meaningful. The more I read the Bible, the more I’m amazed by how rich and interwoven it is from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation. It is the Word of God and it is the greatest story ever told.
Of course, Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by his death on the cross. He fulfilled the requirement of continual sacrifices by the one and only sacrifice of Himself that covers all sin: past, present, and future. This is paramount, the most important thing above all. The bread and the cup on the communion table symbolize the body and the blood of Christ. Jesus gave us communion to remember and not forget what He has done. We can stop there, that’s enough.
But, the completeness of what Christ has done extends farther. Paul explains that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. When you take the bread and the cup, you are taking a remembrance of his sacrifice and putting it into the temple of the Holy Spirit. We don’t crucify him again, but we fellowship in his sufferings. On an individual level, we reenact the Old Testament temple, taking the blood of the sin sacrifice into the temple. Likewise, the bread of the presence was kept continually in the temple as a reminder of the covenant between God and the people of Israel. We in turn take the bread of communion regularly as a remembrance of the new covenant of Christ.
If that isn’t enough, Peter writes that we as believers are a chosen generation and a royal priesthood. Now, the priests in the Old Testament were not given a share of the land. Instead, their inheritance was the Lord and their portion would come from the offerings at the temple. Specifically, the grain offering was given to the priests. Only a handful would be burned on the altar. As the sin and guilt offering, it was “most holy” and whatever touched them became holy. So the bread on the communion table literally a “grain offering” representing the body of Christ as our sin and guilt offering is eaten by us, a royal priesthood, which also symbolizes the purification that happens to us through Christ.
I’ve gone too long already. I’ll say only this about the cup. Read Hebrews chapter 9. Blood was never consumed. Drink offerings likewise did not go to the priests. The blood was used so that the priest and the people could be purified and that the priests could enter the temple. The drink offering was poured out at the temple. We take the cup as a symbol of our purification and to remember Christ poured out his life for us.
Why do I tell you all these things? I hope that you can get just a glimpse that you are a part, an integral part, of the much greater story. There are great things going on in you because of what Christ has done. You have been and are being transformed. Whenever we take communion, we should be filled with awe and come in reverence.
David tells us there in verse 5, “Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup.” As a believer in Christ, the Lord has assigned your portion and your cup. It is there on the table. I invite you to come now take and eat, take and drink and remember and marvel at what He has done for you.
Let’s pray.
Thank you Lord Jesus that You have made our lot secure for all eternity. We are grateful for your sacrifice even if we do not know every detail. We want to know more about You and what You have done for us, but we are also thankful that it is not a condition for us to come to you. The smallest one among us who places their trust in You will be saved without stipulation. We praise Your Name that Your sacrifice and cleansing blood is available to us all. Amen.
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