Sunday Scripture

 

We're continuing with our ongoing series on my simple study of Psalms.  You can see a copy of the journal here: The Book of Psalms 1-50 or you can find all the resources right here on Women Living Well, Psalms 1-50.  I'm attempting to SOAP each Psalm too, though some of them are longer so I will likely only do a selected passage from many of them. [Quick reminder that S stands for Scripture; O stands for for observation; A stands for application, and P stands for prayer.]  Each psalm's study also includes a reflection question, which I've been attempting to journal an answer to.  Today's study is from Psalm 16.   Since I actually posted about Psalm 16:1-11 in February 2024 in my simple study from Rachel Wojo called Everything Beautiful, I am going to copy and paste some of that, with the new content being my prayer, some application thoughts, and answers to the Reflection Question. (You can read about that study here: Everything Beautiful Bible reading plan.) So here goes:

 S=  "Preserve me, O God; for in Thee do I put my trust.
"O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to Thee;
"But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
"Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
"The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: Thou maintainest my lot.
"The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
"I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
"I have set the LORD always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
"Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
"For Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption.
"Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."   (Psalm 16:1-11)

O= This psalm is titled by Scofield "The path of love and joy."

The Bible titles it "Michtam of David".  I've mentioned this before, but Spurgeon notes in The Treasury of David: "Michtam is usually understood to mean THE GOLDEN PSALM, and such a title is most appropriate, for the matter is as the most fine gold."

Psalm 16 is considered to be a Messianic psalm pointing to the resurrection of Christ.

But it has a message for me as well, a message that I can take from this without doing any disservice to the Scriptures:

1) God will preserve those who put their trust in Him; they are eternally secure.
2) God is my portion and the One who maintains my lot.
3) God will give me counsel as I look to Him.
4) God will show me the path of life.
5) In God's presence there is fullness of joy.
6) At God's right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Here are a few cross-references:

"Preserve" (verse 1) -- "Keep me as the apple of the eye: hide me under the shadow of Thy wings."  (Psalm 17:8) 

"Whom" (verse 3) -- "I am a companion of all those who fear Thee, and of those who keep Thy precepts."  (Psalm 119:63)

"Lips" (verse 4) -- "And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect; and make no mention of the names of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth."  (Exodus 23:13)

"I have set the LORD always before me ... " (verse 8) -- The cross-reference here is to Acts 2:25-28 where Peter is preaching.  He quotes this verse and more from Psalm 16.

Concerning the word "trust" (verse 1) Scofield explains, "Trust is the characteristic Old Testament word for the New Testament 'faith' and 'believe'.  It occurs 152 times in the OT and is the rendering of Hebrew words signifying to take refuge, to lean on, to roll on, to wait for."

We looked at this more closely a few weeks ago -- and wow!  do these thoughts ever give greater dimension to what it means to trust biblically!

Regarding verse 2, Warren Wiersbe notes in With the Word, "You have taken a giant step toward true Christian maturity when you can say to the Lord and mean it, 'my goodness is nothing apart from You'." 

A= We can put our unwavering trust in God, knowing that He will preserve us.  God is the One who cares for me and maintains my lot.  I can be glad when I consider all that He has done for me and for all of His people.  He will continually show me the path of life as I look to Him and keep my eyes on Him.   He will help me to walk in a way that pleases Him.

Warren Wiersbe notes that this psalm highlights
* Good fellowship -- "God's people are not perfect, but we should delight in their fellowship and not in the fellowship of the world's crowd."
* Good heritage -- "Not just God's gifts, but God Himself!"
* Good counsel -- "God gives wisdom if you will ask Him.  God teaches you in the darkness as well as in the light."
* Good hope -- This passage is one of the few in the Old Testament dealing with resurrection.  It refers to the resurrection of Christ, and that is what gives us our hope."

As God's children we have so very, very much to thank Him for!

P= "Lord, how I praise You for the amazing blessings and benefits of being Your child!  There are far too many to count.  How thankful I am for Your care for me every day!  I pray that You will help me to keep my eyes on You as You show me the path of life each day.  Help me to have an unwavering trust in You through the remainder of my earthly pilgrimage, I pray in Jesus' name, Amen."

Reflection question: God will not abandon us!  The pleasures of the world are empty but God's joy is full.  God's presence is with us and He gives pleasure for both now and eternity.

Just because we are believers that does not mean we get to experience a trouble free life.  But sometimes we focus too much on what our faith is costing us and we forget all the benefit!  List below some of the benefits and pleasures of being a child of God.

My response:  I jotted down a quick list, all that I had space for.  Here it is:

* We can come to Him in prayer, anywhere, anytime.

* We can be assured that He will provide for all of our needs.

* We know that He will never leave us or forsake us.

* We can boldly say that He is our helper.

* God has a plan and purpose for each one of our lives.

* Jesus is interceding for us in heaven.

* God promises to be our refuge and hiding place.

* We have a home awaiting us in heaven and are citizens of a heavenly country.

* God is conforming us to the image of His Son.

* He cares for us and we can cast all of our cares upon Him.

* He keeps us in perfect peace as we stay our minds on Him,

* He gives us strength for the demands of every day.

In addition, there are all of the benefits mentioned in the quote from Wiersbe in the Application section above.

And there is our study of Psalm 16.  I hope it was a blessing!

A quick note:  Recently I've sensed God prompting me to temporarily step away from the series on Psalms I've been working through for my Sunday Scripture posts.  Instead, I am going to be working through a guide called Fix Your Focus, from Daily Grace Co.  Hopefully you have all read my post concerning this change and how God led me to it.  

(I'll still be working on my personal study of Psalms and will write and schedule the posts for future Sunday Scripture posts in 2026.  However, from March 16 and forward I'll be posting about Fix Your Focus on Sundays.

Hopefully some of you would like to join me!