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There Is a Lot in My Lot (Psalm 16)
8 Plays2 days ago
In the sixteenth psalm, David composed a very personal hymn in response to the goodness of God across the story of his life. We know it was personal because of his frequent use of the personal pronoun within the eleven verses of this psalm.
Despite the hard times that David experienced in his life, he amazingly looked with contentment and gratitude for his blessings. I know that he didn’t write the old hymn, Count Your Many Blessings”, but it sure looks to me like he is counting his blessings in Psalm 16.
Since the days of Joshua, the Jews knew which land was allotted to each one of them. Each of the tribes but one, the tribe of Levi, received instructions for the boundaries of their property. To the priestly tribe of Levi, the Lord promised that He would be their “lot” in life rather than a piece of real estate.
I think David picked up on this idea of looking to the Lord as his “lot” and his “inheritance”. So, when he wrote this psalm he was listing some of the blessings that he had in the Lord. We can do the same this Thanksgiving. What has the Lord deposited in your “lot”? I think you and I already have “a whole lot in our lot”.
1. Grateful for the Guardianship of the Lord, 16:1, 8
2. Grateful for the Grace of the Lord, 16:2
3. Grateful for the Gladness in the Lord, 16:3-4, 9
4. Grateful for the Goodness of the Lord, 16:5-6
5. Grateful for the Guidance of the Lord, 16:7
6. Grateful for the Glory of the Lord, 16:10-11
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Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Growing in Grace
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message. If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, FBCColumbusTX.org. And now take your copy of God's timeless word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to Growing In Grace. I'm so glad you're listening in today.
Exploring Contentment and Psalm 16
00:00:47
Speaker
Hey, I want to talk to us about Thanksgiving. You know, it's going to be here before we know it. And so I want to talk about ah being content with what God has given to us.
00:00:59
Speaker
Psalm 16 just sets me up perfectly. I was reading through this passage the other day and I read these two verses from Psalm 16 that David wrote. He says, the Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. You hold my lot.
00:01:17
Speaker
The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance." Is that the way you feel about your lot in life? Is that the way you feel about life, that God has been so good to you and he's filled up your little lot there with all kind of blessings?
00:01:38
Speaker
You know, David makes it such a personal psalm. If you were to read through Psalm 16, you would hear him say over and over again the personal pronoun, my. He'll talk about my chosen portion and my cup, my lot, like I said earlier. But he also talks about my Lord. And so several times he makes it so personal. And when he describes what God has done in his life,
00:02:08
Speaker
He uses these kind of words, good, excellent, delight, pleasant, beautiful, glad, rejoices, secure, fullness of joy, pleasures forevermore. Aren't those good things?
00:02:26
Speaker
You know, David is just really sort of recounting all of his blessings. I know that he didn't write the song, count your many blessings, but you know Psalm 16 is like an ancient version of that. And I feel like that David expresses personal gratitude for six blessings that God had placed within his lot.
Understanding God's Protection and Security
00:02:50
Speaker
So why don't we think today ah in terms of there's a lot in my lot from Psalm 16. Let me read the Psalm, and then I'll share those six blessings that I think not only did David have those, but if you're a follower of Christ, we all have these. Let me read this to you.
00:03:09
Speaker
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. I have no good apart from you. As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.
00:03:26
Speaker
The sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me.
00:03:46
Speaker
in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel. In the night, also, my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
00:04:08
Speaker
Therefore, my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure, for you will not abandon my soul to shield or let your Holy One see corruption. You make known to me the paths of life. In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Joy in Faith and Community
00:04:32
Speaker
Wow. Let's follow him as he talks to us about how good God had been to him. And I don't want you to just think about David. I want you to think about you. I want you to think about how God has blessed you in your life.
00:04:46
Speaker
I think he mentioned something that all of us who are in Christ have, and that is we are protected. We have the guardianship of the Lord. And I think that when David is starting out in this psalm, he begins by giving thanks for God's protection. He describes his place in the Lord as being like a refuge. What that means is it's a place of security, a place of safety, a place of rest.
00:05:15
Speaker
And when he uses that word, preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge, preserve me could be translated, keep me safe. It's the Hebrew word shamar. It means keep watch over me, just like a shepherd would keep watch over his flock. Wow.
00:05:36
Speaker
It's just so, it's just all over the place here. You know, you look at ah verse nine and he says, therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices. Why, David? Why are you able to be glad and rejoice? He says, because my flesh also dwells secure.
00:05:55
Speaker
You know, I believe that our internal sense of security, it should come from our eternal sense of security that we have in Christ. Wow, it's just powerful whenever we think about it. And I know from David's life that he's not saying that his security is because of the absence of foes.
00:06:17
Speaker
No, I think what he's saying is, my security is the presence of the Father.
God's Goodness and Personal Significance
00:06:24
Speaker
That's why I feel secure. Wow, that's a powerful thing, you know. God ah led David to call him by three names, the Hebrew name Elohim, the Hebrew name Yahweh, and the Hebrew name Adonai.
00:06:41
Speaker
You know, Elohim was David saying, oh Lord, who shall so ah he was saying, preserve me, oh God, for in you I take refuge. When he says, oh God, that's the Hebrew name Elohim in the Hebrew Bible. But he's saying, God, you're my maker, you're a creator. And because you're a creator, you're omnipotent. So why should I worry? Why should I be afraid?
00:07:09
Speaker
In verse 2, he uses two Hebrew names for God, the word Yahweh and the word Adonai. These two have a little bit different ah nuance than the word he used for God, Elohim, in verse 1. He says, I say to the Lord, which would be Yahweh, and Yahweh, by the way, was God's covenant name. It's like God was saying, remember, David,
00:07:36
Speaker
I'm the mediator. I've entered into a covenant with you. And I think that's another reason why David would say, you know what, I'm going to take my refuge in the Lord because he is the mediator of the covenant. I thought it's also interesting that he goes on to say in verse two, I say to the Lord, you are my Lord.
00:07:59
Speaker
You know, Adonai was another common name that they would use for God, and Adonai meant someone who's in absolute control. It means like a king of kings. It's someone who wears the crown, someone who is master over all of life.
00:08:17
Speaker
And so I thought, this is really powerful that God would lead David to use these three names, Elohim, Yahweh, and Adonai. All three of these could speak to his sense of security. He's my maker.
Guidance Through Divine Counsel
00:08:34
Speaker
He's my mediator and He is my master. Well, let's move to a second reason that David was giving thanks to God. I believe he was also grateful for the grace of the Lord. Here's the way he says it in verse two. I say to the Lord, you are my Lord. I have no good apart from you. I have no good apart from you.
00:08:57
Speaker
You know, he says, I say. When he said, I say, I thought, you know what that is? David's making a profession of faith. And so it's like a public profession, because here we are in 2024, and we're reading his public profession of faith. But notice how personal his profession was. He says, I say to the Lord, you're my Lord.
00:09:22
Speaker
I have no good apart from you. And so I thought he is definitely, you know, making a public profession, a personal profession of his faith. But notice it includes a confession of his own failures. He says, I have no good. I think David was aware of how he had fallen short.
00:09:42
Speaker
The Bible says, all of sin and fall short of the glory of God, speaking to the depravity of mankind, that's why we needed a Savior. And so David has no qualms about acknowledging his sin and his need. He says, I have no good. But then notice the transmission, the the statement that he makes next. I have no good apart from you.
00:10:08
Speaker
Man, he is transmitting the faithfulness of God when he says, I have no good apart from you. Do you know that in Christ, we have received the righteousness of God. We have become the righteousness of God. Theologians call this imputed righteousness.
00:10:30
Speaker
And so that's why in 2 Corinthians 5.21 it says that in Him, in Christ, we might become the righteousness of God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin in order that in him we might become the righteousness of God. It's sort of like Abraham, whenever it says in Genesis that Abraham believed God and so God counted it to him as righteousness. It's as though God took from his resources and deposited it into Abraham's account.
00:11:06
Speaker
And so Paul is writing in Romans 4 verses 22 through 25 that Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. You know, I'm so glad that God accepts me based on the righteousness of his son, the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. I don't have to wake up every day and think, what can I do today to earn God's love? It's not like that at all.
00:11:36
Speaker
The Lord loves us so much that He sent His Son so that our faith and our sense of security, that our salvation would all be based upon grace, all based upon what He did for us, not what we can come up with for Him.
00:11:55
Speaker
Because the Bible does say that our righteousness, well, He spells us straight. Your righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight, I'm saying. Maybe we do a lot of good things. I'm not saying those are bad, but all I'm saying is they're not enough. They're not enough to be acceptable in the sight of a holy God. And all of our sins, what do we do with all those
Assurance of Eternal Joy and Resurrection
00:12:19
Speaker
if we're going to depend upon our own works?
00:12:21
Speaker
No, I think he was so grateful for the grace of the Lord. He was so grateful he made a public and personal a profession of his faith, acknowledging his failures, but also saying, you know what? I'm trusting in the faithfulness of God. He's my righteousness. Well, let's move to the third thing that I think Psalm 16 would speak about, and that is gladness in the Lord.
00:12:48
Speaker
In John 7, verses 37, 38, and 39, Jesus spoke of living water, living water that would flow from the heart of believers by the overflowing of the indwelling Holy Spirit. And so here we are in Psalm 16, and David is describing something very similar. But I think to myself, what is it that he is saying about God's joy and about his own personal delight. What was it that brought such great delight to David? Well, if you read verse three, he says, as for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.
00:13:37
Speaker
You know where I think the faucet is of gladness that brings forth delight? It's in the people of God. If you don't have a local church family, let me encourage you to plug in, get to know other believers, be around them. They're not going to be perfect. I'm sure they're going to make mistakes and all those kinds of things.
00:13:58
Speaker
But overall, they are the excellent ones. They are the ones that God will use to bring joy and delight into your life. Just like David is saying, all of my believing friends around me, they are what I delight in.
00:14:14
Speaker
And I could say the same exact thing for my Christian friends. But then I thought, well, what are the drains of gladness that not don't bring delight to my heart, but they take delight from my heart? What would drain gladness from a person's heart? Well, verse 4 tells us, idols, idols in place of God,
00:14:38
Speaker
Listen to what he describes about those who follow idols and worship idols and focus their whole life on idols. He says, the sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply. And then he comes with this personal feeling about it. And he says, you know what? Their drink offerings of blood, I will not pour out. I will not take their names on my lips. So David didn't even want to mention the the names of the false gods and all those other idols. He doesn't want to walk in that direction because he knows that idols always drain away the joy. What brings the joy are those other believers who are trying to walk with Christ, who are overflowing with him, and we are just sort of blessed but because we're around them.
00:15:28
Speaker
And then there's another one, is the pump of gladness that springs up with delight. The pump of gladness that springs up with delight. What's the pump that God has placed within the heart within our body? Sorry, the heart, right? God has placed a pump, and that pump circulates blood through our body.
00:15:51
Speaker
That's the same way it is with gladness. Do you know that the heart, when it is filled with God, it's going to circulate something through your whole entire life. You know what that something is? Joy. Therefore, my heart is glad, he writes in verse nine, and my whole being rejoices. My flesh also dwells secure.
00:16:13
Speaker
I think that insecurity, insecurity basically comes from not focusing on the Lord and not being filled with the Lord, not allowing the Lord's joy to fill our heart.
00:16:26
Speaker
You know, even when we don't realize it, we may be sort of splashing over on other people. You know, I got a text this morning from a church member that said that the daughter ah works in one of our local coffee shops. And they said that ah the other day when I went into that coffee shop, their daughter had had a very difficult morning, had a difficult conversation with someone just before I walked in.
00:16:53
Speaker
And then that that daughter told the mom and the dad, you know what? I was having such a bad day. I'd had a difficult conversation with a coworker, and then my pastor walked in. And it's like it just made a difference in my spirit to just be around. You know, that's the Lord. That's not me. That's the Lord. And that can be you if God is filling your heart. You can be like a faucet of gladness.
00:17:21
Speaker
that'll bring delight out of other people. Well, let's move to a fourth reason that I think David was so grateful. I think he was also grateful for just just the goodness of the Lord. I think that's what he means in verses five and six. It's a little hard to understand. I like what John Phillips in his commentary on this passage says, each family in Israel had its territory assigned to it by line and lot.
00:17:49
Speaker
by Joshua in the original distribution of Canaan among the tribes. Warren Worsby goes on to say, the measuring lines marked off the inheritance of the tribes, clans, and families in Israel. And then each individual lot was marked with a landmark that was not to be moved, according to Deuteronomy 19, Deuteronomy 27, Proverbs 22.
00:18:16
Speaker
And so whenever I read these words, I thought, how does that apply to David's life? What was it he was receiving? And then all of a sudden, it's like the Lord opened my eyes. So let me share with you four things that God's goodness can bring to each individual life. The first thing his goodness brings is personal significance.
00:18:41
Speaker
May I read verse ah five again to you? Verse five says, the Lord is my chosen portion and my cup. You hold my lot.
00:18:52
Speaker
I think that's interesting how he uses my three times, but notice that he's chosen. I think that's interesting. you know The second way that God's goodness brings personal ah fulfillment and joy to us is personal governance. He says in the next verse six, the lines have fallen fallen for me in pleasant places." Do you know that God is sovereignly working in your life? And He's placing into your life people for a very important reason. Some of them may come to know Christ through you. Others may be blessed or edified. They may be strengthened. God may use you to direct a friend who's looking for guidance. We don't know how God will use us, but just know that the lines have fallen in pleasant places.
00:19:43
Speaker
When I read the word pleasant, when I see his description of his you know inheritance as being beautiful, I think about the word abundance. I believe that God's goodness not only brings personal significance, not only does it bring personal governance as God is directing things in my life, but I believe also God's goodness brings personal abundance.
00:20:07
Speaker
You'll begin to see life differently whenever you are full of Him and realizing He's at work in your life. But then also His goodness certainly brings that personal inheritance whenever God has special things in store for each person that only He could give. Well, let me tell you another thing He mentions in verse seven. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel and in the night also my heart instructs me.
00:20:35
Speaker
I believe that also guidance. He was grateful for the guidance of the Lord. Has God ever led you? Has He ever guided you? You know, there's someone that's in Washington, D.C. right now. I'm not going to mention his name just so this doesn't get political. But I thought it's interesting the way he gave his testimony. Here's what he says. As a Christian, I've always believed that my faith should guide my actions, especially in public life. When I first ran for Congress, I made it clear that I wouldn't separate my faith from my work.
00:21:10
Speaker
My relationship with God informs every decision I make." Wow, I thought that was well said for a testimony. David is saying something very similar. I believe he's grateful for two aspects of God's guidance. Let me share those with you. He's grateful for the Lord's gracious counsel when making important decisions in his life. He says, the Lord gives me counsel.
00:21:37
Speaker
You know, Isaiah said something similar in Isaiah 30 and verse 21. Isaiah wrote, and your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it.
00:21:50
Speaker
when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. My goodness, the Lord can tell us, I want you to go this way. And so he can guide us in those important decisions that we make in life. But I believe that David was also grateful for something else, a different kind of guidance. He was also grateful for the Lord's continuous caution when facing imminent dangers in his life.
00:22:15
Speaker
You know, it says, the night also, in the night also, my heart instructs me. I looked that word up in instructs and I thought, what's the difference between giving me counsel and with my heart instructing me? And so Elikot's commentary translates instructs with a more accurate word in English, warns.
00:22:40
Speaker
warns. He says here that his heart warns him of the slightest danger of deviation from what we sense God is wanting us to do. And I thought, wow, that's that's amazing. I would have never got that out of there. Benson's commentary points out that ah whenever some translations, I think it's King James, uses the word our reins rather than our heart,
00:23:06
Speaker
He said, well, really, he's talking about the reins is our inward thoughts, our affections. So isn't it interesting? Have you ever experienced this? I think it's interesting that God's warnings can only break through sometimes in the night.
00:23:26
Speaker
when everything else is quiet. You know, the day can be so noisy. I don't know what kind of career path you're following and where you are in your life, but you know, the daytime has a lot of noise, doesn't it? But sometimes God meets us in the night and we can't sleep. We wake up early and God's saying something. God's inspiring us. Or perhaps God is trying to say, not that way, this is the way.
00:23:52
Speaker
Are you grateful for the guidance of the Lord, David was? Well, let me give you one last one that's based on the last two verses, verses 10 and 11. I believe David was also grateful for the glory of the Lord. You know, the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible.
00:24:10
Speaker
When you're not sure of the meaning of a certain passage, check to see if there are cross references to other passages sprinkled throughout scripture that may help interpret the difficult one. Do you know that Psalm 16 verses 8 through 11, it's already mentioned again in the New Testament in Acts 2 verses 25 to 28 by Peter, the Apostle, and then it's mentioned in Acts 13 verse 35 by the Apostle Paul. He draws the same exact conclusion.
00:24:44
Speaker
What is the conclusion? The conclusion is verse 10 when it says, for you will not abandon my soul to shield or let your holy one see corruption. What is he talking about? Well, Peter and Paul both say he's talking about the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
00:25:04
Speaker
Man, isn't that amazing? Written, you know, what, a thousand years before or 800 years before? Whatever. He's trying to say, you know, one day the Messiah is going to conquer death. And so the the resurrection of the Savior assures us a victory over the great.
00:25:23
Speaker
Hey, don't worry about being abandoned. Don't worry about facing you know the decomposition that happens after death and so forth. You're not even going to know about that. You know why? If you've trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,
00:25:41
Speaker
then the revelation of Scripture assures us of a view of the glory of God. Let me read this last verse. It's phenomenal. He says, you make known to me. How does God make known to us what heaven will be like? Through the Scriptures. The Scriptures are a revelation. It's God speaking to us. He says, you make known to me the path of life.
00:26:07
Speaker
In your presence, there is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures, forevermore. My goodness, that's something to be excited about. That's something to give thanks for, to say I'm so thankful, God, that even though maybe my week is a difficult week, maybe I've had a hard day, hard morning or whatever it's been for you, but you know something?
Closing Prayer of Thankfulness
00:26:32
Speaker
There's going to come a day in the future when those hard days and those difficult weeks, they won't even be there anymore.
00:26:39
Speaker
All you're going to behold is the glory of God. And when you see Him, He says, there's going to be fullness of joy at His right hand, pleasures forevermore.
00:26:51
Speaker
I love the way Habakkuk the prophet worded all of this in his book, Habakkuk. In chapter three, verses 17 to 19, he says, what can I do whenever the olive fails, whenever the the cattle stall is empty, whenever the sheepfold is not producing anything? And yeah he lists all of these things that are negative, negative, negative circumstances.
00:27:18
Speaker
Here's what he said, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I'll take joy in the God of my salvation. You know, that's what I think David was doing. I'm sure David had hard times going when he wrote ah Psalm 16, but he didn't list those things. What he listed were the blessings. Why don't we do the same thing?
00:27:41
Speaker
You know, if I could say what I think David would say to us as believers in Jesus Christ, what would David say to us today? I think David would point to Psalm 16, and he would say, hey, believer in Jesus Christ.
00:27:56
Speaker
You sure have a lot in your lot, so be grateful. Hey, you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Let me just close in prayer, all right? Lord, we do have a lot for which we can give thanks. You've been good to us. You are a good God. If nothing else, just you being who you are should bring us a lot of joy, a lot of gratefulness and so forth. Oh Lord,
00:28:23
Speaker
Thank you so much for health. Thank you for families. Thank you for jobs. Thank you for houses. Thank you for clothing, food. Thank you for, I remember Lord, one of my mentors said so many times,
00:28:36
Speaker
Lord, I thank you for giving us air to breathe. And that is so true, Lord, where would we be if you had not placed oxygen on this planet? Thank you for giving us water. Lord, you have provided for us in so many ways, but the greatest provision you ever made for us was when you gave your son.
00:28:56
Speaker
the Lord Jesus Christ, to take away our sin, to cleanse us of that. Like David said, we acknowledge there is no good in me other than what I have in Jesus Christ. And you made a way for us to join you in your family. I know that your word promises someday We're gonna sit around a great banquet table in heaven, and we're gonna all rejoice, and we're gonna behold the beauty of the Lord. We'll have fullness of joy and pleasures for forevermore. Thank you for all you've given. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Listen, friend, you have a great day. You have a great Thanksgiving. And just go through this week giving thanks for all your blessings.
00:29:52
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church, located at 1700 Milan Street, Columbus, Texas.