Psalm 16

A Miktam of David.

⁰¹          Preserve me, O God,

            for I take refuge in You.

⁰²             I say to the LORD,

                        “You are my Lord;

I have no good apart from You.”

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The Golden Psalm

For the Lord’s Day:  the 4^th of January 2004

Introduction:  Our psalm today is one of six in the Psalter with the title of miktam.  The older commentators suggest this to be a derivative of a word suggestive of secrecy or mystery or one that should be inscribed in gold suitable for hanging in the Temple precincts.  The reputation of this glorious psalm is further enhanced within the Christian tradition wherein the mind of Christ and the facts concerning His resurrection are endowed prophetically for future consideration.  Given the presumed prediction of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, this beautiful little Psalm is truly worth the traditional title as a special “Golden Psalm.”  This classic consideration of that revelation is confirmed by none other than both Peter and Paul... In the book of Acts (2: 29-31) we read from Peter’s sermon:  “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.”

 

Further on in the same book (Acts 13: 35-38) Paul too makes the same point from Psalm Sixteen:  “Therefore he says also in another psalm, ‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’  For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but he whom God raised up did not see corruption.”

 

Unfortunately, within the liberal tradition that the Old Covenant be translated only within an Old Covenantal context: any of the translation hints and traditions that might offend the original Jewish sense- these are left aside in order to be faithful to the sitz-im-leben at the time of the psalm’s writing.  Thus, all manner of corruptions of the text are supposed, even though the LXX and Caldee versions uphold a tradition of a special “engraving” of this rare gem.

 

Calvin is willing to allow that the term “seems rather to be some kind of tune, and this opinion I am inclined to adopt.”  Delitzsch too suspects “a technical meaning” but goes on to suppose that those psalms with this title are indeed a kind of sacred “memorial” wherein “Psalms of this order [contain] some expressive sentence, after the style of an inscription or a motto on a monument, [which] is brought prominently forward, by being either specially introduced or repeated as a refrain.”  So therefore let us have the best of both testimonies of the two Covenants and thereby realize the precious golden memorial that is laid out before us!

 

Development:  Delitzsch observes on the whole of this “Golden Psalm” the fat that “there reigns in the whole Psalm, a settled calm, an inward joy, and a joyous confidence, which is certain that everything that it can desire for the present and for the future it possesses in its God.”  How thorough and complete is the confidence of David the prophetic poet in his special relationship to the God and King of heaven and earth!  Few there be of us who have such utter confidence and trust in God alone.  There is not a responsible man in the western culture who does not have several layers of resources laid up for every possible and necessary need?  In fact, we have engraved several of the material and theological rights and privileges of mankind in our foundational government covenants.

 

The second Amendment guarantees that any American who is willing to go to the expense may possess the military means to defend himself and family against all manner of aggression.  With the exception of some Quakers and Mennonites – that ability seems almost necessary in the context of a fallen world.  Some decades ago, when terrorists began to harass Israeli schools – the Jewish State simply armed the teachers and staff!  Contrast that to the American educational response to similar armed threats.  Fifteen to twenty years ago, I can remember when the number of rifles in student vehicles was matched by a similar number locked in the pick-up trucks of the faculty.  We never ever had a weapons incident because everyone knew that not only were there firearms within running distance, but almost every farm boy carried a knife of some sort for various purposes and none of them meant for aggression.  It was a responsible body politic that it would be difficult to reinstate in our day and time.

 

In addition, the greater majority of men whose hearts are devoted to the well being of their families – they will have several layers of economic resources laid aside for rainy days, emergencies and even a dire famine.  Whether it be a special cache of garden and field seed, renewed seasonally, the family silver, sons to support mother and younger children, an insurance policy to be borrowed against or even the land itself.  There were few who had not learned lessons from older generations to be prepared to make it and survive on their own skills alone!  It is indeed lesser men and women who put their hope in any government alone.

 

And yet, that basic American assumption to be self-supportive has not only been undermined by an increasingly socialized economy and nation – it is also a habit that undermines our dependence upon God alone for any real or felt need.

 

Contrast the complete devotion of David here in this psalm with the American spirit with which we have become too thoroughly imbued.  “Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.”  Calvin observes:  “This is a prayer in which David commits himself to the protection of God. He does not, however, here implore the aid of God, in some particular emergency, as he often does in other psalms, but he beseeches him to show himself his protector during the whole course of his life, and indeed our safety both in life and in death depends entirely upon our being under the protection of God.”

 

Richard Greenham agrees when he writes:  “Here David desireth not deliverance from any special trouble, but generally prayeth to be fenced and defended continually by the providence of God, wishing that the Lord would continue his mercy towards him unto the end.”

 

Delitzsch writes that “David gives expression to his confession of Jahve, to whom he submits himself unconditionally and whom he seats above everything else without exception.”

 

Spurgeon tells us that one of the titles of our Creator God is “the Preserver of men,” (Job 7: 20) and he goes on to raise the issue which must be at bottom in this blessed Psalm.  In Isaiah 49: 8, we read of the promise to the Messiah from the Lord God:  “I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people.”

 

Application:  So, we must come full circle in our understanding the Messianic implications of this beautiful prophetic psalm.  Who of us, even David himself – leans completely upon the everlasting arms?  During the Great Depression, FDR – supposedly hoping to encourage more and more dependence upon the socialist ideal: made the owning of gold coin and bullion illegal.  Suddenly the last financial resort of hundreds and perhaps even thousands was yanked from under their feet.  Now, a greater majority of the population was forced to take into account the increasing power and interest of “their” government – whether they wanted to or not.  Some portion of the population found it necessary to redeem their precious horde for less valuable Federal Reserve Notes.  Some fewer, whose pockets and resources were deeper, simply hid their gold more carefully and successfully.  However, the utilitarian use of that treasure ceased, temporarily to exist while it remained illegal.

 

What we must remember from the sincere prayers in this Psalm, is even as David prophetically realized: only the Lord’s Anointed Messiah, the second Adam, the God/Man could and would live a life of total dependence upon the will and purpose of His own Father in heaven.  And yet, the Lord God in all His love and mercy provided every need of Christ and the disciples.  Remember, there was no visible means of support for Jesus and the disciples during His public ministry, and yet enough and more resources were provided, though Judas lines his own pockets from the generosity of those who underwrote the public ministry of our Lord and Savior.

 

Many churches and leaders who have lived closer to a financial edge have learned to appreciate the same dependence upon the providence of God down through the ages.  Spurgeon writes on the revealed wisdom of verse two:  “In his inmost heart the Lord Jesus bowed himself to do the service to his Heavenly Father, and before the throne of Jehovah his soul vowed allegiance to the Lord for our sakes.”

 

“I say to the LORD, ‘You are my Lord; I have no good apart from You.’”

Can any mortal man come to that conclusion on his own recognizance?  And yet according to the providential calling of the Holy Spirit – we like David can know and realize the extreme poverty in this assessment of David.  Today, it is considered chic to be into “extreme sports or activities of any sort.”  Jokingly I have labeled Driver’s Education as “extreme education,” a premise which brings smiles to my students who may thereby claim responsibility for that assessment!  But “extreme poverty,” we have no conception of that in the material realm, but do indeed need to learn to appreciate the term in the truth of our own spiritual condition.

 

Would we confess this theme before the Lord of life, we like Calvin must appreciate the wisdom of David here who “begins by stating that he can bestow nothing upon God, not only because God stands in no need of any thing, but also because mortal man cannot merit the favor of God by any service which he can perform to him. … At the same time, however, [David] takes courage, and, as God accepts our devotion, and the service which we yield to him, David protests that he will be on of his servants.”

 

With this confession, David declares his ongoing need for the Creator’s kind assurance, protection, grace and mercy.  May we too, imitate David in this endeavor, and having realized our extreme spiritual poverty, may we count on Christ for the richness of redemption and the hope of heaven.  Amen.

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PREACHING RESOURCES

Calvin, John:  Commentary on Book of Psalms.

Delitzsch, F:  Commentary on the Old Testament – Psalms.

Spurgeon, C.H:  Treasury of David.

The Westminster Confession & Catechisms.

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