Psalm 16

⁰⁵          The LORD is my inheritance

and my cup of blessings;

You hold my lot secure.

            ₀₆          The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

⁰⁷                   I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;

in the night also my conscience warns me.

⁰⁸                   I have set the LORD always before me;

because He is at my right hand,

I shall not be shaken.

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A Beautiful Inheritance

For the Lord’s Day:  the 26^th of January 2004

Introduction:  One of the first hints I had at Seminary that all was not well, was a statement in a class by one of the more supposedly “intelligent” students.  In a discussion about shared wealth he showed his socialist leanings by claiming that no one should ever be allowed to inherit any money or property so that equality of opportunity might be thereby achieved.  How well has that socialist dream been realized in my life since then.

 

I know of an older fellow who worked in public service until he was ten to fifteen years beyond retirement.  When asked why he continued to work, he observed that even at his late age he probably could not afford to retire.  He explained:  first there were the Union dues which he was forced to pay over a period of nineteen years.  When he had enquired upon quitting that profession, he was informed that he did not qualify for any benefits from the significant weekly amounts withheld from those many years of hard work and service. 

 

Then there was the grand promise of medical insurance which consumed fully fifteen per cent of his income over another twenty-five years.  But the negative rewards of that whole process continue even today.  Since he retired – his monthly checks have declined every single year.  A frightening reminder of where this might lead was a statement in the paperwork that declared: “if your insurance costs exceed your retirement benefit – you will be billed for the difference.”  He figures it could be about seventeen years before that dire prediction gobbles up the whole of his ongoing retirement benefits?

 

In addition, he mentioned the fifteen per cent stolen by Social Security and Medicare – a promise to pay that seems less and less likely to ever be received?  But his hardest pill to swallow in this regard was the forced sale of family assets to satisfy governmental contracts for a relative’s rest home care.  Almost 75% of the value of any family inheritance was negated and he will never ever receive one red cent from a source that he thought was solid!  Inheritance in our day and age has become almost a dirty word, salvaged only by the wealthy whose net worth rises far above the ordinary confiscatory processes.

 

Even as we have noted early in this Psalm, David’s experience of being totally dependent upon the goodness and kindness of the Lord may suddenly come upon us all if we turn a blind eye to national and local politics.  We read and hear stories of financial and social persecution of Christians behind the Devil’s curtain and even the destruction of homes and property, as well as family and friends around the world.  It is indeed an act of courage to proclaim Christ and Him crucified in many places around the globe even today.

 

Development: Here in ancient Israel, even the ruling King proclaims that at bottom – all he has of any great importance is the loving care and kindness of our God and King.  Many have wondered if this a lesson that we can learn and appreciate in our time and place?  I believe it was James Kennedy who observed that it would take a major depression to catch the attention of the worldly enough in this country to get the greater majority to think of and pray about heavenly things!

 

And yet for David, even as it should be for us – the great magnitude of love and mercy, grace and charity and the multitude of blessings showered upon us, these all should focus our hearts and minds in the same attitude of David, who here in these brief verses celebrates the wonderful inheritance kept in heaven for him.  It is a spiritual inheritance which the worldly cannot claim, cancel or steal!  It is a God given inheritance that promises life eternal in the presence of Christ forever and ever.  It is thus worth more than all the worldly inheritances ever achieved by men and women down through the long years of human history.

 

We would do well to remember that the images in these verses relate to the kind division of the land of Israel amongst the tribes, families and individuals over the course of many generations.  The Israelites were promised a year of jubilee every fifty years whereby the land would be re-divided.  While I have not read any instance of that having happened in settled times, one modern economist has observed that the Lord seems to manipulate the economy and politics of the nations to achieve something like this on a regular and almost predictable schedule.

 

We begin with verse five:  “The LORD is my inheritance and my cup of blessings; You hold my lot secure.”  The psalmist proclaims that the Lord Himself is our inheritance.  Calvin observes “that none are taught aright in true godliness but those who reckon God alone sufficient for their happiness.”  Are we willing and able to drink of this blessed cup?  Thankfully, we have realized the fulfillment of any Messianic implications in the blessed cup of communion.

 

The image of the cup here, conveys in the Hebrew the blessings and even destiny that is ours because the Lord knows us and fills our cup to overflowing all of our days.  What great confidence does David have here in knowing that his person and soul are secure because of the great covenant whose image of a place to dwell is more permanent in the Lord, than any earthly hut or palace we might ever possess.

 

The “lot” here secured is a place to dwell and in the Lord God Almighty – we like David may realize finality in this promise that worldly people little appreciate or realize.

 

Verse six continues to recite the divine blessings:”The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.”  Here is David, well pleased with the property given to him.  The range of survey has brought unexpected delights, a sparkling spring perhaps, a grove of trees or tumbledown ruins with building supplies already well in hand perhaps?  Is he thinking of worldly material blessings – in the course of this landscape image?  Recently I purchased a County booklet listing all of the countless farms and properties throughout my home area.  Yes, my little 9.5 acre domain is outlined as are the family properties of sons, relatives and friends.  A thorough discussion and explanation of the property ranges is given to help a person understand the complex numbering system which defines the parts of the whole.

 

What is not seen on the map is the fact that my little hillside has four to six inches of top soil that the neighboring properties lost a long time ago!  Neither are the trees and the small puddle which the sheep used to appreciate until it went dry and then they had to walk back up to the barn for the pumped water from the shallow well.  Neither is the 30 foot depth of my well noted, nor the sweetness of the water in comparison to that which is pumped out of the ground less than a quarter mile away.

 

In addition – this theme does celebrate the landsman’s happy solitude with a property well developed.  The family properties are passing slowly from one generation to a third, with only a minimal notation that we were in the loop.

 

Application:  Can it get any better than this?  Incredibly, David tells us who are spiritually apprised that yes it can:”I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my conscience warns me.”  Here in verse seven, David lifts our insight above the common ground to the spiritual heights of God’s knowing us.  I remember a popular Reformed book that we studied over ten years ago.  It was a simple title:  Knowing God.  It contained the beautiful plan of redemption and the loving kindnesses of the Creator God, and yet I wonder if it could not be better titled “Being Known by God.”  After all, this is the grain of the gospel that David is getting at in this Golden Psalm.

 

We see in the first phrase of this sentence the great gift of knowledge and guidance that comes to us from the Almighty and in that giving, we are warned by the imperfection of our own conscience that in this divine relationship there is indeed “good tidings of great joy.”  And in the ordinary response of conscience leading us on to repentance therein is the relationship understood and appreciated so that we may finish David’s thought in all of our life and work.

 

“I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”  Calvin notes:  “the Psalmist again shows the firmness and stability of his faith.  To set God before us is nothing else than to keep all our senses bound and captive, that they may not run out and go astray after any other object.  We must look to him with other eyes than those of the flesh, for we shall seldom be able to perceive him unless we elevate our minds above the world; and faith prevents us from turning our back upon him.”

 

I am reminded of holding the hands of our little ones when they were young, yes – they wanted more freedom than they were ready for and even thirty years ago, it was not wise to let little tots run away into every nook and cranny of a shopping mall.  So we kept a tight rein on them.  Years and years ago, I can remember seeing in some places a little harness meant to keep a wayward youngster within reaching distance of Mom or Dad.  And so does the Lord God Almighty keep us in the kind control of His firmer hand.  He is always there that we may be kept safe and sound until the trumpet signals the end of the age.  And in Him, like David we may rest secure and while the worldly are always shaken by unexpected events – there is a firm steadfastness to the faith that not only gives us saving grace, but also a calm and steady outlook on life, because we know who is in control and who He is who holds our hand.  May we learn the confidence and trust of David and thereby cherish all the more the absolute amazing grace of being known by the awesome Almighty God of Creation.  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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