My life, my dominion

Psalm 16

1Keep me safe, O God for in you I take refuge.

2I said to the Lord, “ You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

3As for the saints who are in the land they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.

4The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods.
I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.

5Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.

6The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.

7 I will praise the Lord who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me

8I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

9Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,

10because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

11You 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.

Verses 1 and 11 demonstrate the faith that David has in the Lord, for he acknowledges that the Lord will protect and provide for those who put their trust in him.

Verse 2: you may ask that how can there be no good thing in life? Your successes, your triumphs over difficulty are they all not good things in life? Well they are good in an earthly sense but ultimately, they are worthless when they are compared to God. This is particularly true when you succeed by your own strengths and fail to acknowledge God’s grace or to depend on it. Ultimately the “good things” of your life do not glorify God and are therefore worthless.

Verse 3 and 4: Only God and no other should take precedence in our lives. Focusing or trusting on the “saints” will bring you nothing for they are but human. Many a times we tend to look for human pillars of strength like a friend or a superior who is in good relations with you. But ultimately the only one who can protect and provide for you is the Lord, and should be the only object of your praise.

Verse 5 & 6: The Lord blessed David and he acknowledges that. His “boundary lines” refer to the lands of inheritance where the lines mark out what is his. What David knows is that the land or blessing that have been granted to him are good and perfect, and most importantly “secure” as our lot with God will be should we place our faith in him. Remember that the Lord not only provides but he provides well. And our secure lot comes in the from of the salvation that Jesus brings an eternal gift that cannot be take away.

Verse 7 – 10: Is both a messianic prophecy of the resurrection of Christ as it is about David’s security regarding death.

Jesus’s body was untouched by decay even in death. Although our bodies will rot, God has granted our souls eternal life and of this we can be sure. Many of us fear death. Have you ever heard the news that there is something wrong with you? I have. I was once told that I had an abnormality in my heart. What this possibility meant was that my heart would potentially not be able to take the strain of an active lifestyle. At first it was the shock that came to me, for all that time I had led an active lifestyle. I had done sports and other strenuous activity but never had I been told that I was weak? Of course then the worst-case scenario syndrome came and I thought, that I might just die one day of heart failure. Far fetched but still possibility. In the end, my fears were allayed but for that moment death had seemed so real.
This fear will grip us from time to time, but resting assured in the Lord will ultimately see us through.