Psalm 16

¹Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

² O my soul, you have said to the Lord,
“You are my Lord,
My goodness is nothing apart from You.”
³ As for the saints who are on the earth,
“They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

⁴ Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;
Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,
Nor take up their names on my lips.

⁵ O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot.
⁶ The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance.

⁷ I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel;
My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.
⁸ I have set the Lord always before me;
Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

⁹ Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
My flesh also will rest in hope.
¹⁰ For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,
Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
¹¹ You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

My goodness is nothing apart from You

It is important for us not to get caught up in the good things we do. If we are doing it for ourselves or by ourselves, it doesn’t mean anything. “Salvation is of the Lord”—Jonah 2:9

Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god

I know we’ve all heard it before. We don’t have the same sorts of gods as they did back then, but we set up other gods in their place—entertainment, money, and the list goes on. The issue isn’t what it is; the issue is that we’re not putting our faith in God. When we aren’t working with God, we won’t see blessings, we may even hit sorrows.

You maintain my lot

The word for “lot” here is the same as the inheritance in Greek κληρονομίαν. But, I really like the English version here. The word “lot” fits into the metaphor, as in a plot of land, which continues with “the lines have fallen in pleasant places.” The plot of land is pleasant when God is the one giving out the inheritance. The word “lot” also has the connotation of  lot in life, our fortune/luck/destiny. God takes care of it all.

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons

When we hold the word of God in our hearts, we can make it through even the tough times.

You will show me the path of life

God never abandons us when we need Him. There are so many verses that tell us that God will show us the path or make it straight or be a light for the path. It’s mentioned so many times that it must be important. I, for one, am glad. I am always terrified of choosing the wrong thing when I make big decisions, like which grad school to go to. When I applied last year, I only had two choices that came back to me. I agonized over it because I didn’t really want to go to either one. My decision became easy, though, when they each offered me money. I still didn’t want to move to Kansas. It’s just so far away from home, and y’know, there are tornadoes and stuff. Even when I got here, I was miserable. It was so hot and I was allergic to everything. But, it is one of the best things that has ever happened to me. I have grown so much as a Christian and as a person in general since I came here. I kind of don’t want to leave. My point is, I wouldn't have made this decision on my own, but God made the right choice, the right path, easy for me.