Resting In Hope – Psalm 16

“A Michtam of David.”

Psalms 16 is entitled a Michtam, which some translate a golden psalm, a very precious one, more to be valued by us than gold, yea, than much fine gold, because it speaks so plainly of Christ and His resurrection, who is the true treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament. [1]

According to Peter in Acts 2:25 and Paul in Acts 13:35, this Psalm relates to Christ. It expresses His sufferings and victory over death and the grave, including His subsequent exaltation at the right hand of God. [2]

“Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust. O my soul, you have said to the Lord, you are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You. As for the saints who are on the earth, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” Psalm 16:1-3

“Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.” These words are applicable to Christ when He prayed in Mark 14:35 “that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.” He did not want the suffering, but He did want saints. Thus, He looked to our Heavenly Father to preserve His resolve to go to the cross and make an atonement for our sins. The end result was that the sins of humanity were atoned for and now whosoever believes in Jesus Christ has their sins forgiven and may receive the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the One who sanctifies us. He does in us and through us what we could never do without Him. We bear God’s image by His Spirit.

“The saints in the earth are excellent ones, in whom is my delight.” God makes us excellent by the grace He gives to us as we fellowship with Him and with His people. David, though a king, testified in Psalm 119:63 saying, “I am a companion of all who fear You, and of those who keep Your precepts.” King David delighted in horizontal fellowship with others who loved the Lord.

In Ephesians 2:19-22, Paul wrote, “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

In Romans 12:4-5, the Lord describes fellow believers in Christ as one body. “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

In 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, the Lord uses our physical bodies to illustrate how we depend on one another in His body the Church. For example, in 1 Corinthians 12:21, He states, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” In 1 Corinthians 12:27, He concludes this topic, saying, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

In regards to our vertical relationship with God, David wrote, “O my soul! you have said unto the Lord, ‘You are my Lord.” Communing with God involves our soul acknowledging a God that we cannot see with our physical eyes but who we know is there. 1 John 5:10 says, “He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.”

David confessed, “My goodness is nothing apart from You.” Whatever good there is in us, or is done by us, we must humbly acknowledge that it comes from God. In 1 Chronicles 29:14, David wrote, “Who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You.” In John 15:4, Jesus said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

“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. O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup. You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.” Psalm 16:4-6

David prophesied of sorrows to those who pursue another god. Multiple sorrows! Great losses!

Those that multiply gods multiply grief to themselves. “Their drink-offerings of blood will I not offer. Such offerings are barbarous.” God prohibited the drinking of blood. God’s prescribed drink-offerings were of wine. The devil prescribed blood sacrifices to teach people cruelty. David wrote, I will not “take up their names on my lips.” [3]

The unbelieving Jews, who rejected Messiah and hastened after another king, namely Caesar, received from Emperor Titus Caesar multiplied sorrows. In 70 AD, he destroyed Jerusalem. He killed 1.2 million Jews. He enslaved 9,700 Jews. [4]

Most people take the world for their chief good, but David made the Lord the portion of his inheritance and his cup. He delighted in God’s love and favor. He enjoyed communion with God. He treasured God’s promises. To take God as the portion of our inheritance and our cup is to do what’s best for ourselves. I often see people carrying around fancy drinking cups. I am thankful to have the Lord as my close at-hand cup from whom I drink and am refreshed by all day long, and even on into eternity. Praise the Lord!

“You maintain my lot.” Nothing shall pluck me out of my Good Shepherd’s hands, nor separate me from His love. It is for us as Paul wrote in Roans 8:38-39, “I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Praise the Lord!

“The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places.”

“I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life. In Your presence is fullness of joy. At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:7-11

Blessed be the Lord for granting us grace to make the right choices. When others have went to sleep and left us to our own thoughts, God is still there, instructing us and assuring us of His presence. Gladness, rejoicing and resting in hope are gifts of His unmerited grace to us in Christ Jesus His Son, and from the indwelling presence of His Holy Spirit. Praise the Lord!

The words about God’s Holy One not seeing corruption are applied to Christ by Peter in Acts 2:25 and by Paul in Acts 13:35. In 1 Peter 1:11, Peter wrote of the Old Testament prophets who testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow.

When He says, “My flesh shall rest,” it is implied that He must put off the body, and therefore must go through the pains of death. It is likewise plainly intimated that His soul must go into a state of separation from the body, and that His body, so deserted, would be in imminent danger of seeing corruption — that He should not only die, but be buried, and abide for some time under the power of death. [5]

Jesus was certain that He would resurrect before it came to pass. “He is at My right hand.” “You will not leave My soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” Isaiah 50:8 says, “He is near that justifies Me. He is at My right hand, to direct and strengthen it, and hold it up.” In Luke 22:43, when Jesus was in His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, an angel was sent from heaven to strengthen Him. In Hebrews 12:2, it was for the joy set before Him that Jesus endured the cross. In Isaiah 11:10, Jesus rested in hope and made His rest glorious.

When Jesus gave up the spirit, He said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.”

These verses apply to believers in Christ. The Lord is before us. He is at our right hand. He is a very present help in time of trouble. When we breathe our last breath in our mortal bodies, Christ shall transfer our souls to a new celestial body. One that will never again experience hunger, thirst, excessive heat, pain, sadness or death. We shall be alive forevermore enjoying eternal pleasures with God. Praise the Lord!


[1] Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary
[2] Matthew Henry Commentary
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid