The Lord is My Lot

(1) Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
(2) O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
(3) But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.
(4) Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
(5) The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
(6) The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
(7) I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct 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 rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
(10) For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
(11) Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
--Psalm 16 KJV Bible

This psalm of David is a song of trust. David declares that he has trusted the Lord to be his portion in life, so will he trust the Lord to preserve him in death. In the psalm's description, the meaning of the word "Mikhtam" is uncertain. It is apparently derived from a verb meaning "to cover," and may indicate psalms dealing with protection (covering) from one's enemies or psalms recited silently--for example, with lips covering the mouth. This same word is also used in the descriptions of Psalms 56-60.

In verse 3 David delights not only in God but also in the people of God. David describes the righteous as excellent or majestic, perhaps in their resemblance to their Lord.

In verses 5 through 6 David describes the beauty of his spiritual inheritance as similar to the divine allotment of the promised land to Israel. In verse 6, the "lines" are a reference to the surveyor's measuring cords by which the various allotments--the given lots of land--were measured.

In verse 7 David blesses the Lord for David's sleepless nights. They provide David with the opportunity for instruction--to face hard facts.

In verses 8 through 10 are both personal and prophetical. David's hyperbolic language about his own deliverance from death, or possibly about his future resurrection, is fulfilled in Christs deliverance out of death by resurrection, for only Christ has not experienced corruption. Luke records the Apostle Peter's citing of these words in Acts 2:25-28, 31, and the Apostle Paul citing verse 10 in Acts 13:35. In verse 8, the phrase "at my right hand" is a reference to the position of protector and defender. In verse 10, the use of the Hebrew "Sheol" is a reference to the grave--the place where both righteous and unrighteous souls went after death, as regarded in the Old Testament.

O Lord, I want You to be me my portion; my lot; my inheritance. Help me to trust in You for all things.

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