Discovering My Inheritance

Over the last couple of days, I've been meditating on Psalm 16. This a remarkable psalm, packed with extraordinary meaning and significance, and so I want to run through it step by step with you.

Verse 1 starts off with a classic statement of faith in God:

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

The connection between personal safety and the act of taking refuge in God comes up frequently in the psalms. And I can bear witness that this has been my personal experience over the last few months (note Psalm 91).

Verse 2 goes on to say:

"I said to the LORD, 'You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.'"

That statement - "apart from you I have no good thing" - is the starting point for everything the psalmist will say in the rest of the psalm. I was meditating on this yesterday, and realised that it is a massive leap to go from "in you I take refuge" to "apart from you I have no good thing." The first statement is the reactive response of someone who is in trouble, while the second statement is the proactive response of someone who has had their entire outlook on life transformed by a crucial revelation - that God is not just someone we turn to when we are in trouble or have a need, but he is superior to all that this life has to offer. In this same vein, Psalm 63:3 says: "...your love is better than life."

Verse 3 then says:

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

This is, I believe, closely connected with the previous verse. David has just declared that "apart from you I have no good thing," and his very next statement, "As for the saints who are in the land...", is an outworking of this. The saints of God are the Lord's own inheritance (see Deuteronomy 9:29; Psalm 33:12; Ephesians 1:18). This means that if I focus on what is the Lord's ("apart form [which] I have no good thing"), this means that I will, in part, be focusing on his inheritance, the people of God! And what an incredible declaration David makes. These saints of God, the inheritance of the Lord, are "the glorious ones in whom is all my delight."

Over the past few months I've been overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord expressed through his saints. Just as one example, yesterday I shared about how one of my struggles over the last couple of months has been over the issue of value (see "The Question of Value"). Well at the very time the Lord was challenging me about this issue, I received an e-mail from a dear friend, Jacqueline Brown, in Portugal. Here is an excerpt from her e-mail:

This is just to keep reminding you that you are constantly in our thoughts and prayers and that we love you. I also feel the need to remind you how great and precious you are in Gods eyes and how much He loves you. My experience of some times of hospitals and procedures and the facts of the state of the body when it is in trouble all seem to make for a picture of someone who can wonder if there is anything lovable about them. You are beautiful to God handsome and strong, a mighty warrior. He has given you the majestic stamp of His own nature in your new life and you are a royal prince and a holy priest. May He reveal to you His great love and His pride in you as His beloved and totally accepted child for whom He has a great future.

Take a look at the portions that I have put in bold. Here is my question. How did Jacqueline know that, at that precise time, these were exactly the words that I needed to hear? This is because

God has deposited his glory within His Body, and each time we share with one another, that glory is revealed in one more dimension. This is why, I believe, Colossians 3:16 tells us:

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom..."

No wonder Paul prays, in Ephesians 1:18, that we "may know...the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints..." I'm just discovering the amazing "riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints" during this time of suffering, and so, like David, I can declare, "As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight." This is a total transformation in a modern person's value system - a recognition that it is not in material things that is "all my delight" but in people - the "glorious" saints of God.

In verse 4, David carries this concept one stage further by describing the "sorrows" of those who have a different value system and a different focus in life:

"The 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."

Those who "run after other gods" and who "pour out their libations of blood" and "take up their names on [their] lips" will have an increase of sorrows. Put into modern context, this verse could read:

"The sorrows of those will increase who run after [the materialism of this world]. I will not [heed the call to consumerism] or [speak constantly of material things]."

David goes on, in verse 5, to say:

"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure."

This is contrasted with the sorrows increasing for those who chase after the gods of this world (note Matthew 6:24). By following the Lord, so that our lives indeed become His inheritance, the result is that we too have an inheritance in the Lord. We are "assigned" a "portion" and a "cup" (which, incidently, Psalm 23:5 describes as "overflow[ing]"). And what is this inheritance in the Lord like? Verse 6 says:

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

Indeed, the inheritance in the Lord is a "delightful" inheritance because it is focused on Him and flows out from him. No wonder Psalm 23:4 says: "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." When we delight ourselves in the Lord, the inheritance we discover is indeed "delightful" - for when our focus in 100% on Him, the "desires of your heart" also becomes 100% aligned with His own desires.

Verse 7 goes on to say:

"I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me."

I was amazed by this verse. I'd never really realised before what it says. The first part describes how "the LORD...counsels me", but notice the parallel describe at the end of the verse: "...even at night my heart instructs me." Did you notice what it is that instructs me at night? My heart! This can only happen because I have put Psalm 119:11 into practice:

"I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."

By hiding God's word in my heart, my heart then becomes capable of instructing me. For it is God's Word, hidden in my heart, that is doing the instructing!

Verse 8 now says:

"I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

This echoes verse 1, which starts the psalm off with these words: "Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge." By taking refuge in the Lord, I know that "I will not be shaken" (read also Psalm 62:6; Psalm 125:1; Hebrews 12:27-29).

David's response to the security that he has found in the Lord is described in verse 9:

"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay."

This security, found in the Lord, is translated into physical health - "my body will also rest secure." Although this verse is a prophecy of the coming Messiah (note Acts 2:25-32), it is also describing God's personal promise to David regarding his own future resurrection. And this is God's promise also for the believer in Christ Jesus, for Romans 8:11 says:

"And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."

This resurrection life, expressed finally in the future resurrection of the body (note Philippians 3:20-21), is also expressed in the here-and-now as a "quickening" of the mortal body (note Romans 8:11, KJV). This resurrection life is part of the inheritance we have in the Lord!

At the end of the psalm, in verse 11, David ends off with a final description of his "portion" and "cup" - the inheritance he has in the Lord because of his declaration, "...apart from [God] I have no good thing..."

"You 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.

Most people tend to focus on the last part of the verse - the "eternal pleasures at your right hand." Yes, this is the final outworking of our inheritance in the Lord, but the first part of the verse actually describes what we have right now! It is in the here-and-now that the Lord has "made known to me the path of life." And it is as I walk on this "path of life" in the here-and-now that I am "fill[ed]...with joy in your presence." In other words, when we following the Lord Jesus on the path of life, we actually have a foretaste of the "eternal pleasures" that are our inheritance in the future ages!

In fact, what I didn't even realise upon my first reading of this verse is that David isn't even talking about experiencing these "eternal pleasures" at some time in the future (i.e. after he has died), but rather is speaking of experiencing these "eternal pleasures" right now, as he walks on "the path of life" and is "filled with joy in [God's] presence." They are described as "eternal pleasures" simply because David will continue to experience them for all eternity!

I hope this short exposition of Psalm 16 has been a blessing to you, as it has to me. Now there is one thing left to do. Go and put it into practice today.