Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Finding Security and Joy in God: Exploring Psalm 16 with King David
Struggling to find security in an uncertain world? You're not alone. King David faced the same challenge thousands of years ago when he penned Psalm 16, a profound meditation on finding refuge in God rather than worldly achievements.
The message couldn't be more countercultural. While society teaches us to find security in education, career success, wealth, and possessions, David boldly declares that true security comes from God alone. Having spent half his life running from people who wanted to kill him, David knew firsthand the difference between temporary shelter and true refuge.
David outlines four compelling reasons for his confidence: God was his unfailing refuge, his wise counsellor, his guaranteed inheritance, and his source of genuine joy. This framework offers a refreshing alternative to our often exhausting pursuit of security through accomplishment and acquisition. As one particularly striking insight reveals: unlike retirement funds that require careful budgeting to avoid depletion, God's inheritance never runs dry. He has prepared eternal mansions where earthly limitations don't exist.
The practical wisdom is disarmingly simple yet profound. While there's nothing inherently wrong with enjoying television, shopping, or other comforts, problems multiply when we expect these temporary pleasures to provide lasting security. David models a better way—pouring out his heart to God first, seeking divine counsel before making decisions, and finding joy in relationship rather than possessions.
As we approach Easter, Psalm 16 takes on even deeper significance, foreshadowing Christ's resurrection and the eternal inheritance secured for believers. Want to experience the security David discovered? Take time this week to read Psalm 16 in multiple translations, ask the difficult "why" questions, and consider where you're truly placing your trust. Your inheritance might be richer than you imagine.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Greetings and salutations everyone. I just spent 40 minutes talking to myself and I did a really, really good sermon because for some reason it didn't record. So here we go again. Hopefully I have the same zeal and excitement as I'm going through this. Today we're going to be focusing on Psalm 16. It's all about trusting God and his plan, and the reason I'm doing this is because of the content in relation to this passage of scripture. This is David, king David, and he did a lot of the Psalms because he had a lot of ups and downs in his life, but he had a heart after the Lord.
Speaker 1:Psalm 16 is a psalm of security and joy in God. It encourages us to trust in the Lord's guidance and protection, even in the face of uncertainty, and to find the true joy and fulfillment in Him alone. As I go through this, I mean there are several possibilities. Some people think it means the golden words in this particular section of passage of Scripture is where David was at his peak. It's a bit like an athlete. I mean you train very hard and your ultimate goal maybe it is the Olympics, but you'll get to a stage and an age in your life or your development that you're at your peak, you're at your optimum functioning level and you've got to make the most of that when you're there. And this is a bit like what David did, what we do know about the Psalms that he wrote that he found security in God. We find in a society that teaches people to find their security in their achievements, in their education, in their career, in their wealth and their investments and many other things. But David explains in the Psalms about trusting in the things that are set before yourself to alleviate a stressful life filled with disappointment. Therefore, david declares that he will find his security in God alone, and he can do this for several reasons.
Speaker 1:Now, this is the thing I want to mainly get across to you in relation to this passage of scripture in psalm 16. Where are you going to put your focus? In the natural things and things that you achieve yourself, or things that you have before you, or are you going to put your trust in the Lord and the security that he has for you? Now, there's four reasons I'm saying this. Number one firstly, because God was David's refuge and God would always be there when he was needed, when David needed him. Secondly, because God was his guide. God guided David and he was his counsellor and his wisdom. And thirdly, because God was his inheritance and it's a guaranteed great blessing. And fourthly, because of the joy that was secured in God alone. And the take-home point for us here is that in the Psalms this morning, in this particular Psalm 16, we can find our security in God, just like David did. We can find our security in God just like David did, and David experienced the same joy that he had because Jesus had earned our salvation and guaranteed our inheritance. Today, as we turn to Psalm 16, it's a powerful and moving Psalm that speaks to the heart of faith and security that we find in God. This Psalm, penned by King David, is not just a historical text but a living word that speaks to our own living, our lives and our experiences today. So as we listen to the word of Psalm 16, we allow them to speak to our hearts and our minds.
Speaker 1:Psalm 16, 1-7 is all about seeking God's guidance and his protection. David begins by asking God to preserve him. He says this is a cry for protection. This is a cry for protection. It's a. This is where David is showing his vulnerability and he declare his declaration is dependent upon God. David acknowledges that he has placed his trust in God and he seeks God's guidance and protection in all the areas of his life. He also expresses his love for the Lord and he delights in being in God's presence. Now, this is Psalm 16, 2 through to 3. David recognizes the value of God's people and the blessings that come from being in a relationship with them, but he declares that his true joy and satisfaction comes from the Lord alone. Psalm 16, 3 and 4. He finds comfort in knowing that the Lord is his inheritance and that he has no need for anything else, and David declares that God is his portion and his inheritance and his source. I think it's very, very important. Perhaps I should stop there, and what I want to do is we will go straightly to uh, psalm 16, and I want to read this to make sure, uh and you can follow along with me if you like, uh, but I want you to make sure that you you look at this and get this in its right perspective, because in Psalm 16, david lays it all out and I think it's important for you to actually realize.
Speaker 1:The title of the psalm is the Hope of the Faith and the Messiah's Victory, and this is what it says. Listen to me as I read this. 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 in the earth, you are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight. Their sorrows shall be multiplied. Who hastens 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.
Speaker 1:The line has fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel. My heart also instructs me in night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me. Hang on, bear with me, because I know some of you won't read this. You'll listen to the message and you won't. It says you will not leave my soul in Shiloh, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life in your presence. His fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore, pleasures, forevermore. See, what's actually happening here is that David is expressing. He's pouring his heart out for God in the same way that God is clearly showing that he is pouring out his heart for him is pouring out his heart for him. David expresses his joy and his confidence in God's presence and his assurance of eternal life. And just remember. It says I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel, even through the nights. He instructs me counsel. Even through the nights he instructs me.
Speaker 1:What we have to do here is we need to make sure that we do seek his counsel. As we reflect on Psalm 16, let us be reminded to seek God's guidance and protection in all areas of our life. Let us trust in God's faithfulness and his promises, even when we face uncertainty and difficulties. The thing is that we will go through trials and tribulations. It very clearly states that throughout the scriptures as well, and I'm not going to go there at the moment, for I just want to make sure that I get all of this down pat for you. What I'm saying is that we need to make sure that we use the scriptures to to improve our relationship with the Father, but also it gives us a protection on things.
Speaker 1:Here. There's one thing I was saying earlier. I'll give you a classic example. He's talking about inheritance. He's talking about his truth and he's talking about a place for us in the heavenly realm. He's talking about a place for us in the heavenly realm.
Speaker 1:If you look at things in the natural, if you take a picture of where we are at right now, and let's say, you go to school, you get educated, you get yourself a job right Once you get yourself a job, you say doing that job for, let's say, 40 years, and then you decide to retire. Now I don't know the legislative structure in other countries, but I'm talking about Australia. Right In Australia, we have a thing called superannuation and we also have age pensions. So basically, once you've finished working, you get access to your superannuation and you go on a pension, but there's only a limited amount of funds available and and hypothetically, if you live until you're 80, then you need to sit down with the funds that you've got and calculate how much you need to live on and to survive on and making sure that you're not going to run out of money for that, because we can't rely on an inheritance from our parents or from our siblings or whatever.
Speaker 1:We are focusing on the inheritance of our Lord and Saviour. But the big difference is that's what happens in the natural. So you need to basically budget yourself to make sure that you can survive, and sometimes you've got to go without certain luxuries and things that you desire to have because it's not in your budget, it's not in your financial reservoir that you have and there's no inheritance. But with God it is an endless supply and he has prepared a mansion for you, and your inheritance is everything that David is talking about in this psalm.
Speaker 1:Here, as we reflect on Psalm 16, I want us to be reminded to seek God's guidance and his protection in all areas of our life. Let us trust in God's faithfulness and his promises, even when we are facing uncertainty and difficulty. Let us find our true joy and security in god, and we need to be able to declare our faith in him. We need to all find joy and light of God's love and grace. Remember God is our refuge. David says in verse 1, preserve me, o God, for in you I take refuge.
Speaker 1:What does the word refuge make you think of? Maybe a building with locks and doors, maybe a thick-walled fortress, or perhaps something as simple as a little hut to keep you dry in a rainstorm, like you get here sometimes when we have these unusual weather patterns at the moment, where all of a sudden it'd be really great one day and then all of a sudden it just buckets down Whatever comes to mind. It is fair to say that a refuge is a safe place, that you go to find shelter when you need it. If anyone ever needed a safe place, it was David. He spent half his life on the run from people who wanted to kill him first King Saul, then foreign his own son, absalom. David knew his vulnerability, but he also knew that he had a safe house, god. God was David's refuge, his safe place.
Speaker 1:I wonder what your safe place is. Where do you go in times of trouble? When do you need aid? When do you want to have rest? When do you need to escape? I think we. I honestly think that if we're all honest, we could all be able to say where we want to go for our refuge, and you know, we look at things always in the natural. Could it be TV? Maybe your escape is a show or a sitcom or a movie. Computer games are other safe places for many people, especially young people these days. Maybe it's the beautification of ladies and men in society Some of us are. My daughter does this. They call it retail therapy. You just go and shop. The mall is a safe place where you go to recover, where you can buy more stuff and put your hope in new possessions to give you the joy that you desperately desire Food, books, sport, the list goes on.
Speaker 1:There is nothing wrong with any of these things in a certain context, but nothing at all, except maybe computer games. But no, no, let's not do that. Listen, guys, let's not do that. Listen guys, guys and girls, this is what I'm saying. We are absolutely meant to enjoy the things that the world has, as long as they line up with the things of God. There's nothing wrong with shopping food, sport, books, getting the facials done or any of these things.
Speaker 1:But what I do want you to take away from this message is shopping is a sin, facebook is a sin, watching movies is a sin. No way, those things are great. God has given us all these things for our enjoyment. But the problem is us. We get tempted to look for security in these things and we treat them as they will bring everlasting relief. They are not real refugees. They are not real refugees. They are the storms of life and they want to provide us help, but it's only a short break. So, in a nutshell, what I'm saying is that, look, there's nothing wrong with retail therapy, there's nothing wrong with watching sitcoms or anything. There's nothing wrong with watching sitcoms or anything.
Speaker 1:But there are limitations to what we should invest our life in for some temporary satisfaction and refuge. See, david too, had other possible refuges, but he declared in this first verse oh God, in you I take refuge. We need to make sure that we know who our real refuge is. Is David here makes it very, very clear the only thing that gave him real shelter from a storm was God. He recognized that God was his only safe place in this unpredictable world. Why is God the only true refuge? Well, in verse 4, it says because our problems multiply when we attempt to find our security in anything other than him. So how do we make God our refuge? It's a good question and, believe it or not, it's a simple answer. All we need to do is we need to simply ask him to be our refuge.
Speaker 1:Often in the Psalms, david encourages us to pour out our hearts to God. That's what David did all the time he poured out his hearts to God. That's what David did all the time he poured out his heart to God. God was about what was going on in his life and he asked God to intervene on his behalf. When we turn to God first and go to him for help, we begin to know him as a refuge. He really enters into the storms and the problems of our lives and has the power to do something about it. David truly believed that God was his guide, his counsellor, his instructor, as well as his refuge.
Speaker 1:If you look at verse 7, it says oh bless the Lord who gives me counsel in the night also, my heart instructs me. And this brings us to our second point. This morning and I know I'm going to run out of time Psalm 16 is a powerful reminder of the importance of trusting in God, seeking his guidance and finding our joy in him. And finding our joy in him. May we all be encouraged to live our lives with confidence in God's love and protection, and may we all find our true purpose and fulfillment in him. Let us go forth and be a witness to the world of the power and the grace of God.
Speaker 1:The reason I am saying this is this is a preamble to what comes next. God is our refuge. God is the person that we need to go to. We need to trust him, we need to understand that he has a plan for us, and as we do this, we will come to the conclusion that not only in times of trouble and stress and worry and anguish that we go to the Lord. We go to him for good counsel and for peace, love, compassion and understanding.
Speaker 1:I found myself at a stage now that every time I have a decision to make that will affect not only me but my family, now and in the future, I always take it to the Lord and seek his counsel. He's smarter than us. He's wiser than us council, he's smarter than us. He's wiser than us, and we can see throughout the Bible, both in Old Testament, new Testament, how people have drawn on his strength and on his abilities. And this is what I'm talking about now, as we lead up to Easter. This is a reminder of what the Word of God can do in our lives.
Speaker 1:And I'm going to go one step further and next week I'm actually going to do a teaching on communion, the importance of communion, why we do communion, why we should do the communion, not just whenever we're in trouble, but just as something that we do, and then we will finish up with I understanding of why Jesus went to the cross for us, why he shed his blood for us, why he bore those stripes upon his back, why did he do this? You know, sometimes when you read through the scriptures and you may have had a father like me and I'm a father similar to my father and I'm a grandfather as well and your children come to you and they ask you that question why, why do you do this? Why do we actually? Um, why does this take place and why does that take place?
Speaker 1:And what it is is that we have a tendency to be intolerable or should I say not tolerable of our children constantly saying why, why, why, why. And so we get to a stage where we say that's because I say so, or that's the way that it is. Not that I'm picking on them, them, but I remember when we were go first going to church and we're going to a catholic church I was asking questions of the nuns and of the, the priests, and I wanted to know more about the word of god. I wanted to know more about the relationship that we could have with him, and I was always told that, well, that's just the way it is. That that's how we do things. It's not an explanation. We need to know why we need to get that understanding, and the way to do that is to go to the word of God.
Speaker 1:If you go to the scriptures and spend time in his word, then he will reveal things fenced in and hidden to let you know why certain things have happened in the Bible, why he's there for you, why he's your rock, why he's your reference and why should you trust in him and his plan. More on this next week. So that's it for now, this next week. So that's it for now, and please, I want you to go through Psalm 16, read it for yourself and expand on it. Study it when you read it. Read it in different versions of the Bible. You can read it in the King James and then you look at the New King James, then perhaps you read the Amplified or the NIV and you get a broader spectrum of what God is really telling us and how he wants you to be part and parcel of his family for the inheritance. But with him being part of our family, it means that we need to talk to him on a regular basis. All right, god bless. Bye for now, and we'll talk to you next week.
