"The LORD Always Before Me"

Notes for another sermon:

"The LORD Always Before Me"
Text: Psalm 16:5-11

Exposition, part 1: David—It doesn’t get any earthier, any more direct, than David’s descriptions of the Lord in this psalm.

- “The portion”: When you divide up food, “here’s your piece”; Yahweh, the Lord, is David’s piece.
- “of my inheritance”: my share, the part that I own, my section, my own possession, what I get, what I choose for myself. David says, “God, You are my section of my land. You are my own portion of my feast.” You are just as much mine as if I didn’t have to share You with anyone else on earth.
- “and my cup”: When you take your cup and fill it up with your drink, and drink it yourself, there’s nothing more yours than that. That is what God is to David—and that is what He becomes for each of you through the symbolized reality of the Lord’s Supper.
- “You [emphatic] maintain my lot”: When it’s time for me to roll the dice to see what happens to me, You, LORD, take them out of my hands and roll them for me. The roll is in Your hands, and so are the results.
- “I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; my heart [literally, "kidneys"] also instructs me in the night seasons”: When David couldn’t sleep, it was his God who was telling his mind and his body what to say to him.
- “I have set the LORD always before me”: as this podium is in front of me, as that table is before you, David placed God in front of him, facing him.
- “Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved”: For David, God’s omnipresence was not some abstract doctrine to meditate on; it was as real as the floor he walked on and the food he ate! “God is everywhere” doesn’t just mean “God is in China and in Mexico right now”; it also means, “God is right in front of me, and God is right beside me.” He is at my right hand; I lean on Him. This wall will one day fall or be knocked down. The pillars that Samson leaned on broke apart and took the building down with them. But God is a pillar that will not wobble or fall over—and therefore, neither will David.
- “Therefore my heart is glad”: the part of me that knows, and that makes choices, is happy because it knows what it means to be this close to God!
- “and my glory rejoices”: everything that I have that is worthy anything—money, house, car, skill with my hands, knowledge, the respect my friends have for me, everything in me or around me that is honorable, it all quivers with joy!...because it knows that God is with me.
- “My flesh also will rest in hope”: David’s body feels the gladness of his heart, and it too is comforted and relaxes. It has nothing to be afraid of.

Exposition, part 2: You, and every Christian—So you say, “That was David. He was the king of Israel, he was called a man after God’s own heart, Jesus picked him as one of His ancestors, he got to write half of the biggest book in the Bible! But what about me?”

Do you wonder if any of those things could possibly apply to you? Do you think, “Well, that’s all right for David to say, but I’m just not ‘there’ spiritually?” Are you thinking that right now?

But consider this: David knew these blessings before Jesus came, as a foretaste. But now Jesus is here, and you are in Him, and He is in you—all of Him, the same God whom David knew.

Wherever the Spirit of God is, all of God is. Now David received all these blessings because he had the Spirit, but he was afraid and prayed that God would not take His Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11). But on Pentecost, God poured out His Spirit on every member of His Church, and He has never taken His presence away. You are in that Church and belong to it, which means that the Spirit of God is yours too.

So pray this prayer with David—Psalm 51:10-12—and receive God’s answer right here in this worship service. It’s obvious that He has not cast you away from His presence—He’s talking to you! He’s feeding you! He’s giving you His own body to eat and His own blood to drink! He is saving you, right here, today, and tomorrow, and every day until the last day. He has begun a good work in you, and He will complete it.

So the Psalms are not just David’s song—they’re yours too. Everything that David says about his God here is true for you too, because you belong to the same God. If anything, you can have even greater hope in God than David did. He put his faith in the Lord in the early glimmerings of the sunrise, but now the Sun, Christ, has risen on you, and full daylight has come, to give you hope.

Let’s go through these statements again.

v. 5—The LORD is your portion, your inheritance, your feast, yours to possess, even as you belong (body and soul, in life and in death) to Him.

v. 6—He draws your property lines. He watches over your bank account.

v. 7—He gives you counsel in the daytime, and He speaks to you in sleepless nights.

v. 9—He is a plenty good reason for your heart to be glad, everything you have to rejoice, and your fleshy body to relax in hope.

v. 10—He will take care of your future. You may die, but you won’t stay dead. Because Jesus wasn’t left to rot in the grave, you also (chosen in Him) can be sure that your body won’t be left to rot forever.

v. 11—He will point out the path of life to you—the path that starts with life, that is life, and that leads to life that lasts forever. In His presence are unlimited joys, and in His right hand are unending delights.

Everything good that you always wanted, in its best and purest form, is with Him—and much, much more.

Response: Prayer, and being in His presence—What is left out of the list above? The heart of the whole matter, and the best part of all! Here it is in verse 8:

“I have set the LORD
always before me;
Because He is at my right hand,
I shall not be moved.”

No matter how true all the blessings in all the rest of this psalm may be, how will you ever truly know them unless you do something about them? He is present—so make Him present to you! He is infinite delight—so delight yourself in the LORD! He is all-sufficient for all needs—so let Him be the fulfillment of all that you need!

But there’s a catch: If you set the LORD before you, He will be always before you. You cannot have Him near you so that you can call on Him in hard times, and then dismiss Him like a slave if you don’t feel like having Him nearby any more. He is the kindest of masters to those who love Him, but the hardest of tyrants to those who are stupid enough to get into a power struggle with Him.

So then, set Him always before you as your delight, and He will truly be a delight to you always! Let these Scriptures guide the way you actually live your daily and hourly life:

Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 25:14-15 The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, And He will show them His covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD, For He shall pluck my feet out of the net.
Psalm 42:1-2, 8 As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?.... The LORD will command His lovingkindness in the daytime, And in the night His song shall be with me -- A prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 63
Psalm 119:147-148, 164 I rise before the dawning of the morning, And cry for help; I hope in Your word. My eyes are awake through the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word…. Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous judgments.
Ephesians 6:17-18 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints --
Colossians 4:2 Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving;
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Peter 4:7 But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers.

Let your mind be like a compass that turns toward the north as soon as the needle is released. Every moment that you can, turn your thoughts to your Lord—when you first wake up in the morning, when you are in the shower, while you eat, when you are driving, throughout your day of work, at the moment you finish in the evening, when you are waiting for someone to come or something to happen, during the last moments before you fall asleep at night, and when you wake up during the night. Let God be your mind’s feast at every possible moment. Choose Him, and He will show Himself to be worthy of your choice and more, because He chose you first.

Psalm 16

A Michtam of David.

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."

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.

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.