My Portion and My Cup: A Meditation on Psalm 16:1-8

     The Lord speaks to people in different ways, and one of the ways he has spoken to me is when he will bring to mind a part of a verse that applies to a current struggle.  In the spring of 2011, God brought Psalm 16 to my attention in this way.  He has since used it as a promise and an anchor in learning to love him more than the expectations and dreams for my life, on which I tend to stubbornly insist.

     Psalm 16 is an incredibly powerful passage of Scripture that reflects the spiritual and physical struggles of King David.  He cries out for God to preserve his life and to help him find contentment in the lot which he is given.  He praises the Lord and speaks the simple, potent truth which we all need to hear – that there is absolutely nothing better and more secure than having the Lord Himself as our eternal portion in life.

¹Preserve me, O God, for in You I take refuge.  ²I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” (Psalm 16:1-2)

     David begins this psalm by crying out to the Lord to protect his life.  He had many challenges during his life, both from the circumstances of his life and the consequences of his sin.  There were times when he was fleeing from Saul who wanted to kill him, and the only hope he had for his physical safety was God’s protection.  Other times, his spiritual life was gravely in danger and he needed refuge from the lies and hatred of the devil.  In all these things, we can imagine King David kneeling down before the Lord, hands folded and praising him – “I truly have no good apart from you.”  As sinners, not one blessing comes to us apart from the great mercy of the Lord.  Let us rejoice in being his servants, for there is no greater place of peace.

³As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.  ⁴The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.

     The people of God have been saved by him and will ultimately be victorious in the end.  David delights in the community that they offer and longs to be a part of them.  He determines that he will stay within this community and will not run after another god.  Idolatry was rampant in Canaan and the lands around it.  For David, worshipping those other gods meant pouring out blood for them and repeating their names in worship or prayer.

     Personally for me, there is not a completely different religion with which I am struggling.  However, there are many idols which I have worshipped in my life by spending time, money, energy, and thoughts on them – figurative “drink offerings of blood.”  Throughout my life, I have desperately wanted to attend one of the most prestigious universities in the nation.  Being much younger than my siblings, I watched them go through college with success and I determined to get the best SAT scores and be smarter than all of them.  I was driven by this competition with my family members and fellow peers, causing me to work hard in high school and think that I could go to whatever school I wanted.  I applied to several schools with cutthroat acceptance rates, as well as a couple back-up schools.  I’ll never forget the night when I scrolled down a webpage at 12:15 am in the morning and found out that I was accepted to the school of my dreams, into the program of my dreams.  However, I’ll also never forget the day a couple weeks later when I scrolled down a webpage to find out that the financial aid I had been given would cause me an astronomical amount of debt.  It seemed unfair, because it was due to a unique financial situation in my family that I couldn’t control.  So many times I told my dad – “This is my big break!”  I could get a good job and pay off the debt later.  Here was the culmination of years of looking to academics as my god.  When I struggled socially or felt alone, I looked ahead to college in which I would “prove everyone wrong” and be successful, even if I felt small now.  My identity had been founded in my own ability and not in the way in which God loves me and allowed my hate to be nailed to him on a cross.  But then, then comes the beauty and the turning point of this psalm.

⁵The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.  ⁶The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

     The psalm takes a paradigm shift here, for David has been proclaiming what he will do in his relationship to God as he lives the world.  However, here I can see him raising his hands to God and crying out, “YOU hold my lot.”  It is not David or I or any of us who hold on to God, but it is He who holds on to us and has freely given himself to be our portion.  This is the statement of absolute surrender and rest – YOU hold my lot.  Because Christ holds our lot, we know that all will be well eternally.  There may be great blessing that comes in this life, but the lines will surely fall for us in pleasant places eternally.  Our inheritance is living forever with the one who loved and redeemed us, his broken enemies.  The university I ended up at is exactly the place where I need to be – I can see that Christ is “holding my lot” here and has directed me to places where I am needed and can be used to make His name known.  When my dreams for friendships and relationships have been broken and unfulfilled, Christ still holds my lot and I can rest in peace about the future.  He will perfectly provide for every situation, even if it is different than I expect or hope.

⁷I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.  ⁸I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

     David blesses the Lord, thanking him for the counsel that he gives him.  Although our hearts are often wayward and can be “deceitful above all things”, the Lord nudges us in the right direction through His Word, Christian community, circumstances, and His still, small voice in the middle of the night.  With this God at our right hand, we will never be shaken.  What precious, precious words these are!  Though we feel alone, though the tears come from our eyes in the still of the night, though we suffer the darkest nights of pain, yet we shall never be completely uprooted.  Our God is alive and present – He knows where you are, though you feel lost.

     As you think on the greatness and nearness of God in all our circumstances, meditate on these verses from Psalm 73 that reiterate the promise well:

               

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.  ²⁴You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.  ²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you?  And there is nothing on earth that I desire beside you.  ²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Guest Post by Elizabeth Magill