Psalm 16 – Seek The Lord First

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

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”

I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”

Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.

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

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

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

— Psalm 16 NIV

From the very beginning of this psalm, it is known that the Lord is the only one who the psalmist relies on for well being. David is running to no other person, no other thing, no other place but God alone. It continues “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” Again you see that the only focus is God. Re-read that. It doesn’t say apart from your gifts I have no good thing or apart from what you tell me I have no good thing or even apart from what you’ve done for me I have no good thing. It says “apart from you I have no good thing.” 

Verse 1 “for in you, I take refuge”
Verse 2 “you are my Lord, apart from you I have no good thing”
Verse 5 “you alone are my portion and cup; you make my lot secure”
Verse 6I will praise the Lord, who counsel me”
Verse 7I keep my eyes always on the Lord”
Verse 11You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

Think about how easy it is to be distracted. By your phone, by your friends, by Netflix or even by your schoolwork. The distractions are endless. David had distractions. I think its easy to believe that it was easier in the days of the bible or even in the days of our parents/grandparents to focus on God because that’s all there was to do. There wasn’t Intstagram or Grey’s Anatomy. But just because they didn’t have the same exact distractions doesn’t mean that distractions didn’t exist. They were there and they were real. David is an example of perseverance. Even through distraction, he would still praise the Lord. He would still keep his eyes on the Lord because he knew who the Lord was. 

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a challenge

My challenge to you is to seek Him first. If that means turning on worship music in your car—do that. If that means praying before you wake up and before you get on social media— do that. If that means finding a church/community to get plugged into— do that. The more you know Him and the more you seek Him, the more you will be aware of Him. Your eyes will start to shift focus from things of this world to Him. Things that you used to focus on will lose its power and He will become the One who satisfies you. 

pray

God, thank You that You are good. I pray that this week no matter where anyone is, that there would be a grace and favor to switch our focus from things of this world to You. That You would let us become more aware of Your presence. 

– Ashley Gibson