Week 27: Psalm 16

Psalm 16

There's nothing like biting into a cold, juicy slice of watermelon on a hot summer afternoon—bonus points for adding a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lime to it. Summer days run long, beckoning us to savor all of the pleasures the season offers—a cool dip in the pool, sunset walks, and evening bonfires, just to name a few. 

Perhaps you're enjoying this summer to its fullest, partaking in every seasonal joy possible, popsicle juice running down your arms while the kids play in the local splash pad as you flip through a fiction novel that transports you to the coast of Maine. However, it's also likely that where you're at this summer feels a whole lot more like overwhelm, discontentment, or dread with faint flickers of delight thrown in.

Maybe you're already longing for the cool breeze of fall as true summer heat sets in. Maybe this time of unrelenting heat has you longing for rest that you can't see in sight with your kids home from school for months on end. Maybe this current season of life is marked by disappointment, suffering, loss, or longing, so much so that the constant sunshine feels as if it's mocking your cold, gloomy heart.

In Psalm 16, God says the boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places. Not just back then. Not only later on, after this season subsides. But right here. Right now. How? Sometimes you have to rehearse the truth of God's Word in seasons of calm or calamity, until finally, your heart begins to believe it's not only true, but it's true for you in Him. 

Psalm 16 is a song of full satisfaction and complete confidence in God. It's the Psalm I find myself coming back to again and again for reassurance of God's good plan and care for me. It's a prescription for the summer blues. It's a declaration of truth to combat the most pervasive of lies. It's fresh hope in the midst of immense pain. The title is “You Will Not Abandon My Soul,” because even though David is hard-pressed, alone, and on the run from King Saul who seeks his very life, David knows that he is being preserved by God, with God, and for God. 

As I studied this Psalm afresh, I wrote down a truth from each verse that I can speak over my life, because God said it first and all His Words are true and trustworthy. Below, you'll see my list that is bolstering me to believe the things my heart does not naturally bend to, but that my soul longs to boast in and firmly trust. As you study, I encourage you to do the same practice and take hold of a truth from Psalm 16 that can cure the weariness, discontentment, or disbelief in your walk with God this summer. Shine His light in the darkness, for the darkness cannot overcome it. 

Verse 1: I believe God keeps me and is my refuge and safest place.

Verse 2: I have the confidence to come to God through Jesus. We speak, and I tell Him that I believe He is who He says He is–God, my God. Nothing good comes apart from Him. Satisfaction is found in Him and cannot be separated from Him.

Verse 3: Living in God's way with God's people breeds joy.

Verse 4: Sad? Sorrowful? No idol can heal a hurting heart. No amount of detaching or scrolling or money. Only God can relieve and restore.

Verse 5: God is my portion, my everything, and He holds my everything. God fills me up!

Verse 6: I'm able to look at my life and see God and His hand in everything, even in hard suffering, and give thanks to Him. The life of a Jesus follower is one of deep abounding.

Verse 7: I praise God! He speaks to me and gives me counsel. He is not silent.

Verse 8: Intentionally, I fight my flesh and the enemy by setting the Lord before me. He's beside me also. In Him, I'm unshaken.

Verse 9: In stability with God all around me, my heart is glad. I have joy! I can say this and even feel this in the presence of my enemies and in the heat of suffering, because goodness surrounds my life in Christ. He is goodness and the One who gives goodness to me.

Verse 10: Jesus is with me, and He's never leaving me. He's pulled me from the pit. He calls me holy because He has made me new.

Verse 11: God reveals which way to go that leads to flourishing and life, which is to say, He lights our path straight to Himself. He's where all the joy is–total pleasure, peace, and perfection. I want to be here forever, and I get to because Jesus not only revealed the path of life, but He is the Way.

Thank you, God, for Your goodness, Your plan, Your path, Your counsel, Your preservation, and Your presence. 

In Him, we have fullness of joy.

It's not seasonal, sister.

It's eternal. 

-Alexis