Psalm 16 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 16 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
Verse 2I say to the Lord, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."
Verse 3As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight.
Verse 4Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips.
Verse 5The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.
Verse 6The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage.
Verse 7I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.
Verse 8I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
Verse 9Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure.
Verse 10For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.
Verse 11You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Devotion
As teen-agers, my friends and I “bean walked” for extra cash in the summer. We walked the rows of soybean fields all morning long, pulling cockleburs, mustard, pigweed and errant corn. Though the work was hard, there was nothing quite like looking back over the clean field, dark green rows rippling in the wind. Even though they belonged to the farmer, they seemed like a “goodly heritage.” We don’t need to own land to feel, as the psalmist does, the satisfaction of our life and work, to feel that “the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places.” Yet whose hand made it possible? Who gave us the good counsel? “I bless the Lord,” the psalmist says. “In the presence of the Lord there is fullness of joy.” May we always bless the Lord in the same way, knowing this goodly heritage truly belongs not to us but to God.
Prayer
Thank you, loving God, for the blessings of this day and all your gifts to us. Help us to use them wisely and share with those in need, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.