Psalm 16

"Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, 'You are my Lord, I have no other good apart from you." (Psalm 16: 1 – 2)

Psalm 16 is one of my favorite psalms. I love the themes which are so real life in their applications. Here are some of the themes of Psalm 16 that I love:

• I have no other good apart from God. True or false? True.
  
• From God alone comes the good things I enjoy in life.
  
• You are my only good.
  
• My happiness is in none of the sacred spirits of the earth.
  

What are the sacred spirits of the earth, these other gods?

• Money
  
• Health
  
• Job
  
• Family
  
• Tools
  
• Food
  

Those who place these gods above the Creator multiply their sorrows.

Accursed are all who delight in false gods, they multiply their sorrows.

The sacred spirits of the earth take advantage of all who love them.

Jesus Christ is the Open Door

"I know what you are doing. I have set before you an open door which no one can shut. I know your strength is small, yet you have observed my command and have not disowned my name." (Revelations 3: 8)

God knows what I am doing here and now.

Jesus Christ is my open door.

Hope

"We are led by the Spirit to wait in the confident hope of saving justice through faith." (Galatians 5: 5)

What is hope?

Be joyful in hope (Romans 12: 12)

The God of hope fill you with joy and peace so that you may overflow with hope (Romans 15: 13)

That you might know what is the hope of his calling (Ephesians 1: 18)

By faith we wait for the hope of righteousness (Galatians 5: 5)

This hope is an anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6: 19)

In his name will the gentiles hope (Matthew 12: 21)

The hope laid up for you in heaven (Colossians 1: 5)

Your steadfastness of hope (1 Thessalonians 1: 3)

Looking for the blessed hope (Titus 2: 13)

A better hope through which we draw near to God (Hebrews 7: 19)

 

Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1: 27)

Christ Jesus, our hope (1Timothy 1:1)

 

(ROGET'S THESAURUS OF THE BIBLE)

Be Strong

"Be strong, stand firm; have no fear, do not be afraid of them, for Yahweh your God is going with you; he will not fail you or desert you." (Deuteronomy 31: 6)

Be strong and bold

Be strong and resolute

Be brave and steadfast

 

Be strong! (Deuteronomy 31:6, 7, 23; Joshua 1: 6, 7,9, 18; 10:25; 1 Samuel 4:9; 2 Samuel 10: 12; 1 Kings 2:2; 1 Chronicles 19:13; 22: 13; 28: 10, 20; 2 Chronicles 15:7; 25: 8; 32:7; Isaiah 35:4; Daniel 10: 19; Haggai 2:4; Zechariah 8:9, 13; 1 Corinthians 16: 13)

Strengthen yourself! (1 Kings 20:22)

Be strong in the Lord (Ephesians 6: 10)

Be strong in grace (2 Timothy 2: 1)

 

"He will not fail you or desert you."

• Do not forsake me (Psalm 27:9, 38: 21, 119:8)
  
• I am old yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken (Psalm 37: 25)
  
• I will not leave you. (Genesis 28: 15)
  
• I will not forsake my people (1 Kings 6: 13)
  
• The Lord will not abandon his people (Psalm 94: 14)
  
• Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by God (Jeremiah 51: 5)
  
• God will never leave you or forsake you (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Joshua 1: 5; I Chronicles 28: 20; Hebrews 13:5)
  

May he not leave us nor forsake us (1 Kings 8: 57)

I will not forsake them (Isaiah 41: 17)

You did not forsake them (Nehemiah 9: 17, 19, 31)

We are persecuted but not forsaken (2 Corinthians 4: 9)

I will not leave you as orphans (John 14: 18)

 

(ROGET'S THESAURUS OF THE BIBLE)

Our troubles are temporary

"Our troubles are slight or short-lived, and their outcome is an eternal glory which far outweighs them, provided our eyes are fixed, not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen; for what is seen is transient, what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4: 17)

Our delays, trials, disappointments though slight and temporary are nevertheless preparing us for an eternal joy. Fix your eyes on Christ and his grace and offer up your sufferings in union with his sufferings for our redemption.

Are things created in pair and opposites?

• Temporary – eternal
  
• Visible - invisible
  
• Trouble - glory
  
• Transitory - permanent
  
• Suffering - joy
  
• Present - future
  
• Cross - crown
  
• Trouble - triumph
  

 

Principle of 2 creations

"By faith we understand that the universe was ordered by the word of God, so that what is visible came into being through the invisible." (Hebrews 11: 3)

All things are created twice:

• First creation is invisible.
  
• Second creation is visible.
  

We can choose what we create in our world through the principle of first creation.

"We look not to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4: 18)

We are the clay

"Yet, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." (Isaiah 64: 8)

We are the clay, you are the potter.

You are like clay in the hand of the potter (Jeremiah 18: 6)

Can the pot criticize the potter? (Isaiah 29: 16; 45: 9; Romans 9: 20 – 21)