Psalm 16, an ancient poem of David, is full of insight and encouragement. We would all do well to read and reflect on it more than once this week. For now, could I focus your attention on just the first two verses? If we do a little digging, we’ll find four seeds that would be great to memorize and use as fertilizer for our prayers.
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
“Preserve me, O God.” What a great thing to pray from the beginning of this week! “Protect me. Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. Keep me safe. Be with me, Lord, wherever I go.”
“I take refuge in you.” That speaks to a lifestyle, a mindset, not just a tip of the religious cap on Sunday. “With you is where I want to be. You are more than my Redeemer from sin; you are the Rock of my heart. My fortress. My home. I want to abide in you.”
“You are my Lord,” an expressed attitude of submission. How powerful to imitate David’s example in saying to the LORD, “Lead the way, and I will follow. Define the path, and I will respect it. Your ways are higher than my ways and your thoughts than my thoughts. I yield all I have and everything I am to you. You are my Lord.”
“I have no good apart from you,” language of priority. “Nothing is better than you, O God. May I put no thing before you. May I cling to not one thing as more precious than you. Because your steadfast love is better than life, I praise you. You are the best. Help me to prioritize everything around you and bring my best to you in all I do.”
Psalm 16 is full of insight and encouragement. We would all do well to read and reflect on it more than once this week. But what sort of week could you have if you memorized just those first two verses? What perspective would be opened to you if you prayed those lines multiple times each day? How much closer could you be drawn to the One who makes known the path of life, in whose presence is fullness of joy, and in whose hand are pleasures forevermore?
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”
Let’s plant those seeds deep in our hearts and pray them this week. Come what may, we’ll be able to say with David,
I have set the LORD always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. (Psa 16:8)