Psalms 15-16
Psalm 15: Are You Worthy?
Who is worhty to live with God? Imagine what would happen if I walked up to that gate at Buckingham Palace in London and said to that tall, handsome, well-dressed guard, “Sir, I want to live with the King and Queen.” He would lok at me and say, “Begone before I arrest you.”
Who is worthy to live with God? Only through Jesus Christ can we “dwell in God’s holy hill.” David was always a little bit envious of the priests. When you read the Psalms, you find David saying things such as, “Oh, those priests. They are able to walk in the temple of God. I can’t do that. I can’t go into the Holy Place.” Spiritually he could, but physically he couldn’t. You and I are in the Lord Jesus Christ; therefore, we can come bodly into the very presence of God,not just to visit Him but to live with Him.
David described the kind of person who is able to live with God. He must have the right kind of feet (walks uprightly) and hands (works righteousness) and lips (speaks the truth) and heart. What we say with our lips alwyas has to come from our heart. Verse 3 also talks about the tongue: “He who does not backbite with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor does he take up a reproach against his friend.” Here we have the person whom God welcomes at His front door and says, “You come and live with Me.” That person has clean feet, clean hands and a clean heart that produces clean words and clean motives, in whose eyes a vile person in despised. He has eyes that look upon only what is right and good.
Here is a beautiful picture of the kind of person God wants to live with Him. And the beautiful thing is this–you will never get an eviction notices. “He who does these things shall never be moved” (v. 5). How can we be this kind of person? Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thank God for the privilege you have that David longed for. While knowing Christ personally makes it possible for you to come bodly into God’s presence, what improvements need to be made in your character so you’ll be more Christlike?
Psalm 16: A Day of Delighting
This is a psalm of delight. We don’t find any trials or tribulations anywhere in this song. David was simply delighting. He was delighting, first of all, in the Lord. “You are my Lord, my goodness is nothing apart from You” (v. 2). In other words, he was saying, “I have no good beyond God.” He delighted in the Lord. “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (37:4).
Then David was delighting in the Lord’s people. “And to the saints who are on the earth, ‘They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight'” (16:3). Do you delight in God’s people? “To live above with saints we love will certainly be glory. To live below with saints we know that’s another story.” Are some of God’s people become abrasive toward you? Are you having some problems with God’s people? Start delighting in the Lord, and you’ll start delighting in God’s people.
David also delighted in God’s providence. “You, O Lord, are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; you maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places” (vv. 5,6). God, in His providence, knows where to draw the line. One of the problems in life today is that people don’t know where God’s lines are. They want to keep moving the line. Let God give you your inheritance. You’ll recall that when Israel went into the Promised Land, God gave each tribe its inheritance. It wasn’t done by some real estate agent or by some lottery. God said, “Here are the lines. Maintain those lines.” Do you want to be able to delight in God and in God’s people? Then delight in God’s providence.
David also found delight in God’s pleasures. Psalm 16:11 has been my life verse for many years. “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Do you want life and joy? Here’s the secret: living on God’s path, living in God’s presence, living for God’s pleasures.
© Warren Wiersbe
Dr. Warren Wiersbe (1929-2019) was an internationally known Bible teacher, author, and conference speaker. He graduated in 1953 from Northern Baptist Theological Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. While attending seminary, he was ordained as pastor of Central Baptist Church in 1951 and served until 1957. From September 1957 to 1961, Wiersbe served as Director of The Literature Division for Youth for Christ International. From 1961 to 1971 he pastored Calvary Baptist Church of Covington, Kentucky south of Cincinnati, Ohio. His sermons were broadcast as the “Calvary Hour” on a local Cincinnati radio station. From 1971 to 1978, He served as the pastor of Moody Church in Chicago 1971 to 1978. While at Moody Church he continued in radio ministry. Between August 1979 and March 1982, he wrote bi-weekly for Christianity Today as “Eutychus X”, taught practical theology classes at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, and wrote the course material and taught a Doctor of Ministry course at Trinity and Dallas Seminary. In 1980 he transitioned to Back to the Bible radio broadcasting network where he worked until 1990. Dr. Wiersbe became Writer in Residence at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids and Distinguished Professor of Preaching at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. In his lifetime, Dr. Wiersbe wrote over 170 books—including the popular Be series, which has sold over four million copies. Dr. Wiersbe was awarded the Gold Medallion Lifetime Achievement by the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA).
