How lovely God is Pt 18: The path of life
Psalm 16 1Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. 2I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.” 3I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.” 4Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips. 5LORD, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure. 6The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. 7I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. 8I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 9Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure, 10because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay. 11You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Context
I suppose that every person has, at one time or another, cried out a lament like, “LORD, can things go right for me just once?” We live in a world of bumps and bruises and sometimes it seems there is no respite for that routine. Our faith tells us a new life is coming with a completely new kind of body and I, for one, have occasionally thought, “LORD, can we just get this over with?” Certainly it is true we don’t live in the world God originally created because sin has damaged everything, but it is the world God wants us to live and love in so we should learn and work to make the best of it.
Apart from You I have nothing
But knowing what we should do, and actually doing it are different things. When things are difficult and times hard, we often grasp at any straw or opportunity which presents itself as a solution even when it is not the path God wants us on. David is saying that every good he has finds its source in God. If you removed God, the remainder of David’s life—wealth, power, talent, victories, relationships, reputation—would amount to nothing. This is not exaggeration. It is theology shaped by experience. David has been in caves hiding from Saul. He has known betrayal. He has seen victory and success evaporate quickly. All of this has taught him that God Himself is the only enduring good.
This is not an uncommon theme in the new Testament either. James writes:
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights. (James 1:17)
And Paul adds:
What do you have that you did not receive? (1Corinthians 4:7)
So David’s statement is not merely personal—it is universal truth. To know God is to have good; to lose God is to lose everything. In our modern world we have so much that makes our lives easier, and so much that would seem to be magic to the ancient mind. But we also have so many distractions and false sources of comfort. He has discovered something the world constantly forgets—false gods always promise joy but always deliver sorrow. In a world full of “functional idols”—wealth, pleasure, approval, power—David speaks a word we need today: Anything you run after that is not God will eventually break your heart.
You alone are my portion and my cup
In ancient Israel, a “portion” referred to an inheritance—land, wealth, something allotted that defines one’s future. In Israel’s tribal system, every family had land passed down through generations. But David says that God—not land, not the kingdom, not wealth—is his inheritance, his chosen treasure. That’s saying a lot, considering that David rose to be the King of all Israel. When Israel conquered the Promised Land, one of the tribes received no land at all. These were the Levites to whom God had said:
You will have no inheritance in their land… I am your share and your inheritance. (Numbers 18:20)
This was considered the highest privilege. David sees himself spiritually in the same way: even as king, he wants God more than anything else he possesses.
The “cup” adds another dimension. A cup represents what a person drinks in life—joy or sorrow, blessing or judgment. David is saying: Whatever blessings I drink, I drink from God’s hand, because God Himself is the blessing. David is not boasting about earthly comfort. Rather, he is saying that because God is his inheritance, his life is full—no matter the circumstances. His “boundary lines” may include hardship, but they include God, and that is enough.
When we encounter those easy distractions and false comforts, it is good to remember that life is not measured by the size of our paycheck, the approval of others, or the comforts we enjoy. Just short of the blessing of eternal life is the second blessing of realizing you are on the path God designed for you. The path of life means learning to say: God is not merely the giver of my blessings—He is the blessing itself.
Paul knew this too. He who wrote almost half of the New Testament and had seen success and opposition said,
I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation. (Philippians 4:12)
That “secret,” of course, is Christ Himself.
With the LORD I will not be shaken
Just what does it mean to ‘not be shaken’? It means to be so secure in one’s relationship with the LORD God, that one is not overly traumatized when trouble comes. Believer, I have had relationship with Jesus for over 40 years so believe me when I say this is not easy. David had developed a close relationship with God the Father over several decades beginning when he was basically still a child tending the family’s sheep on the hillsides. He was ‘forced’ into relationship maybe out of boredom, or loneliness, essentially because he was totally by himself with the flocks.
Here is a picture of a believer who has walked with God long enough to have a heart shaped by His Word. David hears God’s counsel not through mystical experiences alone but through Scripture, prayer, and years of learning God’s ways. Even at night—when doubts are loudest and anxieties whisper—his heart, filled with God’s truth, guides him. To “set the LORD before me” means to intentionally place God at the center of one’s vision and decisions. It is the opposite of drifting. It is a directed, deliberate focus of the heart. This is not automatic. David chooses, daily, to keep God in view.
Jesus knows this is not easy.
My peace I give you… Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27)
And the writer of Hebrews underscores.
The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. (Hebrews 13:6)
Here’s something to bury deep in our soul: When God is at our right hand—when we choose to bring Him into each decision, each problem, each joy—we gain a stability no circumstance can take away. This does not mean believers never tremble emotionally. It means we never collapse spiritually. And it also means The path of life is a path of unshakable confidence because it is a path walked in the presence of God.
And I will not see decay
Verse 10 is a little confusing in the NIV because one wonders—“Who is the ‘faithful one?” other translations are a little more clear by using Holy One instead. David is giving prophecy that Christ will rise! Psalm 16 is not merely David’s testimony—it is also Christ’s. David’s hope was a shadow; Christ’s resurrection is the substance. Yet the resurrection of Christ does not stand alone. It becomes the guarantee of our resurrection. Because Christ did not see decay, those united to Him will not remain in the grave either.
Paul confirms this in Acts 13:
David died… his body decayed; but the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay. (Acts 13:36-37)
Jesus said:
Because I live, you also will live. (John 14:9)
And Paul adds:
He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies. (Romans 8:11)
Here is the true destination of the path of life—not merely survival, not merely blessing in this world, but eternal life in God’s presence.
What about me?
The path of life has a beginning and an end with stops for contemplation and growth in the middle. When we come to Jesus, we enter a ‘road less traveled’. It begins with renouncing lesser gods (“Apart from you I have no good thing.”) It continues with choosing God as our greatest treasure (“You alone are my portion.”) It stabilizes our present with God’s constant presence (“With the LORD at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”) And It ends in unbreakable hope (“You will not let your Holy One see decay.”)
So believer, I want to ask…
What portion are you choosing today? What path are you walking? And are you embracing the joy God offers at His right hand? Because in the end, the path of life is not a concept. It is a Person—the risen Lord, who walks with us now and welcomes us into eternal joy.