Day 7
Read Psalm 16
When our daughter Addison was a toddler she was not a cuddler. She would sit on our lap for a maximum of twenty seconds and then she wanted to get down and run and play. She was willing to sit and cuddle only when she was sick or when she was afraid. If she was sick or afraid she would sit in my lap for as long as I let her. There was a deep sense of security when she was in mommy’s or daddy’s arms. Everything was going to be okay – safe, secure, at peace.
If Psalm 13 is the perfect example of a Psalm of Lament, Psalm 16 is the perfect example of a Psalm of Praise. The Psalmist, most likely King David, describes an overwhelming sense of security when he thinks about God. He says, “in you I take refuge” (vs. 1), “apart from you I have no good thing” (vs. 2), “you have made my lot secure” (vs. 5), “because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken” (vs. 8), “my body also will rest secure, because you will not abandon me to the grave” (vs. 9-10). And so the Psalmist praises God. The ESV translates verse 5 as “You hold my lot.” The word “lot” in Hebrew was used to describe the portion of land allotted to different people or tribes. In context, it means our place in the world. God holds our place. Not fate or random happenstance or political leaders or grand conspiracies, but God.
We live in a day when anxiety reigns. We are anxious about our families, our health, our safety, our financial situation, our jobs. Real life stuff. Our minds are also really good at getting anxious about things that are less important - the size of our house or car or congregation or waistline. I wonder how our understanding of God would need to change to have the sense of security David describes here in Psalm 16, or Addie had when she climbed into her mom’s lap when she was scared? Imagine what it would look like to say to God, “apart from you I have no good thing.” David Powlison would often say that “there are good reasons to be anxious” - life comes at us. But, then he would say, “there are even better reasons to trust.” Psalm 16 invites us to remember who holds our lot.
Prayer
Take some time today to reflect on your level of anxiety. Do you trust that God can bring you through the real life stuff or that He is more important than the silly stuff we often worry about? If not, that is normal, start by asking Him to help you trust.
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