Step into a sanctuary of solace and discover the profound wisdom of Psalm 16 with Crowd Church's latest talk, "Reclaiming Your Sanctity: How to Take Refuge in God." This enlightening exploration, invites you to delve into the depths of faith, finding refuge and sanctity in the embrace of the Divine.
01The Two Words That Change Everything
Psalm 16 opens with a request that most people skim right past. Two words: "Preserve me."
On the surface, it sounds like a fairly standard prayer. Someone asking God for help. But sit with those words for a moment, and something deeper emerges. The speaker in this talk made an observation that reframes the entire psalm: "The imagery of preservation implies that without God, David will rot. He will decay. Because that is what happens when something is not preserved."
That is a brutally honest starting point. Not "bless me" or "reward me" or "make things easier." Preserve me. Without you, I am going to fall apart.
02A Gospel Song Written Centuries Too Early
Psalm 16 is attributed to David, and some scholars have translated its heading as "a golden psalm," meaning its content is of the highest value, something to be treasured. The biblical commentator Matthew Henry described it as speaking "so plainly of Christ and his resurrection, who is the true treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament."
What makes this remarkable is timing. This was written centuries before Jesus was born. And yet the language reads like someone who has already encountered the good news that Christians talk about today. The themes of sin, surrender, lordship, community, and joy are all present in sixteen short verses.
"Every time I read it, it points me to Jesus and the gift of new life I now have in him because of the work of the cross. Which is quite remarkable, really, because it was written a few hundred years prior to Christ's coming. But it is such a gospel song."
03The Honest Admission Nobody Wants to Make
David does not open with confidence. He opens with need. "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."
There are two things happening in that opening. First, David is admitting he is flawed. He is not good enough on his own. Without God, there is no good in him at all. As the speaker pointed out, this echoes what Paul would write centuries later in Romans: "No one is righteous. Together they have become worthless."
That is a hard pill to swallow in a culture that constantly tells people they are enough exactly as they are. David is saying the opposite. Left to his own devices, he is not enough. He needs preserving.
The second thing happening is that David is expressing faith. By asking God to preserve him, he is acknowledging that God is actually able to do so. It is a statement of trust wrapped inside a confession of weakness. "Just as Peter writes that God preserved Noah during the flood, in the same way David knows God is able to save him from himself and from the world around him."
These two admissions, that we are not sufficient on our own and that God is able to make up the difference, sit at the heart of what it means to explore the Christian faith. Sin and lordship. Recognising the problem, then handing over control to someone who can actually do something about it.
04The Difficult Business of Loving Other Believers
After dealing with his own relationship with God, David turns his attention to other people. He calls them "the saints in the land" and describes them as "the excellent ones in whom is all my delight."
This sounds lovely until you remember what people are actually like.
"The church, the saints, can be a difficult place to be in sometimes. They can be difficult people to be around. And it can be difficult to feel like delighting in the saints, because people are hard work. They are difficult to love. I am difficult to love."
That honesty is refreshing. The instruction to love other believers is not presented as something easy or natural. It is presented as something worthwhile despite being genuinely hard. People are complex. They disappoint. They cause pain. They do not always behave the way we think they should.
But David is making a choice to see them through a different lens. These saints, like David himself, have had their identity changed. They were once "worthless" by their own merit, but God has given them value. Looking at other believers through that lens, through the way God sees them rather than through the frustrations of everyday human interaction, changes things.
Paul captured this same idea when he wrote to the church in Thessaloniki: "For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy."
There is something powerful about investing in a community of people who are all, however imperfectly, trying to live for the same thing.
05The Reward of Daily Devotion
The second half of Psalm 16 shifts into something that reads almost like a manifesto for daily life. "I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."
These are not one-off declarations. They describe a pattern, a rhythm. Continuous actions. Daily choices to put God first, to seek counsel, to stay anchored.
What is striking is the context. David wrote this psalm from a place of difficulty. He opened by asking God to preserve him, to be his refuge. He is clearly going through something hard. And yet, right in the middle of that hardship, he is describing joy and delight and contentment.
"He knows his God will never abandon him. He knows that he will experience the fullness of joy even in these difficult moments. He is content. He is satisfied. What a wonderful way to describe your state of being."
This is not a prosperity message. It is not "follow God and everything will be easy." It is something more nuanced and, frankly, more useful. It is the claim that even in seasons of genuine difficulty, there is a kind of settled peace available to those who make a daily practice of turning towards God rather than away from him.
06The Lines Have Fallen in Pleasant Places
One of the most beautiful phrases in all of scripture appears in verse six: "The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance."
In its original context, this referred to the allocation of land. The "lines" were boundary markers. David is saying that what he has been given, the life God has mapped out for him, is good. He is not looking over the fence at someone else's portion. He is not restless or dissatisfied. He is content with what is his.
In a world that runs on comparison, on the constant measuring of our lives against curated versions of everyone else's, that kind of contentment feels almost revolutionary. Not settling. Not giving up on ambition. Just a deep, quiet satisfaction with the portion that has been given.
07The Path of Life
Psalm 16 closes with a line that has sustained countless people through dark seasons: "You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."
The fullness of joy is not found in circumstances. It is found in presence. In proximity to God. The pleasures are not temporary or conditional. They are described as lasting forever.
For David, writing from a place of need, this was not wishful thinking. It was the settled conviction of someone who had tested the claim and found it to be true.
08Something Worth Reflecting On
Psalm 16 covers a lot of ground in a small space: the honest admission of need, the choice to make God lord of your life, the difficult but rewarding work of loving a community of believers, and the daily practice of devotion that leads to genuine contentment.
Which of those resonates most with where you are right now?
Topics in this talk
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to discover the meaningful life Jesus brings us now this month this August we are going to be doing things just a little bit different if you've been to one of our live streams before you all have seen host buzzing with energy and doing real-time engagement uh in the comments doing something that we call conversation Street oh yes we like live streaming we like conversation street but for this August our usual live stream we'll be taking a little sabbatical the members of the crowd team just like many of you will be taking this time to rest recover and recharge with our loved ones just as God rested on the seventh day we believe in the importance of Sabbath I've taken rest I've taken time off to renew our spirits and regain our strength so during this time what's gonna happen where you'll still see a scheduled video going out each week as usual what we call the non-live live live stream but instead of our regular real-time hosts you know the live thing uh we'll be taking a step back we won't be doing conversation Street imagine that said there is a chance we'll be joining you in the comments uh as each live stream goes on and to make this period a little bit more special we've invited four yes that's right four fantastic guest speakers who will take you on a unique Journey exploring their favorite Psalm each week now these Psalms have spoken into their lives and they're excited to share their insights and reflections with you now if this is your first time with us a huge welcome to you you can find out more information about crowd Church on our website at www.crowd.church so I hope you're excited we are looking forward to this time of renewal and hope that the powerful words of the Psalms will bring you peace comfort and a little Bill of inspiration for your life thanks for being with us thanks for being part of the craft family we can't wait to reconnect with you live refreshed and ready to continue on the faith journey together in September but remember at crowdchurch you are always welcome here and we will see you in the comments so let's get into the Psalms hello crowd friends and family it's lovely to be back on here with you again over this month we're taking some time to reflect on some Psalms which I'm very excited about now the book of Psalms is in the Old Testament and is full of songs and poems that Express the whole spectrum of human emotions really and state of being uh you know from Hope to despair joy to grief love hate confusion doubt fear and comfort desire worship and exaltation um in particular these series of writings have been inspiring the creative world for centuries you know from Beethoven to William Blake to Bono and it's also the longest book in the Bible so when deciding which one to talk on there's quite a lot to choose from but today we are going to have a look at psalm 16. so I am going to read it first and then I'll just share a few things that stood out to me from it um yeah so here we go psalm 16. preserve me oh God for in you I take refuge I say to the Lord you are my Lord I have no good apart from you as for the Saints in the land they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight the Sorrows of those who run after another God shall multiply their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips the Lord is my chosen portion and my cup you hold my Lut the lines have fallen for me in Pleasant places indeed I have a beautiful inheritance I bless the Lord who gives me counsel in the night also my heart instructs me I have set the lord always before me because he is at my right hand I shall not be shaken therefore my heart is glad and my whole being rejoices My Flesh also dwells secure for you will not abandon my soul to Shield or let your Holy One see corruption you make known to me the path of life in your presence there is fullness of joy at your right hand are Pleasures forevermore I really really love this Psalm and um it stuck out to me a lot recently um I've been using it to um just meditate on and um and and kind of speaking out as I've been praying um yeah there's been verses they've always really stuck out to me and have been a favorite of mine for quite some time um I really love the the contentment with which David you know talks about um the relationship with this Lord you know where he says the lines have fallen um it's beautiful and poetic and such a wonderful reminder you know of The Inheritance we have in Jesus as believers um so written in the Bible you'll notice that the the psalm starts off described as a midterm of David and some people have translated um this to mean a golden Psalm and I quite like this idea um that the the content of this this Psalm you know contains something of such high value um of the highest value you know that it is to be cherished um there's a Biblical commentator called Matthew Henry um who calls it so because it speaks so plainly of Christ and his resurrection who is the true treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament um and I love that yeah because obviously Jesus hasn't come yet at this point um in the Bible and yet there are things written about him that are are so clearly about about him yeah and I I agree with this guy Matthew Henry there's there's something about this Psalm 16 and every time I read it it points me to Jesus and um the gift of new life I now have in him because of the work of the Cross which is quite remarkable really because you know like I've just said it it was written a few hundred years prior to Christ's coming but it's such a gospel song um I see so much of the language of devotion that you would expect to see in a Believer today who has encountered the good news of Jesus um so I just wanted to really show you a few examples of this within Psalm 16 so David Begins by saying preserve me and I think there are two words that acknowledge two things firstly that David is flawed it shows us that you know he is not perfect and he knows it and not just that but you know the imagery of preservation implies that without God David will rot um he he will Decay because that's what happens when when something isn't preserved you know it rots or it decays it has an expiration date and we know this is what David means because two lines later he expounds on it saying I have no good apart from you you being God David is really aware that essentially he is a sinner um you know it's it's actually a line that immediately reminds me of where Paul writes in Romans 3 11 to 12. no one is righteous together they have become worthless you know it's a total acknowledgment from David there by himself he's not good enough he can't do it on his own and more than that without God he is not good full stop so that's the first thing that I think preserve me points out to us the second thing that saying preserve me points to is that David is acknowledging that God is able to preserve him you know by praying this he is putting his faith in God believing that he can do this thing um and just as Peter writes that God preserved Noah during the flood in the same way David knows God is able to save him from himself and um from the world around him and again he he affirms this a couple of lines latest by saying I say to the Lord you are my Lord he is confessing God's lordship over his life so this is kind of one of the reasons why I'm calling this a gospel song Because sin and lordship are two key issues that I think people are wrestling with when they explore Christianity um and David has already shown us what needs to happen in our hearts and Minds to become followers of Jesus the conviction that we need God that without him we're screwed and then once acknowledging that God can save us surrendering control of Our Lives to him and making him Lord but there's more so after this David suddenly starts talking um about the Saints in the land he says the excellent ones in whom is all my delight um another translation calls them the Glorious ones and these people are really what we now call the church yeah and I and I love that I love that David describes them like this that he Delights in them he loves them what's interesting to me is that the same thing Peter was just speaking over himself that I have no good um is also true of the Saints they are also not good enough by themselves and even though he calls them excellent or glorious they still have no good apart from God and yet David Delights in them and he loves them and why is this because the Saints who were once worthless have had their identity changed they're Excellence or their worth their Glory now comes from God it is him who has given value in other words they've made God lord of their lives which means through the work of Jesus's death and Resurrection they have been preserved and sustained and made new and David knows this is true of them because that's what's happened to him although of course she didn't actually know um about Jesus then but I won't go into that now um so I think this verse particularly hits home for me because the church the Saints can be um a difficult place to be in sometimes they can be difficult people to be around and it can be difficult to feel like delighting in the Saints because people are with hard work you know and they're difficult to love I'm difficult to love um you know but David is showing us that a crucial part of what it means to live a life devoted to God involves loving the people who are also committed to doing the same thing and like I said this can be really hard because people are difficult and complex and they don't always react or talk or behave the way we would expect or think they should sometimes they cause us a lot of pain but the joy that comes with seeing someone live their life for Jesus after you've invested time and energy into them or seeing someone come to Faith for the first time is it's so rewarding or perhaps it's actually having people who are so strong and rooted in their faith around you to support you when you are going through a difficult time having this community of saints this church is so integral to our walks of faith so when we look at other believers through the Glorious and excellent lens through which God now views us it enables us to see past the imperfections that can often Cloud our vision and we we can begin to feel that same sense of delight that David does here um it it also reminds me of how Paul um in the New Testament describes the church in Thessaloniki in 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 19 to 20. it says for what this is poor writing for what is Our Hope or Joy or crown of boasting before our lord Jesus at his coming is it not you for you are our glory and joy and it's isn't that great like what a wonderful way to speak about the Saints I love how Paul boasts in them and it makes me want to give as much as I can to those around me um to see more people around me coming to Faith I want to have that same joy and Delight in the Saints moving on from this the last thing I I just wanted to pick up on from Psalm 16 and then I'll I'll wrap up and tie it together but the last thing I wanted to pick up on is really this idea of putting God first daily um which I think comes across in this um and it for me it seems to be what verses 5 to 11 are really about or or what they're really kind of describing and this this daily lifelong Devotion to God verse 7 to 8 says I bless the Lord who gives me counsel in the night also my heart instructs me because um and in the night also have a heart instructs me you know these are repetitive um continuous actions that David is taking to make sure he is putting God first he has counted the cost of his faith um and you know for those who are half-hearted in their faith it's easy to think about what their faith costs them and whilst David doesn't seem to disregard this he chooses to focus on what reward there is in making the Lord his Lord because at this point I think it's worth noting David has begun this Psalm by saying preserve me for in you I take refuge it's clearly pointing to him being in a difficult situation going through a hard time he has come to the Lord and asking God to preserve him and yet through that and in that he is describing this This Joy and this delight that he receives from pursuing God in these difficult moments he knows his God will never abandon him and he knows that he will experience the fullness of joy even in these difficult moments he knows that goodness and mercy will follow him all the days of his life he is content he is satisfied you know what a wonderful way to describe your state of being and so really those were the points that I wanted to pick out from psalm 16. but I think to take away from that I would ask you to think about those different points that I've highlighted um whether it's that feeling or recognition of not being good enough of not being able to do things things by yourself of needing god um whether it's confessing God of God as Lord of your life and and giving everything up to him or whether it is to do with um the Saints and the church and um being connected and delighting in the Saints um or whether it's this idea of daily devotion and connection with God and how that is a lifelong journey with the richest of rewards I would love you to be able to reflect and maybe one of those points maybe one of those points is yeah it's ringing true with you so I would um yeah challenge you to maybe think about that and see what it is that God might be speaking to you through that thanks very much for listening and see you see we hope you found today's exploration of the Psalms insightful and inspiring every Psalm has a unique message a distinct voice that speaks to the heart and to the soul now we would love to hear your thoughts what did you think about today's Psalm feel free if you haven't done so already to share your thoughts your Reflections and experiences in the comments below I really really look forward to seeing them it's always great to learn from each other on our journey of Faith so do you get busy in the comments do share them now if you wish to reach out to us you can find out more information about us and how to reach us how to connect with us on the website at www.crowd.church and don't forget come September we're returning to our regular live stream Services resuming the origin series that explores the roots of the church through the book of Acts we are we're like part way through it we've got a fair bit to go it's an exciting Journey so do make sure you are part of that by hitting that little bell uh subscription thing and notification thing if you haven't done so already on YouTube now remember at crowdchurch everyone including you is welcome and everyone including you is valued no matter where you are on your spiritual journey there's a place for you here thanks for joining us thanks for being with us today until next time be blessed stay inspired and keep exploring the beauty of Faith see you in the comments and see you back here next week bye for now
