Finding Refuge Series

Finding Refuge

Psalm 16

Rev. Brian Bill

July 5-6, 2025

I delight when biblical references are made in culture, as long as they’re quoted correctly and reverently. This is especially evident during the Christmas season when gospel-centric Christmas carols saturate the shopping experience. Here are some ways the Book of Psalms have appeared.

• In the movie Titanic, a minister quoted the 23rd Psalm while the ship was sinking.

• Psalm 46:1 was read by President Barak Obama on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”

• Just this week, The New York Times reported that a famous defendant was reading a printout of Psalm 11, which begins like this: “In the Lord I take refuge.”

• Seth Wade reminded me that Psalm 118:24 is printed on the inside cover of Aldi egg cartons: “This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This verse is also displayed prominently on the website of Rose Acre Farms, the company behind Goldenhen Eggs. The founder placed it on egg cartons in 1980, where it has remained to this day!

• In-N-Out Burgers puts many Bible references on their packaging, including a verse from our Psalm for today. Listen to Psalm 16:11: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fulness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

The Book of Psalms is treasured by many Edgewood members. When we asked people to share their best-loved Psalms on the Edgewood Facebook page, 75 out of the 150 Psalms were referenced! Many of you are reading the Psalms right now using our July Bible Reading Plan.

Matt Bowman, who serves as our Deacon Board Vice Chairman and in a number of other ministries, posted this: “Psalm 16 has been my favorite for a long time.” I’m going to ask him to come up and share what this Psalm means to him and then he’ll read it for us.

Years ago, I read Psalm 16 and saw it in a whole new light. I’m sure some of you have had this happen with other verses in the Bible as well. A verse you have read many times and then suddenly, this time, God fills your mind with meaning that you never saw in that verse before. I’ve found this Psalm to be one that I find myself going back again and again to read and to pray to the Lord.

Matthew Henry describes this as a “golden” Psalm. He said it is “A very precious one, more to be valued by us than gold because it speaks so plainly of Christ and His resurrection, who is the true hidden treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament.” Charles Spurgeon said this is “the” golden Psalm.

I have taken this Psalm as a prayer of Christ, written by the hand of David. And, just as Jesus taught the disciples how to pray, what we call the Lord’s prayer and pray it back to the Lord, I come back to this Psalm often and pray it back to the Lord. The Psalm roams from a dependency and declaration of faith in the Lord alone in verses 1 and 2, to a contrast of those who follow him and those who do not in verses 3 and 4, it then moves to thanksgiving and trust in verses 5 thru 8, and finishes with the hope of the resurrection in verses 9 thru 11. This Psalm contains all the ingredients for a prayer to come before the Lord daily.

My favorite portion is how this Psalm ends. If I were asked, I would say verse 11 is my favorite verse in the Bible. It comes to my mind often when faced with decisions and I find myself reciting it in my mind. You will show me the path of life. You, and only you God, will make the path known to me. Not my own wisdom, but yours and yours alone. Many can show me the path to destruction, but You give me counsel and hope.

And isn’t there joy when we know we have taken that path? Whether that path is hard and difficult at times, there is a satisfying joy in it. The end of this Psalm reminds me that even if the path I’m on might be my last here on earth, as we never know when He might call us home, the path continues on past what I cannot see here and into Heaven. There the path is easy and full of pleasures to last for eternity.

Let’s give our attention to the reading of Psalm 16 now.

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.” 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 lot. 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 Sheol, 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.