Psalm 16

Those who commit themselves to God’s care and submit themselves to God’s guidance will find a blessed portion in Him.
If we have the pleasures of His favor,
we should not fail to give Him the praise of it.

1 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

8 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 16 – ​The Citizen of Zion and His Inheritance

Michtam means “golden,” and may be truly applied to this psalm, as also to Psalms 56, 57, 58, 59, and 60. Others explain the word as a “secret.” It is the song of the golden secret. The key is furnished in Acts 2:25. The Apostle Paul expressly emphasizes the divine authorship in Acts 13:35-38. Our Lord may have repeated Psalm 16:8-11 when He was descending the dark valley, and so may we. —Through the Bible Day by Day

Psalm 16:10—Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell.

​   This hymn is for ever sacred because of its application by the Holy Ghost to our Savior’s resurrection (Acts 2). It was as though our Lord had stayed his soul upon these words as He left this world and entered the unseen. The last words He uttered were of committal to his Father, and then He commenced to traverse the land of shadow. “Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?” (Ephesians 4:9). The Apostle Peter says that He went to visit the spirits in prison. Whither He went is not material—it is enough for our purpose that He sang, as He went, this hymn of immortal hope. Sure that He was the Father’s beloved, He knew that He would not be left to Hades, nor suffered to see corruption. He knew that there was a path of life somewhere, which God would show.
   Whenever you are stepping down into the dark, unable to see a hand’s-breadth before you, and just letting the foot fall from step to step—it may be because of some act of obedience to conscience, or because you are called to enter the unknown and untried, or even death itself—cheer your heart with this holy Psalm. God will never desert the soul that absolutely honors and obeys Him. His way leads to the light through the dark, to the deathless through death, to the abounding fruit-bearing through desertion and loneliness. How lonely the vine-stock is through the winter! Follow Him, He will show.
   “She is sinking very fast,” whispered an attendant in the dying chamber of a godly woman. “No, no,” was the quick response of the departing saint, who had overheard the words: “no; I am not sinking; I am in the arms of my Savior.” —Our Daily Homily