This is a psalm of
confidence as opposed to a confidence psalm. By that I mean the psalmist is
confident in God who counsels and makes one secure and promises eternal
pleasures while those who run after other gods reap the rewards of a Ponzi
scheme. The only thing multiplied by their investment is sorrow. The other gods
of psalm 16 are the Canaanite deities like Ba’al. I’m confident that the
worship of Ba’al is not a great temptation today but running after other gods
still is. Martin Luther defines other gods like this: “whoever trusts and
boasts great skill, prudence, power, favor, friendship, and honor has also a
god...” So when we run after possessions or power or prestige or pleasure we do
so at the expense of our investment in the One who makes the heart glad and the
tongue rejoice and the body rest secure. The other gods call us to run after
them while the true God pursues and precedes us for God’s promise is backed by
the security of the One who abandoned to the grave made death obedient to Him.
It is because God is ahead of us in death and behind us in life that we with
the psalmist can say we will not be shaken. So make a wise investment today,
stop running after other gods and let the Lord catch up to you.
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