Psalm 16:5-7

“O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; Yes, I have a good inheritance. I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.”

This Psalm is called “Michtam,” that is, A golden Psalm. And a golden Psalm it is, whether we interpret it of David, or of Christ. To both it is applicable; to David, as a type of Christ; and to Christ, as so typified. In all the Word of God there is not a passage on which greater stress is laid, as establishing beyond a doubt the Messiahship of Jesus; to whom alone the latter part of the Psalm can with any truth be literally applied, Acts 2:25-31; Acts 13:35-37.

The former part of it, on the contrary, is much more applicable to David himself. The truth is, I apprehend, that David began to write respecting himself; but was overruled and inspired to speak things which he himself did not fully comprehend, and to declare literally respecting the Messiah, what was only in a very lax sense true in relation to himself.

This we know to have been the case with the prophets generally; they were inspired to predict the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow, while they themselves understood not their own prophecies, 1 Peter 1:10-12. They spoke of one point which was uppermost in their own minds; and God overruled them to speak in language that was applicable rather to another point which he had ordained them to foretell.

Thus did Caiaphas the high priest, when advising that Jesus should be put to death, John 11:49-52. And thus did David, in this and several other of his Psalms: Psalm 22, 40 and 69. We consider the words of our text, together with all that precedes it, as spoken by David respecting himself; and in them we see,

I. The blessed portion of God’s people.

They have “God himself for their portion and their inheritance”.

There seems, in this expression, some reference to the custom which prevailed of sending to different guests, when assembled at a feast, such a portion as the Master of the feast judged expedient, Genesis 43:34. 1 Samuel 1:4-5. But the principal allusion evidently is to the division of the land of Canaan by lot, and the assigning to all the different tribes the portion prepared for them. On that occasion the tribe of Levi was distinguished from all the other tribes in this: that whereas all the rest had a distinct and separate inheritance allotted to them, they had none; the Lord himself vouchsafing to be their inheritance, Numbers 18:20. Deuteronomy 18:1-2. The sacrifices which from time to time were offered to the Lord were appointed for their support.

Now, in allusion to this, David says, “The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup.” He was not of the tribe of Levi, but of Judah; and therefore respecting him it could be true only in a spiritual and mystical sense; and in that sense it is equally true respecting every genuine believer at this day. We are all “a kingdom of priests;” and we live altogether upon the great sacrifice, even the flesh of Christ, and the blood of Christ, which were offered for the sins of men. By the very terms of the New Covenant, God, while he takes us for his people, gives himself to us as our God, Jeremiah 31:31-33; so that all who believe in Jesus may claim him as their God.” This, I say, is not the privilege of Prophets and Apostles only, but of even the weakest believer in the Church of God; for we are expressly told, that “to as many as received him, Jesus gave power to become the sons of God, even to those who believed on his name, John 1:12.” The very instant they believed in Christ, the relation between God and them was formed, and God became their Father, their Friend, their Portion, “their eternal great reward, Genesis 15:1.” To us then belongs this privilege as well as to David; and with him we may say, “O my soul, you have said unto the Lord, You are my Lord! verse 2.”

This portion too is secured to them.

Israel in Canaan were surrounded with enemies on every side; but God, who had allotted to every tribe its portion, engaged to “maintain their lot.” Even when all the males assembled thrice a year at Jerusalem, God undertook to be a Protector of their families and their possessions; and to this hour they would have enjoyed their inheritance, if they had not by their transgressions provoked God to forsake them.

But true believers who have him for our inheritance—he will not forsake; as he has said, “The Lord will not forsake his people; because it has pleased him to make you his people, 1 Samuel 12:22;” and again, “I will never leave you; I will never, never forsake you! Hebrews 13:3; Hebrews 13:6.” Not but that he will punish us for our transgressions; and so punish, as to make us feel what “an evil and bitter thing it is to depart from him; but his loving-kindness will he not utterly take from us, nor allow his truth to fail, Psalm 89:30-35.”

It is not with us as with Israel in Canaan; they were left to forfeit and to lose their lot; but God, in his mercy, engages to preserve our inheritance for us, and us for it, 1 Peter 1:5; and not only “never to depart from us, but so to put his fear in our hearts that we may not depart from him! Jeremiah 32:38-40.”

Such then is your portion, O believer; and such is your security that it shall be continued to you!

If such is the inheritance of all God’s people—then we shall not wonder then at,

II. The feelings which true believers have in the contemplation of their inheritance.

1. David expresses delight in his inheritance.

All the pious among the Israelites would find some reason to be pleased and delighted with the portion that was assigned them. To some their proximity to the sea would be a matter of joy; to others, their pasturage; to others, their rocks and fortresses; so that all in their respective places would say, “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance.”

But how well may they adopt that language who have the Lord for their portion! Tell me, believer, what else can you want? What can add anything unto you? What is there which you do not find in your God? If you possess ever so great a portion of earthly goods, are they not all as dung and dross in comparison with this? Or, if you are destitute even as Lazarus himself, is not all sense of indigence lost in the contemplation of your better wealth? What the worldling has, he holds by a very uncertain tenure, and that only for a moment. But what you have is secured to you by the promise and oath of God, and is to be enjoyed by you with ever-augmenting zest forever and ever.

Do you not, in this survey of your inheritance, pity those who can rest in any earthly portion? Are you not ready to weep over those as maniacs, who imagine themselves kings and emperors, while they are but little elevated above the beasts; yes, in some respects inferior to them; because they fulfill in a far less degree the true ends of their creation?

Well indeed may you exult when you survey your portion! When you behold the sun and moon and stars, together with this globe whereon you stand, and call to mind that the Maker of them all is your Friend, your Portion, your Inheritance; methinks it is almost strange that the contemplation is not too much for frail mortality to bear. To be lost in wonder, and be swallowed up in ecstasy, is no more than what may be expected of you from day to day!

2. David expresses thankfulness to God for his inheritance.

David clearly saw that of himself he would never have chosen such a portion as this. His earthly mind would have been as groveling as that of others, if God himself had not “counseled him,” and discovered to him the vanity of all earthly good. Amidst the various trials which he had endured, God had drawn near to him; and in the night-seasons of affliction God had instructed him, and had revealed himself to him in all his beauty and excellency and glory. Thus he had enabled David to make a fair estimate of the portion offered to him, as compared with that which the world around him enjoyed. In this view of the mercy given unto him, David says, “I will bless the Lord, who has given me counsel; my thoughts also instruct me in the night-seasons.”

And is it not thus with every believer? Do you not assuredly know that of yourselves you would never have chosen God for your portion? Are you not well convinced, that you would “not have chosen him if he had not chosen you;” nor “loved him, if he had not first loved you?” Did you not even hold out against his counsels for a long time, until he forced conviction on your mind, and “made you willing in the day of his power?” If you have been kept awake in the night-seasons, and “your thoughts instructed you,” until with a conviction you were “cut to the heart!” Or, if you have been visited with trials that were necessary to wean you from the things of time and sense—do you not bless him for it, and for “the instruction which he then sealed upon your mind, Job 33:15-20.” Yes, and with your whole hearts. You see in what a portion you would have rested, if these means had not been used to bring you to a better mind; and, if they had been a thousand times heavier than they were, you would now account them as unworthy of a thought, in comparison with the blessings to the possession of which they have introduced you. I hear you adoring God, and saying, “I know that in very faithfulness you afflicted me;” for “before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept your law.” Go on, then, blessing and praising God; and never forget that “by the grace of God you are what you are!”

III. To those who do not have God as their portion, I will “give a word of counsel” in the name of the Lord.

Survey the portion of the worldling, and see how empty it is! Look back on all the worldly pleasures which you have enjoyed, and see how little solid and lasting comfort it has afforded.

Then survey “the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” Think what it must be to say of God, “O God, you are my God!” And of Christ, “You are my Friend, and my Beloved!”

Then turn to the Holy Scriptures, and see what counsel God has given you there, “Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare! Isaiah 55:1-2.” Nothing does God desire more than to give himself to you for a portion, if you will but receive him. He complains, “You will not come unto me that you may have life!” “How often would I have gathered you, and given myself to you, but you would not!”

Dear friends, let God choose your inheritance for you; and he will be as much delighted to enrich your souls, as ever you can be to be enriched by him. Indeed by imparting himself to you, he himself will be enriched; for he regards you as his property, and says of you, “The Lord’s portion is his people, and Jacob is the lot of his inheritance, Deuteronomy 32:9.”

IV. To those who already enjoy this portion, I will offer a word of encouragement.

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance, Psalm 33:12. Yes, “Happy are you, O Israel, O people saved by the Lord, Deuteronomy 33:29.” I ask not what you possess, or what you want; if you had empires, they could add nothing to you; and if you want bread to eat, it can take but little from you. Look at Paul and Silas when in prison, and their backs torn with scourges—yet their situation was to them as “the very gate of Heaven! Acts 16:25.” Just so, if only you live near to God, and in the near prospect of the eternal world, you also shall be happy under all circumstances whatever.

Imitate, for once, the worldling who is just about to take possession of his inheritance; with what joy he surveys it, and anticipates the delight which he will experience in the full possession of it!

Thus go and survey your inheritance. See the state of those who are now possessed of their entire lot. Behold how they feast in the presence of their God! Think, if you can, what God is to them, Revelation 21:4-5; and know, that their bliss is yours, in all its fullness, and forever! Think how you will then “bless the Lord for giving you counsel.” Live, then, now as people sensible of their privileges; and say, as you may well do, “The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places, and I have a good inheritance.”

Charles Simeon