Psalm 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely.
Psalm 16:9 begins, ‘Therefore’, which means we need to know what came before. Verse 8 says, ‘because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken’. We can even go back to the beginning of Psalm 16.
- v. 1 We have His protection. We can place our hope and trust in Him. We have a personal relationship with Him, a heart and soul that belongs only to Him.
- v. 2 Goodness is in our life because of Him.
- v. 3 We have the privilege of being part of His family, we are encouraged by one another’s faithfulness, and we find delight in the evidence of one another’s growth.
- v. 4 Following anything except the one true God will result in sorrow.
- v. 5 The Lord our God is everything to us. He will sustain us through all circumstances.
- v. 6 The Lord is our Father. Our inheritance lies with Him in heaven. Our future shines bright.
- v. 7 God is our counselor – He has given us His Holy Spirit, who is our spiritual Helper.
The Lord is our strength. He is our security. He is our guide; He is our guard. As His child, how do you respond to this truth?
Verse 9 gives us David’s response: Therefore, because of the truths stated before, his heart is glad and his glory (soul or the whole person) rejoices; his flesh also will dwell securely.
The word ‘glad’, from the Hebrew samach, means to brighten up, to be gleesome, to cheer up, to make merry, to cause to rejoice.
The Psalmist says ‘his glory rejoices’ meaning his soul or his whole person is joyful. He is always full of God’s presence, always considering how to please Him. Some commentaries say this also means his tongue is being used to praise God.
Acts 2:25-28 "For David says of Him, 'I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. 'THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE; BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. 'YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.'
How big is your God? Can He do all things? If we understand God as David did, then just a glimpse of God’s goodness, protection, righteousness, and love, will cause us to be overwhelmingly filled with the joy that comes from knowing Him. We will be filled with peace in all circumstances because our confidence and hope rests in our Lord and Savior. We need to take the time to stop and remember what we have been given in Christ, what it means to be a child of God.
My husband recalls having a conversation with a gentleman who believes in Hinduism. As my husband explained that God’s love is so great for us that He sent His Son to die for us, the man answered emphatically that His god is so great that he would in no way choose to die. Think! Is it more difficult to lay aside your deity to save the souls of those you love, or to magnify yourself and watch others suffer and perish? True love, true greatness, willingly places others first to serve them, it is not selfish and does not seek to control.
Think of your past week. What has been filling your heart?
Consider what it means to be under the influence of something. The definition of rejoice in verse 9 can literally mean ‘to spin around’; ‘under the influence of any violent emotion’. Form a mental picture of this – someone spinning around with their arms outstretched – what a wonderful emotion this portrays. The word violent is typically associated with negative things. It also can mean an ‘emotionally intense, strong feeling; passionate, powerful’.
What, in your life, is powerful enough to control your thinking and your actions?
As God’s children we should be ridiculously joyful, completely filled by Him as we come before Him in worship, fully intoxicated by His love for us and His power in our lives and in the world.
“My glory – my tongue…declares my inward joy…the outward demonstrations of it”, John Wesley’s Notes on the Old and New Testaments.
Psalm 30:12 That [my] soul may sing praise to Thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to Thee forever.
Psalm 57:7-11 My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises! Awake, my glory; awake, harp and lyre, I will awaken the dawn! I will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to Thee among the nations. For Thy lovingkindness is great to the heavens, and Thy truth to the clouds. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; [Let] Thy glory [be] above all the earth.
The last part of Psalm 16:9 reads, “my flesh also will dwell securely”.
“Also will dwell [shall rest], means to reside or permanently stay; to abide, to continue, to remain, to rest.
The Psalmist has the certain hope that when he dies his flesh will be resurrected to a living hope. His salvation is secure.
How secure are you in Christ’s love for you, in His redemptive plan?
Do you have a certain hope and assurance of your salvation?
Psalm 108:1 My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul.
“Oh, for such holy faith in the prospect of trial and of death! It is the work of faith, not merely to create a peace which passeth all understanding, but to fill the heart full of gladness until the tongue, which, as the organ of an intelligent creature, is our glory, bursts forth in notes of harmonious praise. Faith gives us living joy, and bestows dying rest”, Treasury of David.
