THE LORD… MINE INHERITANCE AND … MY CUP

Psalm 16 displays unbridled and total joy in the person of the Lord. In this world, men strive to accumulate possessions and earthly wealth, but true satisfaction is to be found alone in the Creator. He offers an eternal inheritance to those who trust in Him, Eph. 1. 11; Col. 1. 12; 1 Pet. 1. 4. Heritages regularly change hands among humans, but the gifts that God offers are secured for the believer by the unchangeable work of Christ.

Verse 2 sets the worshipful tone, exclaiming, ‘O my soul, thou hast said unto Jehovah; Thou art my Lord: I have no good beyond thee’ ASV After addressing God by His covenant name - Jehovah - he declares that He is the psalmist’s ‘Lord’ - using the Hebrew title adoni - meaning ‘my master’. Clearly, he stands apart from idolatry and zealously follows God, v. 4. He also employs terminology that was familiar from Israelite history. Specifically, the language hearks back to the aftermath of the conquest of Canaan when the Almighty distributed the land to the tribes by lot. Thus, the psalmist exults, ‘The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage’, v. 6. He is delighted with what the Lord has graciously given to him. Rather than it being a physical plot of land, in this case the inher­itor’s recompense is God Himself.

Not only is his Maker his inheritance, he also says that He is ‘the portion … of my cup’, v. 5. Similar phraseology appears in Psalm 23 verse 5, ‘my cup runneth over’. Like Psalm 16, the twenty-third psalm focuses on the Lord as the source of blessing. Because He is a faithful and powerful benefactor, He provides His children with imperishable rewards that bring abundant j oy. If the Lord is one’s portion, then truly his cup overflows with everlasting peace and happiness. He gives living water that quenches the most intense spiritual thirst, while constantly refreshing the recipient’s inner man, John 4. 10; 7. 38. Being rooted in an infinite God, this eternal remuneration exceeds the world’s favourite passing pleasures. Moreover, the eternal Lord never becomes stale, boring, or worn out. He is ever fresh and will never disappoint.