The Hope of Everlasting Life (Psalm 16)

June 16, 2024

You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.Psalm 16:11

Place Your Trust in God (vs. 1-2, 5-6)

Numbers 18:20 - And the LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the people of Israel. Place Your Delight in God’s People (vs. 3-4)

Place Your Steps Along God’s LifePath (vs. 7-11)

Discussion Questions:

How is our trust in God and our experience of His Goodness connected?

This week, how has your trust in God been evident in your daily living? (e.g. in your decisions).

How do you see yourself . . . as a sinner or a saint?

Why so?
How do you think God sees you?

How have you delighted in God’s people this week?

Name a few people you delight in. Take time to delight in them this week. What are some ways that you intenƟonally bless the Lord?

Share a story of when you’ve received God’s counsel in the night.

How do you typically respond to God’s guidance?
In what ways have you intenƟonally “set the Lord” before you?
What action could you take this week to be more mindful of Christ and His guidance?
Where does your sense of security come from?
Reflect on how you’ve grown in God’s Peace.
How has God made known to you the path of life?
What pracƟces help you enter God’s Presence?
How has doing so impacted your experience of joy and pleasure?

Psalms of Trust:

Trust is a relationship that is built by experience. This is evident in the psalms of trust, in which either an event or circumstance that has taught the suppliant to trust the Lord is described; or the event or circumstance that lies behind trust is alluded to or merely implied. The essential elements that compose these psalms are a declaration of trust, sometimes the first statement of the psalm, and often but not always, a use of the language of trust (especially bth).

Inclusive of these two essential elements, the six that may be found in these psalms, of which we have both individual and community examples, are:

(1) a declaration of trust in the Lord,

(2) an invitation to the community to trust,
(3) the basis for trust (not the crisis itself but Yahweh’s character, for example),
(4) a petition, (5) a vow to praise the Lord or offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and
(6) an interior lament (which specifies or alludes to the occasion that has taught the psalmist to trust).

Individual psalms of trust are Psalms 4; 16; 23; 27; 62; and 73. Community psalms of trust include Psalms 90; 115; 123; 124; 125; and 126 1

C Hassell Bullock, Psalms, Volume 1, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Publishing Group, 2015), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 111