(Psalms 16:8) “I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.“

Psalms 16 has been expounded between two thoughts of interpretation. First, they are the Words of Christ, our Representative; God in the flesh. Second, they are the words of David. The devotions in this series are presenting these words as the Words of Christ, the saint’s Representative.

The Subject of this Psalm is the Lord Jesus Christ. David records the Words of Christ as our Representative; as our Perfect Savior and as our Forerunner to the Father. Some of His statements relate only to Christ, the Perfect Lamb of God; His Only Begotten Son; God in the flesh. Other times His statements are as our Substitute; speaking for us in His Perfection; which also applies to us because we are His Body; the Church.

Jesus is speaking as the saint’s Representative in Psalms 16:7-11. Christ teaches the saints why they should praise God. In Part One (verse 7), Christ, the saint’s Representative, gave the First Reason to “bless the LORD”; “who hath given me counsel” with the result being, “…my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.”

The Second Reason to praise God is,

“…I shall not be moved.”

What a glorious truth for the child of God to praise God about. The Doctrine of Security in Christ for the believer is a great and precious truth that issues in Peace for the believer; no matter the situation he faces.

(Rom 8:1) “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

(Rom 8:28-31) “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (29) For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. (30) Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. (31) What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?”

(Rom 8:35-39) “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36)  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (37)  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38)  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39)  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The Reasons

1).  “… I have set the LORD always before me:” or it may be translated, “I foresaw the Lord always before my face” (Acts 2:26). That is, Christ is saying that Jehovah the Father, His Plan and Purpose for God in the Flesh, was always His Object of His obedience. (Heb. 10:7) “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.” Some interpreters of this verse say that Christ contemplated as to whether to do the will of God, or try to get out of doing it; and they use as a proof text, (Mat 26:39) “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

But, the truth of the matter is found in (John 12:27) “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.” Doing the Will of the Father was ever before Christ. There was never any doubt or hesitation from Christ in carrying out the Father’s Will; for Christ was God in the Flesh – not a second God; but, the manifestation of the Glory of God (2Co 4:6) “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Praise also has its root in the Plan and Purpose of God in and for the believer. The believer that Praises God, is the believer that knows and is for certain that he is a child of God; and knows that God has called him into the Service of the Master as a witness (or an Ambassador) of the Love, Grace, and Mercy of God in Christ Jesus. The praising believer is one that not only knows who he is in Christ; but, also knows his mission and purpose in life. He is also one who has an intimate relationship with Christ in his daily journey, knowing that it is the Power of Christ that (Php 2:13) “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” He is one that knows by experience the Victory in Christ over all enemies of the cross. He is one that is not double-minded about Who God is; about who he is in God; or about what God has done for him in Salvation from the penalty of sin, from the punishment of sin, and from the practice and power of sin in his daily walk. When the believer is an “Overcomer” in Christ, he continues to Praise Christ with his every breath.

2). “…because he is at my right hand…” This is saying that The Father was ever by His Son. So, as the saint’s Representative, Christ is ever with and by the believer. This phrase reveals the nearness of Christ to the believer; that His presence is ever with the Believer (Heb. 13:5c). Christ is ever there to counsel, to instruct, to help, to protect and preserve; and to fight the child of God’s battles (Ps. 109:31). Therefore, the believer can say, “I shall not be moved.”

Application:          

What greater thing than to know that you are secure in the Atonement of Christ for all eternity from the penalty, punishment, and power of sin. To know of His indwelling in the believer now and forever. To know of His readiness to fight all your battles; and that the Victory is secure in the Resurrected Christ. To know that the Race has already been won by Christ, your Forerunner, and the Anchor of your soul; and therefore, you have a place in His Presence, even in His Glory, for all eternity?

To know these things by experience; to know that they are not promises without foundation; but, have been proven by His Resurrection, Ascension, and Intercession for His People and by the internal witness given to every born from above person:

(Rom 8:14-16) “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (15) For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (16) The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:”

Dear Reader, there is no joy, no peace, like the joy and peace that come from the knowledge that the believer cannot be moved, now or forever, from the Love, Grace, and Mercy of Christ. Hallelujah and Amen and Amen!