David stands in a world of competing idols and makes a firm declaration: the Lord alone is his portion, his cup, his delightful inheritance. The apostles seized this psalm to proclaim the very resurrection of Christ, because its deepest secret is that God will not abandon His Holy One to the grave. And in the mirror of this psalm we discover an uncomfortable but freeing truth: even a passion for truth itself becomes an idol when it is not centered in Jesus, who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Apart from Him, we have no good thing to offer — but with Him at our right hand, our hearts are glad, our tongues rejoice, and our bodies rest secure on the path of life.
Psalm 16
When Even Truth Becomes an Idol: Psalm 16 on Our True Portion
A miktam [some kind of song genre from the Bronze age] of David.
1 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land, “They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more. I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods or take up their names on my lips.
5 Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise the Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Here is something that I have been debating within myself recently. I believe it to be relevant to David’s struggling with idolaters as here in Psalm 16. Can truth be an idol? I mean I have such, and always have had such, a strong distaste for anything that is not truth. This is why I was a truth activist in 2006-2010 and a little bit afterwards. I was never aligned with any political party but I was actively out on the street with the freeway blogging and huge signs and seeking to have conversations or entice people to honk their horns in support of our message which was that we are being lied to, have been lied to and will continue to be lied to unless we say “stop” in unison, stop buying the stuff they sell us – in terms of message and commodities of all kinds and put the truth to the power and demand answers. I was not yet saved but I was on fire for the truth which I saw as anything that is not harmful lies that pervade the culture which are still today put forth by corrupt and oppressive corporations and governments.
Not much to ask for right? Well it ended up turning into MAGA which was not necessarily what I had in mind. If I had a god that I believed in at the time it would not have been Jesus. It would have been whatever I was defining as “the truth”.
I think I have answered my own question. The worldly degree of truth which was not encompassing or centered in Jesus (the truth, the life and the way) which I was seeking and that desire to see the eyes of my fellows go from strangely dim to alert and vigilant against harmful widespread lies was idolatry and ultimately like most man-made solutions it did not end up in any long or substantial betterment of society. As David says in verse 2 here in Psalm 16 – “apart from the Lord, I had no good thing to offer. Just something worldly and less bad than following lies blindly but ultimately not good. I do have to say that there was a great joy in being out there on the streets, risking it all, with my brothers and sisters in the truth activism movement expressing ourselves and making a lot of noise but I have to stop short of saying that what we were doing was “good”.
So what should I have been doing instead and what do I do now? Psalm 16 verse 11. Praise the Lord.
Classic Commentaries Corner
Charles Spurgeon, in his Treasury of David, lingers on verse 5: “Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup.” He connects David’s confession to the Levites of old, to whom God said, “I am your portion and your inheritance.” Spurgeon observes that the believer’s true wealth is not what God gives, but God Himself — and he treasures the psalm’s mystery title, miktam, which some render “a golden psalm,” writing that Psalm 16 is “a golden jewel of the inspired word,” precious beyond all the gold of the idol-makers David refused.
Matthew Henry sees the psalm as the confidence of the godly man — a soul that has chosen God as its portion and therefore refuses the “sorrows” of those who run after other gods. Henry notes that David “set the Lord always before him” by a practical, habitual mindfulness of God’s presence, and that this steady gaze is the secret of an unshaken heart: the eye of faith fixes on God, and the heart is glad even in a world of idols.
John Calvin, commenting on verse 8, emphasizes that David’s unshakable confidence was not a passing feeling but a settled course: “I keep my eyes always on the Lord.” For Calvin, faith is a perpetual looking to God, so that nothing else — no created thing, no cause, no crown — interposes itself between the soul and its portion. When God is at our right hand, he writes, we have nothing to fear, for we stand supported by His power alone.
Augustine, preaching on verse 10, hears the voice of Christ Himself in David’s words: “You will not abandon me to the realm of the dead.” Augustine insists the psalm could not be fulfilled in David, who did see corruption, but speaks of the Holy One whose flesh rested in hope and saw no decay. In the resurrection of Jesus, the promise of Psalm 16 became history — and our resurrection hope with it.
Corroborating Scripture & Christological Connections
Acts 2:25-28 — “David said about him: ‘I saw the Lord always before me… because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your faithful one see decay.'” Peter stood at Pentecost and told Israel that David was a prophet whose words found their yes in the risen Christ.
Acts 13:35-37 — “So it is also stated elsewhere: ‘You will not let your holy one see decay.’ Now this is the psalm Paul preached in Pisidian Antioch, proving from David’s own words that the resurrection belonged to the Son.
Numbers 18:20 — “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance.” The Levites — the sons of Zeb’s own tribe — were given no territory because God Himself was their plot of ground, the original living illustration of Psalm 16:5.
Psalm 73:26 — “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Asaph walked David’s road: every earthly portion crumbled, and the portion that is God remained.
John 14:6 — “I am the way and the truth and the life.” The truth Zeb once stood on freeway overpasses shouting for has a face, a name, and nail scars — and no pursuit of truth endures unless it is anchored in Him who is the Truth.
Matthew 6:24 — “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” An idol does not have to be carved of wood; it only has to be served in the place of God.
Essential Takeaways
- Portion Over Possessions: The Lord alone is our portion and cup — everything else we chase, however noble, is a substitute inheritance that can never make our lot secure.
- Even Good Things Make Bad Gods: A cause, a movement, even a hunger for truth itself becomes idolatry the moment it is pursued apart from Jesus, the Truth.
- The Psalm’s Secret Is the Resurrection: “You will not let your holy one see decay” is Messianic prophecy — quoted by Peter and Paul — and it promises that our own future is held safely beyond the grave.
- The Unshaken Life: Keeping our eyes always on the Lord — a settled, habitual gaze, not a passing mood — produces a glad heart, a rejoicing tongue, and a body at rest.
Prayer For Whomsoevers
Father God, I know now that your Son is the Way to You, the Truth and the Life. He is the narrow door by which we can have access to you. No other attempts to bring about a better world or society will have beneficial and long lasting results unless You and our Saviour, Intercessor and Access to You are involved. All else leads to idolatry. Everything is vanity and meaninglessness unless it points straight up to You. And so we say “thank you” and “amen”.
