March 30, 2014

Tom Lowe

 

Psalm 16


Title: The Prayer of a righteous Man

A Psalm of David.

Michtam of David.

 

 

Psalm 16 (KJV)

 

1Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

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

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

 

 

Introduction

This is a very personal psalm that focuses on the goodness of the Lord. The personal pronoun “my” is used over a dozen times (my trust, my goodness, my cup, etc.). David’s joy (vv. 9, 11) is expressed in words like “delight” (vv. 3, 6), “pleasant” and “pleasure” (vv. 6, 11), and “glad” (v. 9). David finds his delight only in the Lord and confesses that everything good in his life has come from God. This psalm may have been written shortly after the Lord gave His gracious covenant to David and assured him of  an enduring throne (2 Sam. 7). That covenant was eventually fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David (Luke 1:32-33). The style of David’s response to the covenant (2 Sam. 7:18-29) matches that of Psalm 16, a combination of joy, praise to God, humility, and submission to the divine will.   

In our study of the psalms, thus far, it seems as if David’s life is always in danger, especially in those turbulent years when he fled from King Saul. There was one occasion when David deliberately spared Saul’s life, and then he retreated to an adjacent hilltop and called across the valley to the king. He held up Saul’s spear and the flask of water that had stood beside his bed—graphic evidence that, except for his mercy, Saul would be dead, killed by the hand of David. Then David protested to Saul and the language he used (1 Sam. 26:19-20){1] is echoed in verses 4-6 of this psalm, which seems to have been written about the time of this incident.

This is a michtam psalm. There are six psalms which bear this description, all are by David and all were written during David’s self-imposed exile. The other five are psalms 56-60. The word michtam has been explained in various ways. Some thinks it comes from a word meaning to engrave, or sculptured writing. If that is the case, the thought would be that here something is preserved that should never be forgotten. Interestingly enough, each one of the michtam psalms preserves the thought of resurrection. Some think the word michtam is mystical in nature, “a psalm of hidden, mysterious meaning.” Others say the word means “a golden psalm.” Michtam suggests that this psalm was one of David’s golden meditations, dealing with truth so significant, it should be preserved forever, although originally a personal, private meditation. All six of the michtam psalms end on a happy and triumphant note. This is also a Messianic psalm, for in his message at Pentecost (Acts 2:25-28){5], Peter said it referred to Jesus, and so did Paul in his sermon in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia (Acts 13:35){6].

No study of this psalm can be complete unless we see, somewhere in its shadows, the glorious person of whom David was a type, the great, glorious Savior of mankind. Both Peter and Paul cite it as referring to Christ. “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (16:10) is clearly a prophesy of the Lord Jesus.

We are going to look at this psalm, however, more in light of what it meant to David and what it ought to mean to us. We will also investigate the minor disagreement concerning the identity of the man in the psalm—Christ or David?

 

Commentary

1Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

In verses 1 and 2, David uses three words for God:

1.       He is El in verse 1. El is the abbreviated form of the great name Elohim, God the Creator. El is God as the omnipotent, the all-powerful One. El stands for God in all His strength and might. David is living in the light of that.

2.      He is the Lord in verse 2, that is, He is Jehovah, the God of Covenant. He is the God who condescends to enter into a saving contract with men. David is living in the light of that.

3.      He is Adonai, the Lord, or “my Lord,” in the second part of verse 2. Some render the name as “my Sovereign Lord” or, as we would say, “my King.” David is living in the light of that.

Let us bring the three names El, Jehovah, and Adonai together. We might say that “El” is God my Maker, “Jehovah” is God my Mediator, and “Adonai” is God my Master. Here is the protection of the godly man. He is living in the Lord’s presence so no fear can plague him and no foe can deter him.

“Preserve me” (“keep me safe,” NIV) doesn’t suggest David was in trouble or danger, as in Psalms 9 and 13. It simply means that he needed God’s constant care and oversight so that he might honor the Lord and enjoy all the good things that only God could give him.  God alone is good (Matt. 19:17){7], and apart from Him, we have nothing good.

I mentioned in the introduction that there is disagreement over who is speaking in this psalm. There are some who say David, and others who say Jesus. It is certainly David who is speaking here and on down through verse 8; then in verse 9 the psalm turns abruptly to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, which is confirmed by the two great apostles, Peter and Paul; thus, both David and Jesus are present in this wonderful poem.

2 O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

Notice how David expresses his confidence in God’s goodness, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee. “Thou art my Lord. You do not need my goodness” is the way the Hebrew scholars who translated the Old Testament into the Greek Septuagint handled it, and that is a wonderful way to render it. But other translators have rendered it in a different way. Rotherham: “My sovereign Lord art Thou, for my well-being goeth not beyond Thee.” The Revised Standard Version: “I have no good beyond Thee.” In other words, David confesses he has no well-being apart from God-Jehovah, his sovereign Lord. That is the thought here: “I have no good beyond Thee.” I have Him, and I have everything!

If we follow the Septuagint we find in our Lord the One who saves: “Thou art my Lord, You do not need my goodness.” Or, if we follow the others we find in our Lord the One who satisfies: “Thou art my sovereign Lord. I have no well-being beyond thee. As the hymn writer puts it:

All that I need is in Jesus

He satisfies, joy He supplies

Life would be worthless without Him

All things in Jesus I find.

Thou art my Lord. You created me and have preserved my life, and I owe to you all my service and obedience. The Lord is our greatest treasure (Ps. 73:25, 28), the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). To know him through Jesus Christ is the highest privilege in life.

My goodness. Whatever piety, or virtue, or goodness found in me was placed there by You. If we have anything we think is good, and it doesn’t come from God, it isn’t good, and it doesn’t come from God, it isn’t good.

Extendeth not to thee. My goodness doesn’t add anything to your happiness. The sense is, God is all-sufficient and infinitely happy, and the author of all the goodness that is in or is done by any of His creatures. When Jesus Christ is your Savior (refuge) and Lord, you experience God’s goodness even in the midst of trials.

The godly man is seen living in the Lord’s presence.

3 But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

David had discovered by experience that it was better to find his delight in the Lord’s people than to cultivate the great ones of the earth. Jonathan, the king’s own son, professed friendship for David and once indeed came out to meet him in the wilds to “strengthen his hand in God.” But, immediately after, we read, “Then Jonathan returned home, while David stayed at Horesh.” (1 Sam 23:18). Jonathan, one of the great ones, was a broken reed after all.

The word translated “saints” means “holy ones,” or “separated ones.” Here it refers to the people of the covenant now in their own land, the land God had promised them before they arrived (Ex. 19:6). The word occurs for the first time in Exodus 3:5, where God, speaking to Moses out of the burning bush said: “[Remove] thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” The same Hebrew word is translated “saints” elsewhere in the Bible. David, then, was not only living in the Lord’s presence, he was living for the Lord’s people. They were his delight. Are they ours? One of the first marks of a born again believer is this: “Hereby we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.”

We don’t live the Christian life alone. , because we are part of a great spiritual family and need each other. As in previous psalms, two groups are depicted: the believing remnant (“saints”) and the unbelieving worshippers of idols (10:8-10; 11:2-3{8], 12; 14:5-6). The saints are those who trust God and obey his covenant, those who are set apart for the Lord. They take seriously God’s command, “Be holy, for I am holy” (Lev. 19:2{9]; 20:7-8, 26; 21:8). Israel was a kingdom of priests (Ex. 19:6{10]; Deut. 7:6) and a holy nation, just as the church is today (1 Pe. 2:9){11]. David called them “the majestic ones” (NASB), a word that carries the meaning of excellence, nobility, and glory. In spite of our faults and failures, believers are God’s elite, His nobility on earth. We must love one another and use our God-given abilities and resources to minister to the family of God (Gal. 6:1-10). Like David, we must not compromise with those who disobey the Lord and worship idols (money, success, fame, etc.) but should seek to lead them to Jesus Christ, the source of all that is good and lasting.

4 Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god. David knew about idolatry, he had been down to Gath and had looked at Dagon, the weird half-man, half-fish god of the Philistines. He had been down to Moab, and had seen Chemosh, the bloodthirsty god of the Moabites. The idolatrous times of the judges were still very much alive in everyone’s memory in David’s day. King Saul kept pagan men like Deog the Edomite on his payroll. Idolaters, notwithstanding all their zeal or the cost of their idols, gain nothing for themselves but an abundance of sorrow and misery. Having shown his great respect and affection for the saints of the true God he now declares his great abhorrence for those who forsake the true God, and worship idols. He wished that God would increase their sorrows so that they would be either awakened and converted to God, or cut off, if they were impertinent and incorrigible. David wanted no part of that type of thing. He was living by the Lord’s precepts and this practice kept him from evil aspirations and associations. It will do the same for us.

Their drink offerings of blood will I not offer. Many of the ancient Gentile nations offered blood as the sacrifice to their lifeless gods, and sometimes they would drink part of the blood of their sacrifices, whether blood of beast or man, a practice which God hated, because He had so severely forbidden the drinking of blood by His people, either at their sacrifices or as part of their food.

Nor take up their names into my lips. David was surrounded by the evil influences of those who worshipped heathen deities, “sacred beings,” which for him do not even exist, and whose rites of worship were utterly abhorrent. For he is a loyal worshipper of the Lord and has kept the law that forbids even mentioning the names of other gods (Ex. 23:13){4].

We are not to be isolationists, for the Lord has left us in the world to be salt and light; we must be careful not to be defiled by their sins (James 1:27; 4:4; Rom. 12:2{12]). No church is perfect, because no believer is perfect; but let’s still give thanks for the people of God and seek to encourage them all we can.

5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

David was excluded by Saul’s watchdogs from his share of his family’s inheritance. Each family in Israel had its territory assigned to it by line{2] and lot by Joshua in the original distribution of Canaan among the tribes. The inheritance stayed in the family. David’s share was in the farms and fields of Bethlehem but so long as Saul sat on the throne there was no hope he could enjoy his inheritance. His own parents were fugitives in Moab. “Never mind,” says David. “I have a better inheritance. I have the Lord. I don’t envy the vast riches and glory of idolaters, but I do heartily rejoice in God as my portion, and I desire nothing better. God who has allowed other nations to live in their idolatrous ways, has granted this favor to me, to know and worship Him, the only true God. Other nations have chosen and adhere to their false gods, but as for me, I have chosen God, and I will hold firmly to Him.”

The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup means that the psalmist accepts his lot in life as his divinely appointed portion direct from the hand of God. “In fact,” says David, “God is my portion, because I have deliberately and in complete freedom of choice, chosen Yahweh as my portion, and found him to be all that I could long for.” The word portion comes from the time immediately after Israel had conquered the Promised Land, when the land was being allotted among the twelve tribes of Israel; each tribe received its portion except Levi was given a special inheritance (Josh. 13-21). Because they served in the sanctuary and ate of the holy sacrifices, the priests and Levites had the Lord as their special inheritance (Num. 18:20-32; Deut. 10:8-9; 14:27-29; Josh. 13:14, 23{13]), and David saw himself in that privileged position. His cup is just another way to say the same thing. Obviously he can’t help repeating himself with joy. Then he says it for a third time! For one’s lot is the same thing as one’s portion and one’s cup.

6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

David was a fugitive when he wrote this; with no home, with the moss for a mattress and the caves and forests for shelter. How could he say: The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage?

But David was not forgetting. This was the language of faith. Years ago the prophet Samuel had visited the farm in Bethlehem, had poured the holy anointing oil of God on David’s head, and had told him that one day he would be Israel’s king. Nothing that Saul could do could prevent that. Not just the Bethlehem farm—but all of Judah, all of Benjamin and Dan, all of Gilead and Goshen—all was his. Present appearances to the contrary notwithstanding, the lines had fallen unto him in pleasant places. And they have to us too! If we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with Him. We have God’s Word for it.

The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places. The “lines” were the measuring lines used to mark off the inheritance of the tribes, clans, and families in Israel, and then each individual lot was marked with a “landmark” that was not to be moved (Deut. 19:14; 27:17; Prov. 15:25; 22:28; 23:10-11). David rejoiced that God had caused the lines of his inheritance to fall in pleasant places, and that he had a “delightful inheritance” (NIV). He wanted to be a good steward of all that the Lord had given him.

7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

The godly man has the best of both worlds. There are his prospects in this life (16:7-9), and his prospects in that life (16:9-10). He has three things in this life the unsaved person does not have. He can know what it is to be guided by God: I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins{3] also instruct me in the night seasons.

Nearly all the old guidelines have been broken down today. Old restraints, old moral standards have been swept away and people are frightened, confused, lonely, and at their wits end. They run to professional counselors as never before in history. They turn to the dark world of the occult and devour the prognostications of people like Jeanne Dixon, ignoring the fact that some of her guesses never come true. They are looking to Eastern religions hoping to find answers there, but all their efforts are in vain. The Christian has it all over them. He can know what it is to be guided by God—in this life!

My reins also instruct me in the night seasons. My reins, that is, my inner thoughts prompted by the Holy Spirit, direct me to the course I should take to please and serve the Lord. They instruct me in the night seasons (during the night), not only in the day time, but also in the night, when others are asleep. At night, when I am alone with Him my mind can focus upon the things of God, and I can more clearly hear the still small voice, meditate, and turn all my affections toward God.  

David’s personal fellowship with the Lord was his greatest joy. This was when God instructed and counseled David, and told him what to do and how to do it—night after night learning from God. The word “instruct” carries with it the idea of discipline and chastising, for David learned many things when God’s loving hand chastened him (Heb. 12:1-12)

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

We can know what it is to be guarded by God: I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. In the old days when people fought with swords, a soldier defending another would naturally stand on his right. David could see the Lord standing on his right to defend him from his foes. That is something the unsaved man does not have.

Because he is at my right hand implies that he is kept safe and protected from falling by God’s ever-present help. God is seen as his advocate and defender (Ps. 73:23; 109:31; 110:5; 121:5; 1 Jn. 2:2; Acts 2:33; 5:31). With the Lord as his guide and guard, he had nothing to fear: I shall not be moved or deterred from my duty to God, or from the attainment of that glory and happiness which is prepared for me. The future is your friend when Jesus is your Lord.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

The godly man can know in this life what it is to be gladdened by God. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. Come what may, the godly man can lift up his heart and voice in song. In this life! Guided (7)! Guarded (8)! Gladdened (9)! And these are just the fringe benefits of being a believer. These are things God gives us for this life. Even if there was no life to come, it would be worth being a believer just to have the peace, the rest, the joy God gives here and now to his own. But there is more to it than this life. Just think of the prospects of the godly man. To delight in the Lord and his goodness and then to lose all these blessings at death would be a great tragedy. “If in this life only we have faith in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable” (1 Cor. 15:19, NKJV). But in His death and resurrection, Jesus had conquered death and through faith in Him we have a “living hope” (1 Pe. 1:3){15].

Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth. As we approach the end of the psalm, it rises to the mood of radiant joy. There is joy in the psalmist’s heart, a feeling of excitement in his soul, and a sense of restful security in his physical being as he ceases speaking about God and pours out his soul to Him.

My flesh also shall rest in hope. My body shall quietly and sweetly rest in the grave, to which I am anxiously approaching. In hope, that is, in confident assurance of its incorruption there, and of its resurrection to a blessed and immortal life, as it is explained in verses 10 and 11.

10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

In the final verses the psalm takes a giant step into the unknown—into that which cannot be known by human reasoning but only by divine revelation. David speaks of things that transcend reason. He puts his finger unerringly on two truths which had to await New Testament revelation to be properly grasped: (1) The Truth of Resurrection (v. 10), and (2) The truth of Rapture (v. 11).

The truth of resurrection is present in this verse. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. David could say, “My flesh shall rest in hope” because he could anticipate resurrection.

Old Testament believers did not have much light on the subject of death. They knew that hades claimed the soul and that the grave claimed the body. David believed that neither the triumph of the tomb over his flesh, nor the hold of hades over his soul, was final. Why? Because he had been such a godly man? Because he had accumulated enough merit to ensure his deliverance from death. No indeed! His faith leaps forward again, this time to Christ: For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. As great a saint as David was, he certainly was not God’s “Holy One,” the ideal Israelite. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, whom God sanctified and sent into the world, can claim that title “the Holy One of God.” The wages of sin was death, but Jesus was sinless so death and hades had no power over Him. His soul went down into hades so that He could proclaim in those dark regions the mighty triumph of His cross. His body lay for three days and nights in Joseph’s tomb, but corruption and decay could not touch Him. Then:

Up from the grave He arose

With a mighty triumph Ore His foes:

He arose a Victor from the dark domain

And He lives forever with His saints to reign.

There it is! David, with the eye of faith, with keen unerring vision, was able to see the truth of resurrection. He would live beyond the grave because of what the Holy One would do when He would bear away in triumph the very gates of death.

He is in God’s hands and he is glad to be there; God counts him as one of his loyal ones. God will not give him up to Sheol, the land of the dead, but on the contrary will show him the path which leads to life, and quite concretely, which will eventually lead him to the Temple where the Lord dwells.

11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

The truth of Rapture is found in this verse. David’s prospects reached beyond the resurrection, for David saw also the truth of rapture: Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. The path of life begins at the very lowest point in the dark regions of the underworld. But it leads up, out of hades, out through the portals of the tomb, up to the heights of heaven, up to the right hand of God. That is the ultimate prospect of the godly man! Where is the Lord Jesus now? At God’s right hand! Where are we going to be? At God’s right hand! Where is the fullness of joy? Where are those “pleasures for evermore?” At God’s right hand!!!

Thou wilt shew me the path of life, that is, give me an exact and experimental knowledge of it for my own comfort and the benefit of my people. The path of life is the way that leads to eternal life, not to a temporal and mortal life here, for he is supposed to be dead and buried (v. 10); but to an endless, immortal, and blessed life after death, in the presence of God; the way which is by the resurrection of the body. So the meaning is, You will raise me from the grave, and lead me to the place and state of everlasting happiness. When David wrote “my flesh also shall rest in hope” (v. 9) he was referring to Messiah and not to himself. Using these verses, Peter proved that Jesus had been raised from the dead, for it is obvious that David was dead and his body had decayed in his tomb (Acts 2:22-31). But Jesus did not see corruption! When He rose from the dead on the third day he had a real and substantial body, but it was a glorified body, that could ingest food (Lk. 24:36-42) but was also able to pass through locked doors (Jn. 20:19-29). David could face death with a glad heart, and soul, and could rest in the grave in hope, knowing that one day, he too, would have a glorified body. Paul used this same text to prove the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (Acts 13:26-39). The full light about resurrection and death had not yet been revealed in Old Testament times, although there are hints in verses like 17:15{16] and 73:24-26{17], but through Jesus Christ God had brought “life and immortality to light through the Gospel” (2 Tim. 1:10).

Fullness of joy refers to the perfect joy and satisfaction which is vain to expect in this life, and is only to be found in heaven in the presence of God.

scripture reference and special notes

{1](1 Sam. 26:19-20; NLT) But now let my lord the king listen to his servant. If the LORD has stirred you up against me, then let him accept my offering. But if this is simply a human scheme, then may those involved be cursed by the LORD. For you have driven me from my home, so I can no longer live among the LORD's people and worship as I should. 20 Must I die on foreign soil, far from the presence of the LORD? Why has the king of Israel come out to search for a single flea? Why does he hunt me down like a partridge on the mountains?"

{2] Line. Lines were used for measuring and dividing land; and hence the word came to denote a portion or inheritance measured out; a possession.

{3] Reins. My inward thought and affections, inspired and moved by the Holy Spirit.

{4] (Ex. 23:13) And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect: and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of thy mouth.

{5] (Acts 2:25-28) For David says of Him: I saw the Lord ever before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover my flesh will rest in hope, 27 because You will not leave my soul in Hades, or allow Your Holy One to see decay. 28 You have revealed the paths of life to me; You will fill me with gladness in Your presence.

{6] (Acts 13:35) Therefore He also says in another passage, You will not allow Your Holy One to see decay.

{7] (Matt. 19:17) "Why do you ask Me about what is good?" He said to him. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

{8] (Ps. 11:2-3) For look, the wicked string the bow; they put the arrow on the bowstring to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. 3When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"

{9] (Lev. 19:2) "Speak to the entire Israelite community and tell them: Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.

{10] (Ex. 19:6) and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation. These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites."

{11] (1 Pe. 2:9) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

{12] (Rom. 12:2) Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

{13] (Josh. 13:14, 23) He did not give any inheritance to the tribe of Levi. This was its inheritance, just as He had promised: the offerings made by fire to the Lord, the God of Israel. 23 The border of the Reubenites was the Jordan and its plain. This was the inheritance of the Reubenites by their clans, with the cities and their villages.

{14] (Deut. 19:14) "You must not move your neighbor's boundary marker, established at the start in the inheritance you will receive in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

{15] (1 Pe. 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

{16] (Ps. 17:15) But I will see Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your presence.

{17] (Ps. 73:24-26) You guide me with Your counsel, and afterwards You will take me up in glory. 25 Whom do I have in heaven but You? And I desire nothing on earth but You. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart, my portion forever.