Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.  I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”  As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.  The sorrows of those will increase who run after other gods. I will not pour out their libations of blood or take up their names on my lips.  LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.  The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.  I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.  I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure,  because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.  You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
— Psalm 16

How is your lot in life?  Good, I hope. I hope you have a nice place to live, plenty of food, good health. I hope you are pleased with your relationships; your spouse, your children, your friends, your neighbors and coworkers. I hope you have good work to do each day. When it comes to all those kinds of things, I have far more than I deserve.

For many of us it must be relatively easy to say, “I have a pretty good lot in life.”

David said the same thing, but I think for different reasons.  David said it this way, “LORD…you have made my lot secure” (Psalm 16:5).  Well, actually, he said it several different ways.  He starts the same verse by saying, “LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup.”  He continues in verse 6, “The boundary lines have fallen to me in pleasant places” (this is a reference to the boundary lines of a piece of land). He concludes verse six by saying, “…surely I have a delightful inheritance.”  That is four different ways of saying he had things pretty good.

Many of us are blessed by having wonderful parents — I certainly am. But I know that is not the case for everyone. Maybe you have been a part of breaking a chain of dysfunction and you would, by God’s grace, say you are leaving the wonderful legacy of a new generation who walk with God. That is a beautiful heritage to leave behind.

I grew up with a hymn by John Oatman Jr & Edwin O.Excell called, Count Your Blessings. The chorus goes:

Count your blessings; name them one by one.
Count your many blessings; see what God hath done.
Count your blessings; name them one by one.
Count your many blessings; see what God hath done.

The melody might be a big sing-songy these days, but the exhortation in the lyrics strikes my as very biblical. It is a great thing to recount God’s specific blessings on us — one by one. If the boundary lines have fallen for us in pleasant places, what realistically humble attitude would keep us from being regularly thankful for that?

But I think it would be short sighted to only measure our portion of life, our inheritance, our cup, the lines, and/or our heritage merely circumstantially.  Whatever principle David is passing along in this psalm must be true from God’s perspective for all of his people, at all times, no matter where they live. Could we confidently recommend that orphans in Ethiopia measure their lot in life circumstantially? What about men and women who are beaten because of their profession of Christ as their Lord?  Are those lines in pleasant places? I wonder what a day laborer who gets work a few days a month feels about where the lines have fallen in his life?

Even David apparently has to overcome some form of outward discomfort. He starts the psalm, “Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge.”  In verse 10 he implies threats which may create fears of abandonment and death.

There are hints within the psalm that those of us who appear to have all we need may be using the wrong measuring stick. David rejoices to be counted a part of the body of saints (16:3). I like the New American Standard Bible that the renders verse five: “The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;” — not possessions or positions or absence of discomfort — God himself.

David counts it a blessing to receive instruction and direction from the LORD (16:7,11). Maybe merely having the Word is enough of a lot in life (I wouldn’t know; I’ve always had the Word and much, much more). David says that it is the LORD’s presence that sustains him, helps him stand, and brings him joy (16:8, 11). I wonder if having God’s presence would be enough for me if he was all I had…

Psalm 16 leaves me with no doubt that David would resonate with Paul’s words in Ephesians 1:3, 4:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

I suppose this may be a terribly Thanksgiving-y suggestion, but why not carve out a little time to count our blessings beyond the merely circumstantial ones? Why not take some time to describe, in as much detail as we can, the portion or inheritance we have received from the Lord — celebrating  where God has sovereignly set the lines down around our lives; rejoicing in the heritage we have received and are committed to passing along?

And then, in the silence created by that reflection, maybe listen for ways we might join in the coming of the kingdom of God on earth as it is heaven.