David asks "Preserve me, O God" before he names God as Lord — the evidence comes before the confession.
David was a man of war who led military campaigns, yet still asked God to guard him.
"In you I take refuge" is an activity, not a description — a deliberate movement of the soul toward God in trial.
Two different words are behind "LORD" and "Lord": the all-caps name God revealed to Moses at the burning bush, "I am who I am."
God is already sovereign over all, yet He invites you to move from "the Lord" to "my Lord." Nebuchadnezzar learned this in Daniel 4 after his sanity returned.
John Calvin: unless we recognize God as "the fountain of every good," we will never yield Him willing service.
C. S. Lewis called the goods in his life signposts — silly to admire the sign and never go where it points.
No good apart from Him, no rival gods
Every good and perfect gift comes from God (James 1); Christ holds all things together (Colossians 1:17).
The saints are "the excellent ones" — Bonhoeffer said the physical presence of other Christians is incomparable joy and strength to the believer.
Aaron found this church through a Google search four years ago; Evan Gilchrist talked with him 20-30 minutes in the lobby, spoke to his fears about becoming a father, and invited him to small group.
Idolatry takes a subordinate thing and makes it ultimate; David won't even take those names on his lips.
Calvin called our hearts idol factories. Tim Keller in Counterfeit Gods: an idol is anything so central that losing it would make life feel hardly worth living.
God is my inheritance (verses 5-6)
Four Old Testament pictures — portion, cup, lot, boundary lines — all drawn from the land division of Joshua 13-19.
David takes the promise of place and shows physical land is a blessing subordinate to God's presence.
Asaph says the same in Psalm 73:26 — God is "my portion forever."
"Lot" is the word for the small pebble cast to divide land; God holds whatever falls to David.
God told Abram "Fear not, I am your shield" (Genesis 15:1) — God goes out in front of whatever our lot holds.
Sam Storms: "Everything without God is pathetically inferior to God without everything."
God sustains me now (verses 7-8)
David has real experience of God's counsel: direct answers, answers through the priest, and Nathan's rebuke after Bathsheba and Uriah.
"In the night also my heart instructs me" is not the heart as rival authority — Jeremiah 17 says the heart deceives.
Bilingual people describe dreaming in a second language. David is so immersed in God's word that he dreams in God's language.
Verse 8 answers verse 1: the plea "preserve me" becomes the confidence "I shall not be shaken."
God brings me to eternal joy (verses 9-11)
Written about 1,000 years before Christ, with 24 personal pronouns in 11 verses — a deeply personal song.
Resurrection was hazy in the Old Testament; Peter in Acts 2 and Paul in Acts 13 cite this psalm as breadcrumbs leading to Christ.
Jesus is the only hope for David to escape Sheol, and the only hope for us.
John Piper: "What is fuller than full, and what is longer than forever?"
The hope is not blessings but God Himself — Revelation 21:3 comes before the end of mourning and pain.
Key Takeaways
Ask yourself the two opening questions: who is your God, and where is He leading you?
God is the source of every good; the goods are signposts, not the destination.
Immerse yourself in Scripture until God's words are the thoughts that come in the night.
Eagerly await being with God Himself — not just His things — unclouded by sin.