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Psalm 17:6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline ear unto me, and hear my speech.

In the midst of troubles, David’s first response is to pray. He calls upon the Lord for two reasons: he needs His help, and he knows God will listen and answer. He is always nearby and ready to hear.

Besides being in need, two things are required for believing prayer: believing that the Lord can answer our prayer and that He will. The Gospel tells that the Lord has the ability and power to help us and that He has the desire and the compassion to hear our prayer. So we pray in Jesus’ strong and loving name. We pray “Our Father,” believing He loves like a perfect father, and “in heaven,” believing He is almighty.

We trust the Lord to hear our speech, whether spoken aloud, quietly whispered, or just thinking in our heart. We pray because God promises to hear. All we need to know is that God cares. And Jesus send the Holy Spirit into our hearts to pray for us and grant the faith to believe God is both great and good.

Psalm 17:3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou has tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

Because the Lord searches the thoughts of my heart and tries and tests me, I am motivated not to sin with my mouth. So says David. He purposes not to sin with his words. This is sincere repentance and honest confession. God does not search and test the heart in order to judge and punish, but to bring about repentance and change, to make me a better person. God searches the motivations and movements of the heart out of love for us in order to bring about repentance, faith, and real change. Our loving Lord is not looking to uncover sin so that He can judge and punish us. His purpose is to show us our sin so that we will want to change and determine to do better. Romans 4:2: “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and it gives the motivation and ability to purpose in the heart, to want to do better, and to actually change how we talk. The Law tests the heart, convicts of sin, and leads us to the Gospel of Grace. It is because God is kind and good that He shows us our sin and leads us to repent, receive forgiveness, and live a godly life. The Gospel affects our aim and purpose.

We actually invite God to search the heart and test us and find nothing, for Jesus has taken the sin away. However, we are not yet perfected, sin remains in the sinner, and so we continue to need to hear God’s Law and Gospel. It works.

Psalm 17:1 Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.

David prays in faith, not in hopes that God hears but in the sure hope that God does hear his prayer. “Amen, amen, it shall be so.” His close and trustful relationship with God is so tight that he knows the Lord hears, cares, and answers his cries. His prayers do come out of deceitful lips. He is not hypocritical, but he prays out of an honest and good heart.

The good news is that the Lord promises to hear our prayers. 1 John 5:14: “And this the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.” We do not need to heap up eloquent words, as the hypocrites do, but we simply ask what is in the heart for the sake of Christ. We have the simple assurance in the heart that God hears, and meets the need. Because life is full of troubles and dangers, we are constantly in prayer. Every minute of every day our hearts are attuned to the Lord and His ear is always there. “Pray without ceasing.”

Psalm 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad; and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

Therefore: what is it “there for?” Good people (the saints) are suffering, but David trusts in the goodness of the Lord and the presence of the Lord to save. Therefore, he will be glad, rejoice, and rest in hope. In the midst of “bad things happening to good people” he will find joy in the Lord. His spirit, soul, and body is glad and can rest in hope.

No matter what is going on around us in a sinful world, we can always respond with joy and hope by turning to our good God. The world will bring us down, but Jesus lifts us up. “Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give rest to your souls,” Jesus says. Rest in hope, for it is stronger than memory. Romans 5:2: “Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Hope is a far stronger force than we realize. Hope is an anchor for the soul, reaching into heaven itself. And v. 5: “Hope does not disappoint.” Therefore, we can “rejoice in the Lord always,” in what faith sees.

Psalm 7-8 I will bless the Lord, who has given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

The Enemy of souls uses the devil, the world, and our own flesh to afflict and assail us. David responds to life’s troubles with faith, praise, and prayer. In the midst of enemy attacks and in every circumstance he responds with blessing, listens to God’s advice and instruction, puts the Lord first, and acknowledges His presence to help.

Because he is mindful of the Lord’s Presence he will not be shaken. He feels a unique sense of security. God does not exempt believers from the daily circumstances of life. Both believers and unbelievers experience pain, trouble, and failure, but those who seek the Lord can move ahead confidently with what they know is right and important in God’s eyes. God will keep them from being moved off his chosen path. This is the kind of confidence and strength we have been given for all times.

Psalm 16:5-6 The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

David affirms and confesses his faith in God. I am His and He is mine. He has given me everything I have. Therefore, I know He will preserve and protect what He has given out of love. The Lord has distributed the land and material blessings to me and all His children. We all receive what we have and enjoy from the Lord, but more importantly, we thank God and enjoy the Giver. Blessed be He!

We enjoy His gifts, but they remind us to love and enjoy Him forever. He is my eternal inheritance. His heavenly kingdom has been freely given to me, earned by Jesus Christ, and nothing can take that away from me, ever. “It is your father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” God Himself is my inheritance. 1 Peter 1:3-4 “According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”

This heritage and gift of God is good and pleasant. Whether we are rich or poor, in plenty or in want, we always have the Almighty and Gracious God. “I can do all things (be content) through him who strengthens me.” We have a goodly inheritance and we live in a pleasant place. What’s more, the Lord promises to preserve, maintain, and protect our inheritance. No matter what is going on in our lives we always have God and His kingdom within. Therefore, we may continually live in the joy of the Lord and the peace of God.

Psalm 16:1-2 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extended not to thee.

David asked God to preserve him, and he trusted that He would do so according to his prayer. He placed himself totally in God’s hands and believed He would preserve and protect him.

Secondly, his soul responds to the crisis by affirming, “You are my Lord.” A lord or master is someone who has rightful power and authority over someone else’s life. Because God created you, in a very real sense you belong to Him and all you have is His. Because He created you out of love, you can put Him first in all aspects of life. We confess that He is our lord and master.

Third, David confesses that his goodness is nothing apart from God. We have no goodness of our own to bring; simply to the cross we cling. I am nothing good before God and deserve only wrath and punishment; but Jesus is good, and He grants goodness to me by grace. Therefore, we pray “in Jesus’ name.”

God pours out the Spirit in us to pray like David: to trust in Him as Lord of my life to preserve me because Jesus is good to me and His mercy endures forever.

Psalm 15:2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.

David asks a rhetorical question in v. 1: Who will abide and dwell in God’s tabernacle or holy hill? In other words, who will live in God’s Presence? The answer is: The person who lives right, does good works, and tells the truth.

The believer in Christ lives his life in the presence of God, and the living God is with him and in him. However, truth be told, we are not and cannot be righteous before God and thus cannot come into His Presence. He cannot live with our sin and we can’t abide in His Holiness. But God in the Grace of Christ takes away our sin and grants us His righteousness. Then we can abide on His Presence.

Father loves us, Son died for us, and Spirit lives in us. We live, move, and walk in the Presence of God, and our life looks like Love. Jesus earns righteousness and graces us with the right and privilege to come before God. We live and breathe out of that source of life, the Holy Spirit in our spirit. He comes out in what we say and how we say it. The truth in the heart is this: I am not; Jesus is.

Psalm 14:7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion when the Lord bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

The hope and the prayer of David is for salvation to come out of Zion (God’s people). When salvation comes the Lord bring His people out of captivity. Then the people will respond with rejoicing and gladness. Because of their sin and idolatry, Israel was led into captivity in a foreign land. Hopes and dreams are dashed, but hope and prayer for salvation and deliverance from captivity still goes on. The prayer is for God’s salvation and deliverance. In captivity their only hope for freedom was in God, so they returned to Him. The response to God’s salvation is joy and gladness.

The consequence of our own sin and rebellion is captivity to Sin, Death, and the Devil. But God still loved us and sent Jesus (whose name means “God’s Salvation”) from among His chosen people to save us. Jesus delivered us by granting forgiveness of Sin, resurrection to life over Death, and victory over the Devil. Through this Gospel message we have been brought back to God’s kingdom and delivered from captivity to the evil enemy.

Therefore, we rejoice and are glad. Joy is the natural response to the great salvation Jesus gives to us for free. Every day and all day we are glad and joyful, particularly when we are reminded of the salvation and deliverance with which we are graced. We take every opportunity be reminded and to remind ourselves of the Gospel so that we might be constantly full of joy.

Psalm 14:1, 3 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good….They are all gone aside, they are altogether become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

The fool is the pagan unbeliever, the atheist, who believes and lives as if there is no God. They are corrupt, abominable, and filthy. A fool is not someone who is stupid and uneducated, but rather a person who rejects God. He rejects the one who made the moral and spiritual laws that make life just and good. To deny God’s existence allows wickedness to prevail. The wise not only believe there is a God but also strive to please him. To believe there is a God but refuse to please Him is another way of being foolish.

But David is not only indicting the obviously wicked and the blatant rejector. He is indicting every last one of us: “There is none that doeth good, not even one.” Jesus said, “Call no man good.” We are all practical atheists, not living up to the standards of the God we profess to believe. All of us are born with original sin and have no natural good within.

We have no hope for life if it would be up to our inherent goodness. There is none good, but one, and that one is the God-man. The only hope we have is that Jesus is good “for us.” He earns God’s goodness for us and then gives it to us. Through the Gospel the Holy Spirit gives the faith to believe God and also the ability and desire to live according to His Word. We are by birth “not good,” but by faith in Christ accounted as good.