Take Refuge in the Lord

David begins Psalm 16 by crying out to God, “Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.” David, an anointed servant of God, seeks refuge in the Almighty. He prays to God for protection and deliverance. 

This cry for help is penned by David, but it is not only David we hear in this psalm. We can also hear in this psalm, the new and better David, Christ Jesus. 

At first glance, the connection to Christ might elude us. Yet, upon closer scrutiny, we uncover the profound truth that Christ himself cried out to God for preservation amid the trials of his earthly existence. He became completely human and lived a completely human existence. This realization serves as a poignant reminder of the dual nature of Christ—fully divine yet profoundly human, as evidenced by his experiences of thirst, hunger, rest, and sorrow.

Consider what this means for our own reliance upon God’s providence.  If David, as an anointed servant of God, sought refuge in the Almighty, and if Christ himself, in his humanity, sought solace in communion with the Father, then surely, we must likewise turn to our heavenly Father for sustenance and protection. A protection and sustenance that is gifted from the Father to Christ, then from Christ to us. To do otherwise would be to deny the fundamental truth that our very existence is contingent upon our dependence on God, a reality exemplified most profoundly in the inseparable bond between Christ and the Father.