My Goodness Does Not Extend To You

“Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.” (Psalm 16:1-3)

“Preserve”, from the Hebrew word, “shamar” means to guard or watch over. The original idea behind the word was to “hedge about with thorns” (Strong’s). The idea of the hedge was a fence for protection.

Satan accused God of “fencing” in Job.

“Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.” (Job 1:9-10).

The purpose of a hedge or a fence becomes very clear when you put it in context of the pathway of righteousness or Jesus as, “the way”. Also remember, the definition of sin is to “fall out of the way”.

So a hedge can be used by God to keep us from falling out of the way or the fence can be used to keep Satan and sin out of the way. This is what David is talking about when he says, “Preserve me, O God”.

Then David says something very interesting; “my goodness extendeth not to thee”.

God is our benefactor. We are the beneficent of His love and good graces. In this respects, our relationship with God is a one way street. We gain, while God remains. No one can improve upon God. He is perfect. Jesus and the cross were for our benefit, not God’s. We can’t add, nor subtract from the unlimited grandeur that is our Lord.

“There is nothing added to God; he is so perfect, that no sin can hurt him; and so righteous, that no righteousness can benefit him.” (Richard Stock)

So who does David extend his “goodness” to if not God? “But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.”

The “saints” and the “excellent” aren’t everyone. David is speaking about the children of God, the elect. It is to them, the sanctified and faithful that he extends his “goodness” to.

“Were God to do no more than a creature, where would his Godhead be? Were a man to do no more than a brute, where would his manhood be? Were not a saint to excel a sinner, where would his sanctity be? (William Secker).

For David to extended his goodness to the saints and to the excellent in no way detracts or deters from loving our neighbor as commanded by God in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament. The two are mutually exclusive.

David takes it a step further. Look at what he says about those who “hasten after another God”.

“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” (Psalm 16:4)

“The same loving heart which opens towards the chosen people is fast closed against those who continue in their rebellion against God. Jesus hates all wickedness, and especially the high crime of idolatry” (Charles Spurgeon).

We must love the good and the excellent which means we must despise the bad and unholy. We can’t only love. We can’t have love without its opposite. There can’t be a left without a right, neither can there be a dark without the light.

But notice David doesn’t hate the person. He does describe the fate of the ungodly. He says their “sorrows will be multiplied”. David does not say that he will be the cause of those sorrows. David does say that he will not participate in their ungodly acts and rituals and even says he will not even mention their name. But at no time does David confess or desire to hate or be the aggressor when it comes to the person.

Both God in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament commanded to, “Love thy neighbor”. Love is directed towards the person. Hate is directed towards unrighteousness.

Bill Hitchcock