Psalm 16:1-8 reveals the God-man, Christ, in His human living. He is not merely a good man, but a God-man. God became a man and lived on this earth for thirty-three and a half years. He lived in Nazareth until the age of thirty. Then He ministered for three and a half years. He was the very God living a human life in a small geographical area. The land of Palestine in the time of Jesus was a very small and narrow strip of land. He grew up in the small village of Nazareth in the despised place of Galilee for thirty years. What patience He had! Then He came out to travel in His ministry. Of course, there was not the modern means of transportation which we enjoy today. Jesus had to travel mostly by foot within the land of Palestine.
The four Gospels show us the marvelous human living of this God-man. No biography can compare with Jesus' life. Millions of readers of these four Gospels have been inspired by the way in which Jesus Christ lived on earth. After His human living, He entered into death for three days and three nights. Then He came out of death and entered into resurrection. Finally, He ascended to the heavens where God the Father is. Today He is in ascension at the right hand of God the Father. Psalm 16 is a short psalm, but it covers such a wonderful Person in His four stages: His human living, His death, His resurrection, and His ascension.
His human living spontaneously implies His incarnation. If He had not been incarnated and did not have the human nature with a human body, He could not have lived on earth. Because He was altogether in humanity, He did not threaten anyone. Even the small children could come to Him (Luke 18:15-16). He was so wonderful—because He was God born to be a man. God, in this man, in this humanity, lived on earth.
His human living implies His incarnation in which He became a man and brought divinity into humanity (John 1:14a). Formerly, before the incarnation, divinity was separate from humanity. But when Jesus was born, divinity was brought into humanity, and divinity and humanity were mingled together to produce a God-man.
Christ took refuge in God and trusted in God's preservation (Psa. 16:1). We may pray, "Lord Jesus, protect us; preserve us." When Christ was a man on this earth, the very God in whom He trusted was also His preservation.
Christ took God as His Lord and had no good beyond God (Psa. 16:2). Today on earth everyone, even the most sinful person, is claiming his rights. But the Lord Jesus, while He was a man on this earth, did not claim any right for Himself. He took God as His Lord. Every man needs God as his Lord. Without the Lord, we do not know who our Possessor is. Our parents or our wives are not our possessors. Christ the Lord is the One who owns us. He is our Possessor. Christ in His human living had no good beyond God. His good was uniquely God Himself as His portion.