Keep me safe, my God / Preserve me, O God

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. Psalm 16:1 (NIV)

Most of the time I'm not really concerned about my safety. I feel very safe in my home, my town and my country. However, when traveling on the road I often pray for safety and when I arrive safely, I rejoice and thank God. But for other people their lives are less secure and safe, this verse is their common plea for help, their reminder of who they can trust.

This verse is the beginning of a prayer. It begins with a plea to God. The next ten verses of Psalm 16 continue the prayer giving much hope, confidence and assurance that God preserves those who are His.

As a Psalm of David, this Psalm is clearly David calling out for help to God. But this Psalm read in its entirety can also be Jesus speaking, and for us now as believers with Christ in us, this Psalm can be the words of you and me.

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. (ESV)

Here we see Preserve me, O God used. Albert Barnes describes this as "guard me, save me, protect me" and he further explains "This language implies that there was imminent danger of some kind - perhaps, as the subsequent part of the psalm would indicate, danger in death. See Psalm 16:8-10. The idea here is, that God was able to preserve him from the impending danger, and that he might hope he would do it." 

One of the great names of God is “Preserver of man” and is found in the book of Job. “I have sinned; what shall I do unto you, O you preserver of men* why have you set me as a mark against you, so that I am a burden to myself?” Job 7:20 KJV  Here we see Job who deeply loves and trusts God. He clearly knows God is a preserver of man.

A promise is also seen in Isaiah 49:7,8 that Jesus will be preserved “Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD who is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he has chosen you. Thus says the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and I will preserve you*, and give you for a covenant to the people, to establish the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages;”

According to Charles Spurgeon: “This promise was to the letter fulfilled, both by providential deliverance and sustaining power, in the case of our Lord. Being preserved himself, he is able to restore the preserved of Israel, for we are "preserved in Christ Jesus and called." As one with him, the elect were preserved in his preservation, and we may view this mediatorial supplication as the petition of the Great High Priest for all those who are in him. The intercession recorded in John 17 is but an amplification of this cry, "Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are." When he says, "preserve me," he means his members, his mystical body, himself, and all in him. But while we rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus used this prayer for his members, we must not forget that he employed it most surely for himself; he had so emptied himself, and so truly taken upon him the form of a servant, that as man he needed divine keeping even as we do, and often cried unto the strong for strength. Frequently on the mountain-top he breathed forth this desire, and on one occasion in almost the same words, he publicly prayed, "Father, save me from this hour." (John 12:27.) If Jesus looked out of himself for protection, how much more must we, his erring followers, do so!”*

O God refers to the name of God “El” which is the name the Lord Jesus used when under great weakness, as when he was on the cross, this was how he addressed the Mighty God, the Omnipotent (all powerful) Helper of his people. The use of “O God” is most appropriate when we are at our weakest state of despair.

 Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust. (KJV)

For in you I take refuge, for in thee do I put my trust shows us full confidence that God will help. There is hope, assurance and confidence that God will take care of us, true believers in Christ. 

Matthew Henry beautifully magnifies this verse for us:

 "Preserve me, O God! from the deaths,

 and especially from the sins, to which I am continually exposed; for in thee, and in thee only, do I put my trust.’’ 

When you are at your lowest state can you cry to God in the same way as David? Those who receive Christ in their lives are eternally blessed with assurance that God is truly a “preserver of man”. The prophecy written in this Psalm 16 has been fulfilled for Christ has died for our sins and has been preserved for He rose on the third day and He continues to live. We can have the same confidence as David knowing that no matter how difficult things may get here on earth God preserves true believers. He protects us and keeps us safe and we can have full confidence that He will do so. Praise be to God for saving us for His eternal glory!

*emphasis is mine