Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – July 6, 2025
Scripture reading: Psalm 16:1-11
Introduction
- On Friday we celebrated our nation’s 249th Today we will reflect on a few of God’s blessings to us as a nation with the help of the Rev. William Linn’s 1791 sermon, The Blessings of America, based on Psalm 16:6. We will then look at the whole of Psalm 16 to see how David responded to the Lord’s goodness to him.
William Linn’s sermon The Blessings of America, July 4, 1791
- The sermon was based on Psalm 16:6: “6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”
- His sermon argued that “the boundary lines have fallen in pleasant places” for America in three particular ways. Let’s reflect on these:
- Our natural advantages (our geography and resources)
- Our civil freedoms
- Our religious privileges
- Linn argues that we should, in response to God’s great goodness to us, live lives of godliness and grateful obedience to the Lord and practice virtue and service toward our fellow citizens and generosity toward the world.
Some reflections on Psalm 16
A miktam of David.
1 Keep me safe, my God,
for in you I take refuge.
2 I say to Yahweh, “You are my Lord;
apart from you I have no good thing.”
3 I say of the holy people who are in the land,
“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”
4 Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.
I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods
or take up their names on my lips.
5 Yahweh, you alone are my portion and my cup;
you make my lot secure.
6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
surely I have a delightful inheritance.
7 I will praise Yahweh, who counsels me;
even at night my heart instructs me.
8 I keep my eyes always on Yahweh.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
9 Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;
my body also will rest secure,
10 because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,
nor will you let your holy one see decay.
11 You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Takeaway
We sometimes need a voice from the past to put the present into perspective. William Linn reminds us that God has lavished his goodness on us as a nation just as David reminds us of God’s multifaceted blessings toward those who are in covenant relationship with Him. Let’s recommit ourselves today to respond to the Lord with loving obedience and to the world with grateful generosity.
Holy Communion