Friday, December 22
“I Love the LORD, Because....”
Psalm 116:1-19
1 I love the LORD, because He has heard My voice and my supplications.
2 Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
3 The pains of death surrounded me, And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called upon the name of the LORD: "O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!"
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me.
7 Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the LORD In the land of the living.
10 I believed, therefore I spoke, "I am greatly afflicted."
11 I said in my haste, "All men are liars."
12 What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?
13 I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD.
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD Now in the presence of all His people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His saints.
16 O LORD, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, And will call upon the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD Now in the presence of all His people,
19 In the courts of the LORD'S house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!.
Psalm 116 is one of the “Hallel” psalms (Psalms 113-118), that were probably written after the 70 years captivity in Babylon. Psalm 116 is considered one of the great psalms in Scripture. Some expositors even place it next to Psalm 23 in greatness. It is a psalm of thanksgiving. Man is in distress and calls upon God, and God hears in mercy. It is a love song.
Remember the Jews would sing Psalm 113 and Psalm 114 before they partook of the Passover meal. They would sing Psalm 116 after the meal. After the Lord Jesus had observed the Passover with His disciples in the Upper Room, Matthew 26:30 tells us, “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” Psalm 116 was probably the “hymn” that Jesus sang that night as He went to Gethsemane to pray. Keep that in mind as you read through this psalm that speaks of the past sufferings of Christ in the presence of death.
It is a very personal psalm with the writer referring to himself ("I," "my," and "me") some 37 times in 16 verses. Indeed, only three verses have no direct personal reference. Yet it is not a sinful preoccupation with self because he also mentions the LORD (Jehovah) 15 times.
At a time when the psalmist was "at rest" (v. 7), unscrupulous men whom he had trusted lied about him (v. 11) and created trouble for him. In fact, their deception almost cost him his life (vv. 3-4), but he called on the Lord and was saved from death (vv. 1-2). In expressing his praise to the Lord, the writer borrowed from other psalms, especially Psalms 18, 27, 31, and 56, and it appears that he knew the texts of King Hezekiah's prayer in Isaiah 37 and his psalm of thanksgiving in Isaiah 38.
At least four times the psalmist said that he called upon the Lord. This is what Jesus did as He faced Calvary in Gethsemane and even as He hung on the cross! My friend, we should do the same as we face the trials and tribulations of life! This psalm assures us that the LORD will hear and deliver us and we too can say, “I love the LORD, because….”
God bless!
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