We have read this Psalm many times, let us read it now, not regarding it so much as the language of the psalmist uttered thousands of years ago, as our own language at this moment.
Psalms 116:1. I love the LORD,
Let us go as far as that if we can; let us each one say, «I love the Lord.»
Psalms 116:1. Because
There is a reason for this love. People say that love is blind, but love to God uses her eyes, and can justify herself: «I love the Lord, because»
Psalms 116:1. He hath heard my voice and my supplications.
Can you go as far as that? Do you recollect answers to prayer, when you cried to God with your voice, or when your voice failed you, but supplication rose to God from your heart? Surely there is not a man, whose prayers have been answered, who does not love God. He must love the Lord when he recollects what poor prayers his were, what great blessings came in answer to them, and how speedily and how often God has heard his prayers, and granted his requests.
Psalms 116:2. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
That is a vow which we may well make, and hope for grace to keep it. It means that, as we have succeeded so well in begging at God's door, we will keep on begging of him as long as we live. I suppose the psalmist meant that, because Jehovah had heard him, therefore he would never call upon any false god; but, as long as he lived, he would resort to the one living and true God. I hope that you and I can say the same. We have tried the fountain of living waters, why should we go to broken cisterns that can hold no water? Prayer to God has always succeeded, why should we not continue it? All you who have plied the trade of mendicants at the mercy-seat must have been so enriched by it in your souls that you are determined to stand there as long as you live.» Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.» This is sound reasoning, for even the emotions of believers, when they are most fervent, are based upon solid reasons. We can defend ourselves even when we grow warmest in love to God and most earnest in prayer. Now the psalmist tells one of his many experiences in prayer:
Psalms 116:3-19. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD;
Dark days are good days for praying; when your eyes cannot see, you pray all the better; when there is no earthly prop to lean upon you are all the more ready to lean upon God alone. The psalmist was like a poor worm in a ring of fire: «the sorrows of death compassed me.» The sheriff's officer seemed to hold him in his grip: «the pains of hell got hold upon me.» As for his inner experience, he found nothing there but «trouble and sorrow.» When the town of Mansoul was besieged, every way of escape was closed except the way upwards, and it was so with the psalmist, and therefore he made use of that way. «Then called I upon the name of the Lord.» His prayer was short, earnest, and full of meaning:
Psalms 116:4. O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
He did not have to search for a form of prayer, his words were such as came naturally to his mind; and that is the best sort of prayer which arises out of the heart's sincere desire.
Psalms 116:5. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.
The psalmist was delivered by an act of grace, yet it was an act of righteousness, for God is not unrighteous to break his own promise, and he has promised to help his people. Grace and righteousness both guarantee answers to believing prayers, and mercy comes in to make assurance doubly sure: «Yea, our God is merciful.»
Psalms 116:6. The LORD preserveth the simple:
Straightforward men, those who cannot play a double part, those simpletons whom others take in and laugh at because they are honest, true, genuine, the Lord preserveth such people.
Psalms 116:6. I was brought low, and he helped me.
Oh, these blessed personal pronouns, are you laying hold of them as I read them? Are you speaking them out of your own soul?
Psalms 116:7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Come home to him, for you have no other friend like him in earth or heaven; come back to him, my soul, and rest where you have often rested before.
Psalms 116:8. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
An eternity of mercies from the Eternal himself.
Psalms 116:9. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
The best style of living is walking before God, so living in his sight as to be indifferent to the opinions and judgments of our fellow men and only caring to know that God is looking upon us with approval. This is the way to live; and if we have tried it, we have found it to be so pleasant that we are resolved to continue in it.
Psalms 116:10-11. I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: I said in my haste, All men are liars.
They have all failed me; some of them could but would not help me, so they were as liars to me; others would but could not, and as I have trusted them, they were as liars to me; but thou, my God, art no liar, thou art the truth itself! I ask those of you who have had a very long and varied experience to look back, and tell me whether you can recollect even once when your God has broken his promise. You have sometimes been afraid that he would forget it, but has he ever done so? If you speak as you have found him, you must praise and adore the faithful, immutable, all-sufficient Jehovah, who has made your strength to be as your days even to this very hour.
Psalms 116:12. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
That question contains the essence of true religion. This should be the one object of our lives if we have been redeemed by Christ, and are his servants. Whatever we have done for God, we should endeavor to do much more, and to do it much better.
Psalms 116:13. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.
This is a curious way of rendering anything, yet you know that John Newton's hymn says,
«The best return for one like me
So wretched and so poor,
Is from his gifts to draw a plea,
And ask him still for more.»
Psalms 116:14-16. I will say my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
It is a great blessing if we are able to say, as David did, that we are born into God's house. Some of us had gracious mothers who brought us to the Lord in earnest prayer long ere we knew anything. I can say to the Lord, «I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid;» and I have no greater wish than that all my descendants may be the Lord's.
Psalms 116:17-18. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
Do it, beloved, let your hearts now pour themselves out in silence, and afterwards in grateful song before the Lord. Praise him, magnify him, bless his name, «in the presence of all his people.» It is inspiring to be with your brethren and sisters in Christ. Perhaps the devotion which burns low when there is only one brand on the hearth will burn all the better and brighter when we add many blazing brands to it.
Psalms 116:19. In the courts of the LORD'S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.