PSALM 116: A SACRIFICE OF THANKSGIVING

The first section of Psalm 116 (verses 1-9) describes perfectly the conversion of a soul to faith in God the Savior.  I can’t read these beautiful lines without thinking of my own conversion to Christianity.  The section begins with these words: “I love the LORD, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications.  Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.” (Psalm 116:1, 2).  God is a God Who sees, and He is a God Who hears.  I love the Lord because one day I called out to Him, and He heard my voice.  When I humbled myself before Him, the God of the universe saw me and heard my prayer.  He not only heard me, but He also responded to me and revealed Himself to me.  As a result of that day, I will call on Him for as long as I live because He continues to hear me and speaks words of life to me.  Scripture tells us that His eyes are always on the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers: but the Lord is against them that do evil. (1 Peter 3:12).  We have all done evil in our lives, and our sins have created a separation between us and God.  When we turn to God, however, and acknowledge our failure to live according to His holy standard, then He will erase our sins and cast them as far as the east is from the west.  He will embrace us fully because He has given His precious Son to pay the penalty for our sin and to redeem us from all iniquity. 

 

Starting at verse 3, the psalmist describes just what motivated him to call out to God in the first place.  He says, “The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.  Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul.  Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.  The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and He helped me.” (Psalm 116:3-6).  I can very easily empathize with the writer.  I have known the sorrows of death and the pains of hell, and I have been well acquainted with trouble and sorrow.  I expect that we could all say the same to one degree or another.  Having the “freedom” to do as one pleases and command the choices that one makes can be a very rocky road to travel.  We make bad choices when left to our own devices.  Our feet slip and we are often deceived by those, both mortal and spiritual, who serve the darkness rather than light.  Without a compass we become hopelessly lost and wander down paths that bring us only heartaches and sorrows.  When we finally awaken to our sad state and realize that the Lord is our only hope, our light and our salvation, then we know that we can ask Him to “deliver our soul.”  It’s then that we discover that the He is gracious, righteous, and merciful.  He helps those who are brought low, and He preserves those who are simple and make foolish choices in their lives (like you and me).

 

The psalmist ends this section with these words: “Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.  For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.  I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” (Psalm 116:7-9).  There is only one place that mankind can find true rest and peace, and that is in the arms of the Savior.  When I came to Jesus and poured out my soul to Him, He dealt bountifully with me.  He delivered my soul, dried my tears, and established my feet on solid ground.  I no longer have to walk in spiritual darkness and death, but I can walk in the “land of the living.” I now know the Lord of Life and Prince of Peace.  I have found that in Him is life, and that His life is the Light of men.

 

Section two of this psalm addresses those things that we must do as the result of our relationship with God.  It begins with a verse that St. Paul quotes in his second letter to the Corinthians: “I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted…” (Psalm 116:10; 2 Corinthians 4:13).  This verse establishes a connection between what we believe in our hearts and what we confess with our mouths.  When I truly believe that a thing is true, then I am also motivated to talk about it.  This is a principle of scripture.  Our verbal witness for Christ is very important.  Jesus told His disciples, “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops.” (Matthew 10:27).  If the Lord has spoken it to us, and if His Word declares it, then we can proclaim it with confidence, we know that we have access to all of God’s promises in Christ.  Don’t be surprised, though, if the word that you speak is not always well received.  Often, affliction will accompany the preaching of the Word of God.  Satan likes to disrupt and derail the Gospel of Christ.  He will use those whose hearts and minds are blind to the truth to persecute, defame, and even destroy the messengers of peace.  The psalmist tells us, however, that “…many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivers him out of them all.” (Psalm 34:19).

 

"And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.  For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.  Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.  And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:22-26).  This is a remarkable passage of scripture, but it merely confirms the truth that God expresses in many other places in His Word.  Faith and a positive confession planted firmly in God’s revealed Word go hand-in-hand.

 

Paul confirmed this principle when he wrote to the disciples in Rome saying,  “The Word is nigh [near] thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10).

 

Psalm 116 continues: “I said in my haste, All men are liars.” (Psalm 116:11).  The writer of the Psalm has come through great anguish and turmoil, but God has brought him through it all and shown him great deliverance.  In the midst of it all, he found man to be little comfort in his affliction.  When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, all of His friends and disciples ran away from Him.  All of their promises of loyalty became false in their moment of trial.  The writer of Psalm 116 found that God was the only one in whom he could rely when it really mattered.  But this was said in his haste and in the heat of his battle.  Upon reflection I’m sure he was able to balance his perception and see a little more clearly the motivations in men’s hearts.

 

“What shall I render unto the LORD for all His benefits toward me?” (Psalm 116:12).  What is our response to all that the Lord has done for us?  How can we repay Him, how can we show our gratitude and our thanksgiving to Him?  Some would say that there is no way, and there is nothing that would be appropriate considering the great gift that He has given to us.  This Psalm offers us a few things that we can do, however.  The first is this: “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.” (Psalm 116:13).  There is a cup that the Lord has invited us to drink from.  It is referred to here as the “cup of salvation.”  It is symbolic of our walk with God, and it includes all of the blessings as well as all of the afflictions that we will be called on to partake of in this life.  Those things that the Lord asks us to surrender to Him or leave behind, those things that we must suffer for His Name’s sake.  The redemption, the hope, and the joy of our salvation are all contained in the cup we are each called to drink.  This is the way in which we can render our gratitude and thanks to the Father for all His benefits toward us.  To do this, and to call on the Lord continually for His grace and favor, is pleasing to Him.

 

The psalmist offers something else we can do to show our appreciation to the Lord.  He says, “I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all His people.” (Psalm 116:14).  It is important that we do the things that we promise the Lord.  Those things that we vow when we are in trouble, we must pay when we are delivered.  It would be better that we vow nothing than to neglect to do what we promise.  All that God really requires of us is our thanksgiving, our devotion, and a willingness to drink from His cup.  It is a sacrifice of praise that the Lord desires of us, and we should not be ashamed to share it in the presence of all His people.

 

“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.” (Psalm 116:15).  This verse speaks to me of the death to self that the Lord has called all of His servants to.  This is a foundational truth, and pivotal to the Christian faith.  It is perfectly set in the context of this Psalm.  It would not be complete without it.  It is such an important theme that every Gospel writer included it in his account, and Paul mentioned it repeatedly.  Jesus said, “He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” (John 12:25).  He also told His disciples (which includes you and me), “…whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.  For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:35, 36).  Jesus knew that flesh and blood could not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, so we who are in this body must learn to mortify the flesh and walk in the Spirit.  Paul wrote, “For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.” (2 Corinthians 4:11). 

 

Christian baptism is meant to illuminate this principle for every believer.  Paul taught that “...we are buried with Him [Christ] by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” (Romans 6:4, 5).

 

We continue reading in Psalm 116, “O LORD, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid: Thou hast loosed my bonds.” (Psalm 116:16).  It is essential that we understand this dynamic of our relationship with the Lord: we are His servants.  God does not exist to pander to our every want.  We exist to do His service and to fulfill His will.  The glorious thing about our relationship is that God has loosed our bonds.  Formerly, we were slaves to sin and servants to Satan, but the Lord set us free from that cruel captivity.  Now, we have chosen to serve the One Who released us, not for wages or out of necessity, but for love! 

 

“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, in the courts of the LORD’S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.” (Psalm 116:17-19).  Praise His glorious name!