Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 116:1-2 and following. Indeed, this hymn of the Israelite brought back to his land, how much more can the redeemed of the Lord sing it today: “I was unhappy, and He saved me… you have delivered my soul from death… But the reminder of such a great salvation makes the believer aware of the rights his Savior has over him. Verse 8 evokes a triple deliverance: God saves our souls, sustains our hearts overwhelmed by trial, and finally saves us from the traps and temptations in which, weak as we are, we risk stumbling.
That is why everyone can ask themselves the question in verse 12: “What will I give back to the Lord for all the goods he has done to me?” “I loved the Lord… ” replies the psalmist, these are the first words of the psalm and the first effect of the Gospel at the base of all the others. Then, from the abundance of the heart the mouth can proclaim the name of the Lord (2 Cor 4:7-14). But there is more than one way to bear witness to Him: “I will take the cup of salvation… I will sacrifice you sacrifices of thanksgiving… yes, in front of all his people. So let us give Him with all our hearts these sacrifices of praise, “fruit of the lips that confess his name” (Heb 13:12-16).
It’s the song of the risen Messiah that we have here: a magnificent continuation of the previous one, as if the Messiah desired to associate himself with joy and praise, or rather as if he wanted his voice to rise and dominate that of Israel in such a way as to lead the hymn of the congregation. We know from 2 Cor 4:13 that it is Jesus who speaks in this psalm; but we learn from the same passage that any believer animated by the “same spirit of faith” can also borrow the words of it to his extent. He whom Jesus invoked as being able to save him from death had heard this prayer; and, in a way, this psalm corresponds to the word of Jesus: “Father, I give you thanks for what you have heard me” (John 11). It is the real Hezekiah, leader and representative of his people, who speaks here. It is he “the living, the living” who praises God (Isaiah 38). He pays the vows he made on the day of his distress (Ps. 22:62,67), which Jacob had done only incompletely, or which he had been slow to do (Genesis 28:35). For the “land of the living,” or the land of glory (Isaiah 4:5; Ez. 26:20) is Canaan. This is how the Jews interpreted it, and it is so. Then there are two cups for the Lord -the cup of sorrows, and the cup of praise; in other words, that of Gethsemane or Calvary (Luke 22), and that of the kingdom.
The “restlessness” of verse 11 seems to express the feelings of his soul on the night of Passover. There is no idea of moral imperfection in the original term. This is the same word we find in Exodus 12:11. His whole life, in fact, was that of a stranger, as Israel was a stranger in Egypt on the night of Passover; it was also the irrefutable testimony that all men are liars – having turned away from God. But with those whom he simply calls “men,” he sets aside his chosen ones, identifying them intimately, it seems, with himself: their death is precious in the eyes of Jehovah as is his own. Again the hymn he will sing in the kingdom is mentioned here (Ps. 22:23; Heb. 2:12). For if in the days of his flesh Jesus sang with his disciples as recorded in Mat 26:30, how much more happiness will he do in the days of the kingdom!
But besides the hymns sung in this way by the Lord and His saints, can we not say that sometimes He will sing alone? For this is the testimony that is given here about him: “I will fulfill my vows to the Lord, in the presence of all his people.” Touching thought that the soul touches only with reverence. But if there are sufferings of his own, will he not have joys that will have this character? And this leads us to think that sometimes Jesus will sing alone a hymn of his own, the congregation then making silence to listen to him; sometimes, as we know, the congregation itself will sing; sometimes he himself will lead the hymns of his own (Ps. 34:4).
“I love the Lord, for he hears my voice, my supplications.” At the very beginning of this psalm, David confesses that he was attracted by the sweetness of God’s goodness, to place his hope and trust in him alone. This abrupt way of speaking, ‘I love’, is the most categorical, implying that he could only receive joy and rest anywhere in God. We know that our hearts will always wander after fruitless pleasures, and carefully harassed, until God has woven them to Himself. This disease that David claims was taken away from him, because he felt that God was really propitious to him. And, having discovered from experience that in general those who invoke God are happy, he declares that no seduction will distance him from God. When, then, he said, ‘I love’, it matters that, without God, nothing would be pleasing to him. From this we learn that those who have been heard by God, but who do not place themselves entirely under His direction and guardianship, have gained little benefit from the experience of His grace.
But one has to wonder if it is perhaps just as appropriate ‘that David’s days’ be seen as a propitious season to ask for help, the season when he was pressed by necessity. The scope of the passage will go very well as follows: Because he bent my ear when I called him in the time of my adversity, and even in the season, too, when I was reduced to the greatest need. And, with the plan to magnify the glory of God according to his desert, he said that there was no way to escape death, for he was like one among the enemies, bound by shackles and chains, to whom all hope of deliverance was cut off. He therefore acknowledges that he was subjected to death, that he was caught and seized, so that escape was impossible. And as he declares that he was bound by the ropes of death, so he adds at the same time that he fell into tribulation and sorrow. And here he confirms what he once said, that when he seemed the most abandoned of God, it was really the right time, and the right time for him to give himself to prayer.
“I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving.” He repeats once again what he said about gratitude, and this publicly; for we must manifest our piety, not only by our secret affection before God, but also by a profession open to the eyes of men. David, with the people, observed the rites of the law, knowing that these, at that time, were not insignificant services; but while he was doing this, he had a particular reference to the purpose for which they had been appointed, and offered mainly the sacrifices of praise and the calves of his lips. He speaks of the courts of the house of God, because at that time there was only one altar from which it was illegal to leave, and it was God’s will that the holy assemblies should stick to, so that the faithful could stimulate each other to cultivate piety.
Prayer of a man torn from death:
· Authentic prayer answered
Ps 4:4 Know that the Lord has chosen a pious man for himself; Jehovah hears, when I cry out to Him. Ps 34:18 When the righteous cry out, the Lord hears, and He delivers them from all their distresses; Pr 15:29 Jehovah moves away from the wicked, but He listens to the prayer of the righteous. Mi 7:7 For me, I will look to the Lord, I will put my hope in the God of my salvation; My God will answer me.
· Stay of the dead, cheol (from Hebrew), the tomb or invisible state
Ps 9:18 The wicked turn to the sojourn of the dead, all nations that forget God. Ps 139:8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there; If I go to bed in the abode of the dead, here you are. Isa 5:14 That is why the sojourn of the dead opens his mouth, widens his mouth too much; Then descend the magnificence and wealth of Zion, and its noisy and joyful crowd. Ez 31:16 By the sound of his fall I made the nations tremble, When I threw him into the abode of the dead, With those who descend into the pit; All the trees of Eden have been consoled in the depths of the earth, the most beautiful and the best in Lebanon, All watered by the waters.
· Divine hearing, God is attentive to the prayers of the righteous
2 Sam 22:7 In my distress I have invoked Jehovah, I have invoked my God; From his palate, he heard my voice, and my cry reached his ears. Isaiah 59:1 No, the hand of jehovah is not too short to save, nor is his ear too hard to hear. 1 Pet 3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous And His ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.
· Life of prayer, continual prayer
Ps 5:4 Eternal! in the morning thou shalt hear my voice; In the morning I turn to you, and I look. Ps 119:147 I preempt the dawn and cry out; I hope in your promises. Lk 2:37 Remaining a widow, and eighty-four years old, she did not leave the temple, and she served God night and day in fasting and prayer. Acts 10:2 This man was pious and feared God, with his whole house; he gave many alms to the people, and prayed to God continuously. 1 Thess 3:10 Night and day, we pray with extreme zeal to allow us to see you, and to complete what is missing from your faith. 1 Tim 5:5 The one who is truly widowed, and who has remained in isolation, puts her hope in God and perseveres night and day in supplications and prayers.
From all of the above, we note that Psalm 116 celebrates that deliverance that falls to the faithful when they are about to die. Jehovah answers them and they will walk before Jehovah in the land of the living. In this regard, this Psalm is an ongoing account of Jehovah’s merciful goodness to the Israelites whom He had rescued when they were lowered; and this had provoked their love for Him. Besides, this is the character of the Lord: he keeps the simple; the soul, so painfully tried, can return to its rest; the death of His saints is precious before His eyes; and now, before all his people, in the forecourts of the house of the Lord, in the midst of Jerusalem, the faithful will return the vows he had made in his distress when he invoked the Lord. He will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. For the quotation of this Psalm by the Apostle Paul (2 Cor 4:13) shows the use that can be made of the Psalms that concern us as containing, for every faithful, holy principles of conduct. Despite suffering and trial, trust in Jehovah opened the mouth of the faithful. When Paul said in Rom. 3:4, “Let God be true and every man a liar,” it was not in the same spirit as in verse 11 of our Psalm, although there is something similar in the apostle’s expression: “All seek their own interests” (Phil. 2:21). But, as for the principle, the apostle can adopt it. The word translated as “agitation” does not mean “agitation” in the senses of a moral defect, such as too much haste, but rather: “in my distress”, and even better: “in my distress or sudden alarm”, that is, by the effect of the pressure of circumstances; an alarm that makes us agitated. Our prayers accompany you all in the celebration of god’s deliverance.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and for centuries of ages. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” praise to God for his mercy and kindness.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.