Worship

Psalm 116

Scripture:

I love the Lord because He hears my voice and my prayer for mercy. Because He bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath! Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Please, Lord, save me!” How kind the Lord is! How good He is! So merciful, this God of ours! The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and He saved me. Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me. He has saved me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. And so I walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth! I believed in you, so I said, “I am deeply troubled, Lord.” In my anxiety I cried out to you, “These people are all liars!” What can I offer the Lord for all He has done for me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and praise the Lord’s name for saving me. I will keep my promises to the Lord in the presence of all his people. The Lord cares deeply when His loved ones die. O Lord, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household; you have freed me from my chains. I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people—in the house of the Lord in the heart of Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

Observation: Jesus is full of mercy and hurts when we hurt, as we just read above (“The Lord cares deeply when His loved ones die”). Because of what Jesus did and having Holy Spirit live inside us, we can now freely and humbly go before Him at any time and share with Him the pain we’re experiencing. In the previous Psalm, the psalmist describes God as a real person who breathes, smells, hears, and sees. Our God is the Living God who suffered immensely for us as a man, Jesus, and knows how hard life can be. In your difficult season, thanking Him and calling on His name is a sacrifice because it hurts to praise when you don’t feel happy. But this sacrifice of praise is precisely what our spirit and body needs in this season of hopelessness, as He will lift you up on wings of eagles so that you don’t trip or stumble and not walk faintly. When we step outside of our own pain and choose to see Him first before that pain, we are engaging in our full calling as His servants that “keep our promises to Him in the presence of all his people.” There is a reason the word “Lord” was mentioned so many times in Psalm 116 (17x)- let everything revolve around Him, our precious savior and friend Jesus!

Application: I must make a conscious decision to focus on His goodness in the midst of my suffering. I must meditate on His mercy and the fact that He is near me, always waiting for me to come to Him with my pain.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for being you. Thank you that you’re always there when I need you. Thank you that even in the dark storms you are there. You are my anchor, my hope, my peace and I know I can call upon your Name whenever I want. Grant me the childlike faith Psalm 116 speaks about. I praise your Name, Jesus! Amen.