Psalms 116:1-16

In this Psalm, David tells us his experience with regard to God and with regard to men.

Psalms 116:1. I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

Answered prayer is a good reason for loving God. David was in his right senses; and he was, by no means, a fool, yet he declared that God had answered his prayer, and, therefore, he loved him. And this is not only David's experience, but there are thousands of us who can say that God has heard our prayers, and therefore we love him. How can we help doing so?

Psalms 116:2. Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

If a beggar in the street were to say to us, «Because you have relieved me once, I will beg of you as long as I live,» we should not be pleased to hear him say that, but God loves to hear us say that to him. He wishes us to resolve that, because we have been successful in prayer once, we will call upon him as long as we live. Now David explains the circumstances which led him to pray:

Psalms 116:3. The sorrows of death compassed me,

«I seemed to be shut in, surrounded by a circle of difficulties and terrors: ‘The sorrows of death compassed me,'»

Psalms 116:3. And the pains of hell gat hold upon me:

They seemed to seize him as a lion seizes his prey.

Psalms 116:3. I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD,

I beseech thee, deliver my soul. His prayer was a very short one, but very much to the point. Words make not prayer; they often burden it, and prevent it from flying. «Prayer is the soul's sincere desire;» and David, in a few earnest words, expressed that desire: «O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.»

Psalms 116:5. Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

All who have ever tried him have proved him to be so, merciful to forgive our sin, merciful to help us in the time of trouble, - merciful to strengthen us in the performance of our duty: «Our God is merciful.»

Psalms 116:6. The LORD preserveth the simple:

Those who are of a single mind, who have no double meanings and concealed motives, those who know their own ignorance and weakness, and who, therefore, dare not trust in themselves.

Psalms 116:6. I was brought low, and he helped me.

David could speak for himself, and he did so without the slightest hesitation. Can you, dear friends after making trial of God's love and grace, say of him, «I was brought low, and he helped me»? If you can, then bear this testimony to his praise and glory.

Psalms 116:7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.

Man's soul is like the dove that Noah sent out from the ark. It flew over the wide waste of waters, seeking rest, but finding none, so, at last, with weary wing, it made its way back to the ark; and, soul, thou wilt never rest till thou comest back to thy Creator and Redeemer. Thou mayest fly to the pleasures and follies of this world, but they can furnish no real rest for thee; if thou wouldst rest, thou must come back to thy God.

Psalms 116:8. For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eye from tears, and my feet from falling. I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

«Let my fellow creatures think what they will of me, I will not care about their judgments, I will only think of God.» This is the highest noblest, happiest style of living, to «walk before the Lord.» Why, there are some men who dare not even call their souls their own! They are afraid of their next-door neighbours, or of some great kinsman who sets the fashion for them; but the man who walks before the Lord will think only of the verdict of the Most High, and will care nothing about what men will say.

Psalms 116:10. I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: I said in my haste, all men are liars.

He felt that he could not trust them. He had come into such trouble that men would be deceivers even against their own will, for, even when they would have helped him, he found that they could not. He had looked to them as worthy of his confidence, and had found them fail him, therefore he said that, so far as reliance upon them was concerned, «All men are liars.» Well, what then?

Psalms 116:12. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

«Though men have failed me, the Lord has not. If friends all prove to be false, he still is true.» ‘What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?'

Psalms 116:13. I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay 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.

It matters not where they die, in the dungeons of the Inquisition, or on the sick-bed of poverty and obscurity, God is always with them. The death-bed of a saint is one of the places where God often makes his glory to be best seen. From the lips of dying men and women some of us have heard strange sayings, sweeter than any that ever fell from poet's tongue or pen. We have heard words which it was almost unlawful for a man to utter, save only for those who were in the very suburbs of heaven, almost in glory, even while they spake with us on earth. «Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.» Will yours be a saintly death, dear friend, or will it, on the other hand, be a death of gloom and sorrow? God grant that you may die the death of his people because you have lived the life of his people!

Psalms 116:16. O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

How pleased David was to be God's servant! Yet he says, «Thou hast loosed my bonds.» To serve God, is to be free; we are never truly free until we bow our willing necks to the yoke of the Most High. Then we break every chain, and snap every fetter. He is the free man whom our God makes free, and all are slaves besides.

Psalms 116:17. 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.