Psalm 116
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”
5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;
9 I will walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I believed, even when [believed, indeed] I spoke,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 I said in my alarm,
“All mankind are liars.”
12 What shall I render to the Lord
for all his benefits to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord,
14 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.
16 O Lord, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
I love the Lord, and how I love this Psalm. This Psalm is about a few of my favorite things, to pray and to be heard with love. God is genuinely interested in what I have to say. In prayer conversations that matter, wouldn't it require God's attention? Of course. We are told so often to pray, it would be misleading if we believed God listens without care.
Someone very dear to me endured and suffered through a divorce from a marriage that was happy for 2 decades. Very happy. She said in a Sunday School Bible Study she wasn't so much looking forward to happiness, but calm from being tossed in the waves of abandonment, poverty, loneliness and sole parenting. Almost all of us have times of tears and stumbling.
Many years ago, a shepherd boy had these same feelings. And after he was king, he remembered and these experiences led him to have compassion for his people. The lessons of endurance while depending on God, made him great. Even when he failed, as a child of God, to be a godly king, he remembered to rely upon God again. He was held in the apple of God's eye.
I love this Psalm, I like knowing when I feel frail or lonely, God hears and provides hope for this life. God is not looking for the strong and super-hero to love. God raises us up each day. We can look forward in hope to our prayers asking God to direct us, or give us strength, or build our faith as being pleasing in His sight. In the land of the living.
Thank you, Father God, You are always our hope. Thank You asking us for prayer, because You delight in our prayers. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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