“I
love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore
I will call on Him as long as I live.
The snares of death encompassed me,; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish. Then I
called on the name of the LORD: ‘O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul.’ Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God
is merciful. The LORD preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, He saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with
you. “
(Psalm 116:1-7 ESV)
This was part of a passage of
Scripture we looked into the other night with our Young Adult Group. I asked something like, “what words could we
use to describe this passage?”, and someone said, “Gratitude and
dependence.” Those words really
resonated with me. They are still
resonating with me, and the more I re-read the passage, the more they resonate.
The psalmist apparently found
himself near death and cried out to God for help. He suffered, and called and was delivered
from the suffering. The balance of the
psalm is a testimony to God’s goodness, and the psalmists attempts to give
praise back to God for the favor he has experienced. He depended on God to save him, and now that
he has known that salvation, he is grateful, and appreciative.
Shouldn’t that be our story too? Haven’t we been given hope when our case was
hopeless, and spared from a death that was rightfully ours? God is gracious, righteous and merciful. He has dealt bountifully with us, so much
more so than we deserve.
He was under no obligation to save
us. It adds nothing to His glory and majesty
to save a sinful soul, and yet He does.
He doesn’t need us to make Himself complete, it settles no owed debt to
spare us, and yet He does. We are more
dependent on Him than we realize, and certainly more than we could ever begin
to express proper appreciation for.
The psalmist writes, and actually
repeats the verse: ‘I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His
people.’ (v.14 and 18) While it was
somewhat common for a person to take a vow for a period of time, and consecrate
themselves to God for that period, I think because of the context of this, and
what precedes and follows, I suspect this is more about offering unrestrained praise
and glory to God in the place of worship, (tabernacle, temple, etc.). For us, this would be to truly pour out our
hearts in worship to God without restraint.
Do we really reflect on our
dependence on and gratitude to God as we offer back our praises to Him? Do we really stop to consider what it is we
are singing (the lyrics) as we sing, regardless of the style of music? Does the degree of our gratitude affect the
energy with which we express our worship to God? Think about that while you are watching the
game on Sunday, or whenever you next watch a sports team play, or a fine musician
play. Does the degree of your
appreciation for the performance you just witnessed influence your response?
I hope that worshipping with the
kindred saints on Sunday morning isn’t just a habit you practice, or something
you do because you think that you’re supposed to. I hope that worship with the gathered body of
Christ is a true expression of your worship to God, and that it brings richness
and vitality to your life each week.
“I love the LORD, because He has
heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long
as I live….I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people, in
the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!” (Ps. 116:1, 18-19 ESV)
By
His Grace Alone,
Pastor
Bruce Jacobsen
