Daily Devotional Sunday 28th January 2024
by William MoodyPsalm 116
I Love the Lord
116:1 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 when1 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!Footnotes
[1] 116:10
Or believed, indeed; Septuagint believed, therefore (ESV)
The beginning of this psalm, about escaping death has a lot of similarities with Jonah’s prayer (Jonah 2 v1-9). It is a prayer of thanksgiving at the Lord’s deliverance (v1-4). This deliverance encourages praise (v5-6) and a desire to dwell in God’s rest and presence (v7-9).
The Psalmist hasn’t a high view of people (v10-11), he has been let down. But instead of this making him bitter, he is determined to do right by the God who has done right by him (v12-19).
This is a Psalm associated with the Lord’s Supper (v13), and very likely a Psalm Jesus sang with His disciples the not He introduced the Lord’s Supper. For us to take the cup of salvation is a wonderful thing, but for Jesus to take this cup, it would cost Him everything.
As Jesus went to His death, He had confidence that this was precious to the Lord (v15). He was going yes to save His people, but amazingly He was offering Himself as an offering of thanksgiving to God (v17).
Jesus paying His vows (v18) was Jesus fulfilling His promise to the Father to go and die for those chosen for salvation. Jesus was faithful even unto death. What a wonderful and glorious Saviour we have.
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