I LOVE THE LORD



I LOVE THE LORD

PSALM 116

Introduction:

Over a lifetime most of us when will encounter some real dangers. There may even be times when life itself is in jeopardy. Every such experience provides us with an opportunity to learn something new about the Lord and His love.

Evidently the words of this beloved Psalm came out of such an experience. It provides the background for the opening declaration, “I love the Lord!” I want us to take a careful look at this testimony and personal commitment to love the Lord.

I. THE REASONS FOR MY LOVE.

Our love for the Lord is always a response to His love for us. Love for God never begins with us. Rather we find ourselves compelled to respond to Him in love because of some generous expression of His love for us.

The Psalmist points to four manifestations of God’s love that gave Him reason to love the Lord. I can identify with each of them.

1. Because He has heard my cry. (v. 1-2)

“I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice and my supplications.” The Psalmist is celebrating the wonder of answered prayer. The unnamed Hebrew had brought a life threatening situation to the Lord, and the Lord had heard him. Reflection on the goodness of God demonstrated in answered prayer made him declare, “I love the Lord!”

I wonder how many times the Lord has heard your voice, and taken heed to your supplications? Every one of us could make a list. God probably has some answers on His list that we missed. He may well have answered in a way that missed us. He did not mold his answer to fit our request, but did something that seemed wiser and better to Him. But He has heard our cry!

2. Because He has delivered me from death (v. 3-4).

The Psalmist has had a personal encounter with death, and has escaped. It is not clear from the text whether it was approaching him through a major illness, or through some experience in the army of Israel, or from the attack of an enemy. However the experience was unforgettable. “The pains of death encompassed me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow.” It is as though death was stalking him with a lasso in his hand. Death was determined to bind him and carry him away to Sheol, or to the realm of the dead. All he was able to do was to cry out for deliverance, but when he did the Lord heard him. “Then I called upon the name of the Lord: ‘O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

“For You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.”

Later the Psalmist will remember that “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Death does not come accidentally to the one who belongs to God. It comes in God’s time and with God’s permission.

Do you realize that you have been on “Death Row” ever since you were born? The fact that you are still enjoying life is a good sign of the mercy of the Lord. I have been aware several times that death was close, but I am sure that it has been close in times that I did not realize. But God has delivered. In His mercy He has extended to me life when I deserved death. Should I not love the Lord with all my heart?

I have been referring to physical death, but I am also aware that I have been delivered from eternal death through faith in Jesus Christ. That is an even greater reason to love the Lord.

3. Because He has saved me. (v. 5-7)

“Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” What a word about the goodness of our God! It is reflective of the great word that God spoke to Moses while he was hidden in the cleft of the Rock at Sinai. “Saved” here probably refers to some dangerous situation from which the Lord lovingly rescued him, but for us it expands into the greater meaning of that word. We have not just been saved from some physical threat, but we have also been saved from wrath to come. Glory! Glory!

When we consider this great salvation that the Lord has bestowed upon us, should we not love the Lord?

4. Because He has blessed me. (v. 7, 12)

“Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.” The Psalmist is talking to himself, to his soul. He is reminding his soul of the goodness of the Lord that has been poured over him. It has been more than the human mind can count or measure. It provides an immediate encouragement to make God the rest or the home for His soul.

Later he asks, “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me.” Did you catch the word “all”? None are overlooked. The benefits of the Lord are found in every area of our lives, and they are there as an expression the goodness and mercy of the Lord. When you begin to consider the benefits, you know in your heart that you have reason to love the Lord.

So we have ample reason for loving the LORD, but how will we express this love?

II. THE EXPRESSION OF MY LOVE.

There are several “I will” statements on the part of the Psalm that express his intention of demonstrating his love for the Lord. You will probably want to make them yours! It is not enough to “feel” love for the Lord; it must be expressed.

1. I will pray. (v. 2)

“Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.” “I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.” (v. 13) Is this not an interesting response? God hears my prayer, so how do I show Him by gratitude for this deed of love? I commit myself to a life of prayer as long as I live. I extend to God other opportunities to reveal Himself in answer to my prayers.

Some scholars understand the “cup of salvation” to a reference to the salvation of the Lord itself. The idea would be that one experience of God’s saving grace is acknowledged lovingly by giving God a new opportunity to do it again. You choose the cup of salvation rather than the cup of wrath.

Your prayer life can be an extension of your love for the Lord as well as an expression of your need. You love to pray just because you love the Lord.

2. I will keep my promises. (v. 14)

“I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people.” A vow is a solemn promise made to the Lord. The Lord does not require vows of us, but we are inclined to make such solemn promises when we find ourselves in a stressful situation, or when we have just experienced a fresh mercy from the Lord. In response to what we have received, we promise the Lord something. To honor that vow with a payment or a deed is a way of expressing your love for the Lord. To make promises and not keep them is to fail to take the Lord seriously. We would not treat other significant persons in that way—neither should we so treat the Lord.

3. I will serve Him freely. (v. 16)

“O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am your servant, the son of Your handmaiden; You have loosed my bonds.” Is this not expression of our love. He has blessed us with His goodness, and saved us by His grace. What will we do? We will willingly be His servant. “You have loosed my bonds,” probably refers to his status. While he may have once been in bondage, he is now free, so he will freely use his freedom to serve the Lord. He puts all of life under the direction and at the will of the Lord.

You will remember that Jesus taught that if we love God we become His servants. We put all of life at His disposal for Him to use it as He pleases.

4. I will sing of His goodness. (v. 17-18)

“I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.” Under the old covenant the sacrifice of thanksgiving was a special offer placed on the altar of the Lord. Under the New Covenant the sacrifice is a testimony spoke to the honor of the Lord, or a song of thanksgiving sang for the pleasure of God. The offering of such a sacrifice is a way of expressing the love which you feel.

It is good to remember that we are loved. It is good to remember that we are loved by the Lord. His love toward us an expression of nature. He is love. Such love demands from us a response. I choose to respond like the unnamed Hebrew poet who put these words down, and then sang them before the Lord.

A vivid painting of Christ, wearing His crown of thorns as He stands before Pilate and the mob, is displayed in the art museum of Dusseldorf, Germany. Under the painting by Sternberg are the words, “This have I done for thee; what hast thou done for Me?” When Frances Havergal viewed the painting during a visit to Germany, she was deeply moved. As she gazed at it in tears, she scribbled down the lines of this hymn text on a scrap of paper. After returning to her home in England, she felt the poetry was so poor that she tossed the lines into a stove. The scorched scrap of paper amazingly floated out of the flames and landed on the floor, where it was found by Frances’ father, Rev. William Havergal, an Anglican minister, a noted poet, and a church musician. He encouraged her to preserve the poem by composing the first melody for it. The present tune was composed for this text by the noted American gospel songwriter, Philip P. Bliss, and was first published in 1873.[1]

When Christ cried out on the cross, “It is finished,” victory over sin was won. All that is required of each of us is to personally appropriate that finished work. To show our gratefulness, however, our response should be, “Thank you, Lord, for giving your life for me. Now I want to live for You and serve You till the end of my days.” This was the reaction of Miss Havergal, known as the “consecration poet,” whose entire life was characterized by simple faith and spiritual saintliness. In spite of frail health, she lived an active life until her death at the age of 43. She wrote many beautifully phrased hymn texts, including “Take My Life and Let It Be” and “Like a River Glorious.”

I gave My life for thee; My precious blood I shed that thou might’st ransomed be and quickened form the dead; I gave, I gave My life for thee—what hast thou giv’n for Me?

I suffered much for thee, more than thy tongue can tell, of bitt’rest agony to rescue thee from hell; I’ve borne, I’ve borne it all for thee—what hast thou borne for Me?

And I have brought to thee, down from My home above, salvation full and free, my pardon and My love; I bring, I bring rich gifts to thee—what hast thou brought to Me?

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