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Psalm 116 vs.
"What shall I return
to the Lord for all
His bounty to me?"

The Psalmist said, "I love the Lord..."

Do you remember WHY?

"Because God has heard my voice and my supplications. Because God inclined His ear to me."

Why wouldn’t the Psalmist love God. Apparently the Psalmist, whoever he was, had been so very sick that he was at the brink of death. He turned to God and persisted in prayer asking God to save him. He apparently must have made some bargains with God. You know that kind I am talking about, God if you heal me, I promise..... I say this because 14 & 16 read,

"I will pay my vows to the Lord.."

Simply put Psalm 116 is a hymn of thanksgiving for deliverance. It is also a testimony that God does answer prayer.

"I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications."

said the Psalmist

Psalm 116 is a timeless pictorial of man who has come to the temple to pay his vow and to offer sacrifice. Who he is really doesn’t matter. He could be anyone. He could be you or me. What is affliction was, isn’t important. What matters is that in his hour of need he vowed that, IF GOD would deliver him, he would make a pilgrimage to the temple AND offer the appropriate sacrifices.

Deliverance granted, he is in the temple fulfilling his promises, performing the recognized rites and gladly leaving with the priest the stipulated thanks offering.

"I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications."

Every generation has its own afflictions to bear. Every generation seeks deliverance from it's afflictions. We will even pay a high price to secure it. We will take narcotics and risk the consequence. We will submit ourselves to the psychoanalyst. We will surrender our will to the specialist in the quest for peace.

We even do as the Psalmist did, we call on the name of the Lord,

"O Lord, I pray, save my life!"

We call on God expecting him to grant us our every request, as though God was a genie in a bottle. We forget that God doesn’t always answer our prayers with a yes. Sometimes God says no. Remember Jesus, when He faced the cross. He prayed for deliverance,

"If it is possible," Jesus cried, "let this cup pass from me."(Matt. 26:39)

Yet let us not forget that Jesus added,

"Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt."

God answered the Psalmist’s prayers with a yes, but to Jesus, God answered no. Which says two things about prayer. The first is that prayer is not intended to change God, but to change the person praying. If you think that your prayers are going to manipulate God to do things as you want, you are sadly mistaken. When you pray you should be opening yourself to the will of God.

The second thing about prayer is that God says NO so that God’s glory and works might be revealed.

Do you remember the story of the blind man in the gospel of John. Jesus was asked why a certain man was born blind? They asked Jesus,

"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

Jesus answered,

‘Neither...he was born blind so that God’s work might be revealed in Him." (John 9:2,3)

Are you willing to accept a no from God without it destroying your faith?

OR

Is your love for God, directly related to how God answers your prayers?

What if God’s faithfulness to you and me was proportional to your faithfulness?

What if God couldn’t take the time to bless you today because you couldn’t take time to thank Him yesterday?

What if God decided to stop leading you tomorrow because you didn’t follow Him yesterday?

What if God didn’t walk with you today, because you failed to recognize it as His day?

What if God took away the Bible tomorrow because you would not read it today?

What if God took away His message because you failed to listen to it?

What if God stopped loving and caring for you, because you failed to love and care for others?

What if God would not hear you today because you would not listen to Him?

What if God answered your prayers the way you answered His call to service?

What if God met your needs the way you give Him your life?

"I love the Lord, because.........."

Because why?

Because you like His answers to your prayers, or

Because

"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful" (vs. 5)

God’s love for us, is not conditional. It is not dependent on our love. It is all the more reason for you and me to

"return to God for all His bounty thanksgiving and to pay our vows, to keep the promises we have made."

This is what God wants of you and me. To call on Him as long as you live (vs. 2)

to offer thanksgiving (vs. 17)

to pay our vows (to keep your promise), in the courts of the house of the Lord.

In other words: love God as you want to be loved by God;

value God as God values you.

Amen

Reverend Richard Hayes Weyer

Our thanks to the IPoint Midi Gallery for the Hymn "Faith of our Fathers"