I Love the Lord

116I 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 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!

 

Reflection

• The psalmist gave thanks to God for delivering him from imminent death and for lengthening his life. He promised to praise God in the temple for these blessings.
• This is a hymn of individual thanksgiving, and it is also messianic. This is a good psalm to read when you need to recommit yourself to serving God.
• Recall a time when you did call on God and he answered you and showed you great and mighty things. What was this experience like for you? What “sacrifice of thanksgiving” could you give to God?

 

Prayer & Journaling:

Stay with God for a little longer. Continue to converse with God and listen to what he wants to tell me. Then write down any thought and/or prayer in the “Spiritual Journal” book.