Text: Psalm 116:1-9
I love the Lord, because He has heard My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. The pains of death encompassed me, And the pangs of Sheol2 laid hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!” 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. For You have delivered my soul from death, My eyes from tears, And my feet from falling. I will walk before the Lord In the land of the living.
Devotion
If Israel had to love the Lord because He had freed them from captivity in Babylon and led them back to their own land, shouldn’t we love Him, we who are “freed from the power of Satan and are led into the kingdom of His beloved Son?” If they had to praise His deeds, His grace and righteousness and mercy, and thank Him for salvation from great danger, how much more should we! To you, dear Christian, God has shown such great mercy that you must feel the need to bow before His throne with thanks and praise forever. You deserved death and hell for eternity, and now you have received an inheritance in heaven and have begun to enjoy the sweetness of eternal life: love, peace, and joy in God. You walked in darkness and spiritual death and didn’t want to come into the light; but the Lord called you so long and so powerfully that you woke up and went in before His face in the land of the living. And how faithfully He follows you with His Spirit, and how many temptations and dangers He has saved you from! He hears your voice and inclines His ear to your cry; He guards you and helps you and shall perform His good work in you. You can entrust yourself firmly to His grace and faithfulness.
So then through our whole life we love the Lord and call upon Him with worship and praise all our days. Who is like You, Lord Jesus, a Savior for the poor who cry out, and for the miserable who have a Helper again? Who is like You, strong and faithful and gentle and loving? Who is like You, beautiful and lovely to the soul! “Grace is poured upon Your lips” (Psa 45:2), and “Your name is ointment poured forth” (Son 1:3). Nothing in heaven and on earth is as sweet as that. I was poor, You delivered me. I am poor, You deliver me. How shall I repay Your well-doing toward me? I will offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Lord, I am Your servant. I am Your servant, the son of Your maid-servant; You have loosed my bonds. I love You from my heart, sweetest God, but I pray You sincerely:
Closing Prayer
Bring love to life, and let all that is in me love You and praise Your holy name, let everything in me resound like a harp, to Your glory. Amen in Jesus’ name.
Hymn
Jesus, my Comfort sure,
Thou art my heart’s pleasure;
For tears and pain and sighing
Thy grace to me supplying,
And glory for my heart;
But who the world still chooses
Eternal life then loses,
Learns Satan’s lying art.
I will with heartfelt trust
Turn unto Thee for rest
And ne’er from Thee be turning
Until my final journ’ying,
But in Thee strengthen me,
Remove, Lord, all my weakness
That it may not deceive us,
And bring me unto Thee.
Neuss: O Jesus, du er min L 532:5-6 tr. DeGarmeaux;
tune: O Jesus, du er min (Jensen’s Koralbog); alternate hymn: When earth with all its joys defeats me ELH 479