I love the Lord, because...

Psalm 116 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

I love the Lord, because He hears
My voice and my supplications.
² Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.
³ The cords of death encompassed me
And the terrors of Sheol came upon me;
I found distress and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called upon the name of the Lord:
“O Lord, I beseech You, save my life!”

⁵ Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
Yes, our God is compassionate.
⁶ The Lord preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
⁷ Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
⁸ For You have rescued my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
My feet from stumbling.
⁹ I shall walk before the Lord
In the land of the living.
¹⁰ I believed when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
¹¹ I said in my alarm,
“All men are liars.”

¹² What shall I render to the Lord
For all His benefits toward me?
¹³ I shall lift up the cup of salvation
And call upon the name of the Lord.
¹⁴ I shall pay my vows to the Lord,
Oh may it be in the presence of all His people.
¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the Lord
Is the death of His godly ones.
¹⁶ O Lord, surely I am Your servant,
I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid,
You have loosed my bonds.
¹⁷ To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
¹⁸ I shall pay my vows to the Lord,
Oh may it be in the presence of all His people,
¹⁹ In the courts of the Lord’s house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.  Praise the Lord!

The psalmist begins saying:   I love the Lord, because He hears My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. The cords of death encompassed me And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beseech You, save my life!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. 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 rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling.   God is indeed gracious and compassionate. Our love for Him though should be based on more than that He hears our supplications. 1 John 4:19 says:  We love, because He first loved us. Our love for God is a response to His love for us. Romans 5:8 says:  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  The psalmist says:  “O Lord, I beseech You, save my life!”    For us, even before we were aware of our need, He saved our lives because He loved us. Jesus died for our sins, to save us, even before we were born. Our love then should not be founded in the expectation of what He will do in response to our requests, but rather in response to what He did, even before we knew our need.  If God never did another thing for us but to save us from our sin, we would already have received more than we deserve. It would be enough that we should be eternally grateful. In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul who endured much for the sake of the gospel, said:  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through Him who gives me strength.   Whether He delivers us to victory or sustains us through adversity, it is enough that we have Him. We should be content because of what He has done for us.

The psalmist says:   I shall walk before the Lord In the land of the living. I believed when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” I said in my alarm,
“All men are liars.”  What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His godly ones.  O Lord, surely I am Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, You have loosed my bonds. To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people, In the courts of the Lord’s house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.  Praise the Lord!   We too should recognize that we walk before the Lord in the land of the living, meaning God sees us and knows all that we say and do as we walk through this life. We then should also walk for the Lord. The psalmist asks:  What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me?    He says:  I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people…  O Lord, surely I am Your servant, I am Your servant… You have loosed my bonds. To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord…   In Romans 12:1, Paul says:  I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.   All that we can give to the Lord in response to all that He has done for us, is all that we are. In thanksgiving, we should present our bodies and our lives to Him. We should live holy before God and before all people. It is good that we do things in service to God. It is good that we worship Him, but first and foremost we should love Him with all of our lives and with all of our being. In Matthew 22:37 Jesus says: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment.” 

Like the psalmist I declare:  To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And call upon the name of the Lord.  I shall pay my vows to the Lord,
Oh may it be in the presence of all His people,  In the courts of the Lord’s house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.  Praise the Lord!  May it be everywhere I go and in everything that I do, that I love, serve and praise the Lord with thanksgiving.  Amen.