What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me?

Psalm 116 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Thanksgiving for Deliverance from Death.

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 says:  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.  There are times that it seems as though perhaps the Lord does not hear our voice; that rather than inclining His ear to us, it seems as though He has turned from us. In truth though, God has not moved. He still sees all and knows all. In Matthew 6:8 Jesus says:  “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” In Jeremiah 29:11 God says:  I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  If it seems as though God is not hearing us, perhaps it is time that we listen rather than speak. His plan is for our welfare. He knows what we need, not only before we ask, but better than we could ask.  James 1:17 says:   Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.   Like the psalmist, we should call upon the Lord, but when we do we should be attentive to what He says. In Psalm 37:4-7, the psalmist says:   Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Today the psalmist says:  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.  That He moves and responds to the situations and circumstances in our lives reveals the Lord’s grace and compassion. Even more though, He has saved our souls. John 3:16 says:  God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.  His bounty; His blessing; His grace and compassion are both for now and forever. The psalmist says:  You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling.  I shall walk before the Lord In the land of the living.

The psalmist continues:  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.   We cannot pay back what we owe to God. His grace; His love and compassion; all the good He does for us is a free gift. In Matthew 22:37-38 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.”  That’s the vow we must pay to the Lord, that we love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind. 1 John 4:19 says: We love because He first loved us. In Matthew 22:39-40 Jesus continues with what we should do; what we should render to the Lord:  “The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”  To love others as we love ourselves, we must first receive the saving love of God. Then it is with that love, with the love of God demonstrated in the cross, that we love others.

O Lord, surely 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, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people,  In the courts of the Lord’s house.  Praise the Lord!  Amen. Praise the Lord! Amen.