Psalm 116 - The LORD Hears Your Prayers!
The LORD inclines His ear to you, so you must walk before Him.
PSALM 116
1 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!
Heidelberg Catechism
Q&A 44
Q. Why does the Apostles' creed add, “Jesus descended to hell”?
A. To assure me in times of personal crisis and temptation
that Christ my Lord,
by suffering unspeakable anguish, pain, and terror of soul,
especially on the cross but also earlier,
has delivered me from the anguish and torment of hell.
Summary
Do you ever wonder if God hears your prayers? Our natural inclination when we pray is to spend most of our effort on the third A in our Triple-A prayer pattern - asking God for what we need. But so often it seems our requests get met with silence. So more prayers get offered up, maybe with a little bargaining thrown in as to how good we'll be if God comes through.
This week's psalm comes as a reminder that God DOES hear your prayers, and has always given you what you need, and quite often what you want as well. In addition, Psalm 116 gives you a guide for living into this amazing truth.
Your love for the LORD isn't unconditional. Neither was the psalmists, or anyone else's for that matter. Rather, we have good reasons for our love! For one thing, we love the LORD because He hears our voice and supplications! And the One whose name you call upon is righteous and compassionate, so you can trust Him to save your life when you get brought low. You can trust Him because He's already rescued your soul from death.
Knowing that the God you love inclines His ear to you allows you to find the most elusive thing on earth: true rest. The rest of the world resides in anxiety and worry, never thinking they have enough. But you can say with the Psalmist, return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
Dig Deeper
But this rest that you want so badly - not just now, at the end of another long work week, but from all the alarms and afflictions in this world in which all men are liars - looks quite different than you might expect. This rest is found only as you render your life to the LORD for all His benefits toward you.
And this rest is quite vigorous - you must walk before the LORD in the land of the living. Obviously this involves more than just hitting an arbitrary step count goal each day; this walking metaphor gets used often in the Bible to reference day to day living.
But this rest involves more exercise than walking; you must also do some heavy lifting, as you continually lift up the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the LORD. In other words, as you pray, you're always reminding yourself of the salvation that the LORD has given you, especially in Christ's sin-atoning death and resurrection, but also for delivering your eyes from tears and for keeping your feet from stumbling.
You'll find this true rest as you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving and pay your vows to the LORD (God's benefits toward you are not predicated on the promises you make to Him as you pray, but He does expect you to keep them). This isn't something you do on your own, but rather in the presence of all His people (mentioned 2x), in the courts of the LORD's house, in the midst of God's presence on earth.
And guess what! You have the opportunity to find and be reminded of this rest once more, as you gather with the saints on the LORD's day, which is once again right around the corner.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who inclines His ear and hears our voice and supplications;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that, having had your soul rescued from death, that you would walk before the LORD in the land of the living;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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