How do you declare your love? Is it in a public demonstration of affection with large bunches of flowers? Or is it with a simple whisper and a hug? Perhaps it's a beautiful card or a letter filled with praise for the loved one. There are many ways that we can declare our love to those around us. Sometimes when we remember that we've taken people for granted, or we've just come through a difficult time, or we find a new love, a deep wave of emotion can come over us causing us to want to demonstrate our love.
This must have been what happened at a particular time in the life of the Psalmist. Psalm 116 is one of the most exuberant declarations of love of God. This is not just a nice card and flowers, but a deeply felt burst of love for the Savior. Let's spend some time in this psalm and see how we can learn to better declare our love for God.
Psalm 116 can be divided up into three sections: verses 1-6, 7-14 and 15-19. Verses 1-6 start off with the rush of emotion.
1 I love the Lord, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Lord, save me!”
5 The Lord is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.
6 The Lord protects the unwary;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
This psalm uses the terms I, me and my more than most other psalms. So that tells us immediately how very personal this psalm is. It's a true love poem! I love the Lord almost rings out across the valley. Just to declare that love is a powerful thing. Alex Varughese tells us that the word for love here is the only time it is used in the Psalms. It describes an "emotional state of being that governs healthy and wholesome relationships within a family."[1]
Who is the psalmist talking to? It's not really clear, but he is testifying to his love. Historically it could have been used in worship services, so in that respect it could be a guide to worship. But the psalmist had to write it first and, in those moments of deep love, he wrote this declaration. I love the Lord! Pause for a moment and reflect on the last time you publicly declared your love for God. What did it feel like?
It's one thing to say that we love someone, but when we back it up with hard data it can make it that much more meaningful. So, the psalmist begins to do just that. This testimony of love is based on some real-life deliverance! The first thing he declares is the God actually heard his voice. That's the beginning of deliverance. This is not some mute and aloof Savior sitting off in the distance. He is attentive to our calls and cries. He hears our voices. In a room full of escalating voices, God can pick out our voice and hear us. This is one of the wonderful and awe-inspiring realities about God—no matter how many voices are raised in pleas, anger or joy to him, he will hear us. What a consolation! What a reason to praise him. Oh, but there's more!
Not only does God hear us, but he hears our cries for mercy. Mercy is undeserved intervention. It's nothing that we can earn or buy. It's just mercy that God deigns to provide. If we all are honest, we need God's mercy every day of our lives. But the psalmist seems to be thinking of a particular time when he needed mercy. How does crying out for mercy demonstrate our love of God? Well, if you believe that God has the power to help you, wouldn't you ask him for that help? There is an implicit trust in God here. "I know he listens therefore I can ask for help." The next verse is so beautiful: Because he turned his ear to me . . . I imagine a child standing next to a trusted adult. The child tugs on the pant-leg of the adult. The adult then bends down with her ear near the child's mouth. "What is it, little one?" The mighty God of the universe can and does bend down to hear little ol' me. Out of all of the needs in the world, he wants to hear what I have to say. What a wonder that God loves us so much that he will bend down to hear us!
The psalmist begins now to describe how he will respond to this history of love from God and God's mercy. He employs the wonderful human will that God gifted to him and declares, I will call on him as long as I live! This is a love commitment and it's for the duration. "Right here, right now I am making the determination to persevere in my love and trust in God. He is trustworthy and worthy of my commitment to love him."
Verses 3-6 show us what the psalmist had been dealing with. Death, the fear of the grave, distress and sorrow had very nearly overwhelmed him. When each of us faces death it can consume us, unless we put our lives into the hands of our loving God. For Christians living under the new covenant of Jesus Christ, we can know that death is not he final word. Indeed we live with the reality of the words of Jesus when he said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am." (John 14:1-3) and "I am the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
In verse 6, the psalmist mentions the unwary and those that are brought low. There are times in our lives that, even when we live a trusting life in God, that was are taken by surprise. In other Psalms and many other places in the Bible, we read of the betrayal of close friends, the suddenness of accidents and economic hardships. Sometimes life just hits us broadside, and yet God is still willing and able to save us.
In this passage the psalmist begins to recite some of the characteristics of God that sustain him through his trials and his life. God is not only a Savior, but also gracious, righteous and full of compassion. What do we need more than these when faced with great difficulties?
In the next section of Psalm 116, verses 7-14 we read how he moves into some powerful self-talk as well as a direct praise to God. He deliberately calls his mind and heart to what can happen after deliverance.
7 Return to your rest, my soul,
for the Lord has been good to you.
8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling,
9 that I may walk before the Lord
in the land of the living.
10 I trusted in the Lord when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 in my alarm I said,
“Everyone is a liar.”
12 What shall I return to the Lord
for all his goodness to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people.
In verse 7 the psalmist gives himself directions. Return to the place of rest. I love that word return, as it describes the reality that what the psalmist initially found in God was rest. He knew what it was like to be at rest and knew that he could go back to that state. Matthew Henry gives us a picturesque image in "Return to thy Noah."[2] This calls to mind the weary dove flying about after the Flood trying to find a place to rest in the days after the deluge stopped. Be she can only return to the hand of Noah stretched out over the rail of the great ark while the waters receded. Such a rest! Such a comfort! God is the only one to whom we can return for true rest.
Verses 8-9 is where the psalmist lifts his face to the Father and expresses his deep love because of what God has done. God had set him upright, made his feet firm on the ground, protected him from tears and death during this time in his life. Matthew Henry wrote: "This [psalmist] hopes to see in the land of the living . . . that he should outlive his troubles and not perish under them. It is his comfort, not so much that he shall see the land of the living as that he shall see the goodness of God in it; for that is the comfort of all creature-comforts to a gracious soul."[3] It is good to tell the Lord what he has done and cast future hopes, not because God needs to hear it but because we need to say it and remember it! Tell the Lord today what he has done for you and see how that transforms your mourning into dancing, your dying into living, your weakness into strength and a dark future into the eternal daylight of his love.
Verses 10 and 11 seem to return the writer's focus to self-talk. Remember what it was like? Yes, I do remember when everyone else failed me. Everyone may not be a liar in the sense of ill intent, but rather that while they promised the kind of support and deliverance that was needed, they simply could not provide it. At some point, everyone we know will fail us—whether they intend to or not. So, the only source of real consolation, real rest and real salvation is God alone.
Verse 12 demonstrates the psalmist turning to action. He asks himself what it is he can do for being treated with so much love and mercy. What a beautiful question we can ask ourselves. I would hope that our first response would always be, "I will give him myself!" When we give our wholes selves to God—all our desires, joys, griefs, fears, hopes—we have the highest and best object of love in view. Once the psalmist has determined that, he turns immediately to concrete actions he can take: lifting up an offering, continuing to call on the Name of the Lord, and fulfilling the vows he made to the Lord. Lifting up a cup and pouring out a libation is a common act in many world religions. Of particular importance is to whom the libation is poured out. It is not to be poured out to Bacchus the god of wine and ecstasy—as those things are temporal—nor is it poured out to the sun or moon gods—as they are just heavenly bodies put in place by the one Creator—nor is it to any other god than God Most High. To him alone is any libation to be poured out. This is an act of worship.
Vows can be an act of worship. We don't know what vows the psalmist made to God, but what we do know is that he is determined to fulfill them. The IVP Bible Commentary defines a vow as a voluntary, conditional agreement to a deity.[4] We can also take the fair warning from Ecclesiastes about making vows. In 5:2 it is written: Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. And in 5:4-6 it is written: When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow. It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it. Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. There is not a prohibition against vows in the Bible, only the reality that in making them, you must be certain that you will fulfill them. An example of this is the Nazarite vow (Numbers 6:1–21) made and broken in the life of Sampson (Judges 13-16). If you make a declaration of love that includes a vow to God, be sure that you can and will fulfill it.
In verse 14 we see how the psalmist puts feet to his vows. He will do this as a public declaration of his love for the God who delivered him. Growing up as a child we would have testimony services. These take place still in many locations. It is a time given in a worship service where people would stand and give voice to their thanks and praise for God. Some of those glorious moments are still sealed in my memory. This kind of verbal demonstration is also found in Christian small group experiences or Bible Studies. If you have never publicly declared your love for God, be courageous and speak it out to those around you. Then experience how God blesses you for praising his wonderful name.
Now we move to the final section of this psalm. Here the psalmist describes the future, the present and the past realities of living in God's love. He not only declares the love of God for others, but repeats and expands his praise.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his faithful servants.
16 Truly I am your servant, Lord;
I serve you just as my mother did;
you have freed me from my chains.
17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill 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, Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord.
Verse 15 is full of consolation. While some readings of this might lead us to think that God takes delight when people die, it is quite the opposite. If we remember the great tearing apart in the Garden of Eden—when death entered the scope of human experience through sin—and if we look at the price of redeeming us from that in the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ—we can understand the God hovers over all of his beloved ones as they suffer and die. He is mindful of that rift and has set the time for final resolution when Christ returns. Until that time, he sits at their bedsides, puts his hand on their fevered brow, and provides the strength and hope required to die as a saint. The Berkeley Version margin notes of this verse says that the death of the saints is "of great concern to Him; He does not lightly permit it." [5] This is yet another reason to love God and declare our love for him.
The address of verses 16 and 17 again switches back to God. "Yes, God. I belong to you—all of me!" This is a declaration of joyful servitude. It is not a problem to serve God because of his great love. Anything God asks of us can be done because he has done so much for us. Even the psalmist's mother is a great example of this kind of whole-hearted service. Never discount the importance or power of a godly example!
In addition to that, God has lifted off and thrown aside the heavy chains that bound the psalmist. Here is another type of suffering that the psalmist declares God has freed him from. I find myself grateful for the Scriptures that describe the fact of bondage, but not the exact source of that terrible weight. This is provided to us so that any kind of bondage we find ourselves in can be inserted into the struggle and the deliverance. I don't have to know what kind of bondage the psalmist was in, but I can know my own bondage and we can both declare our love for the God who delivered us from it!
The final verses of this psalm, 17-19, repeat and heighten the commitment and declaration of praise to our wonderful Savior. He's telling himself, God and the congregation what he intends to do for the rest of his life in the presence of God's people.
Imagine with me a testimony service where everyone just praises God and no praises are left unsaid. What a jubilant and worshipful experience this would be. Whether or not you have the kind of opportunity or you are in a personal time of worship, you can make your declarations of love to the God who loves you! Take this fine example of praise, remembering, vowing and thanksgiving and apply it to your life today.
God is worthy of all of our praise. Praise the Lord!
Amen
© M.R.Hyde 2022
[1] Illustrated Bible Life: Winter Quarter 2022, The Foundry Publishing, Kansas City, MO, 2021.
[2] Unabridged Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, Osnova digital version.
[3] Ibid.
[4] The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 2000, p. 553.
[5] Quoted from The Beacon Bible Commentary. Vol III, Beacon Hill Press, Kansas City, MO, 1967, p. 384.
