With gratitude before God for being delivered from distress. Psalm 116

in HeartChurch3 years ago

What does God expect from his children when his mighty hand delivers them from anguish and death? Certainly, what God expects from his children is nothing more than a heart full of gratitude and love. The author of Psalm 116 begins the composition by saying: "I love the Lord". Truly, this expression is what God expects when he delivers us and takes care of us permanently from evil and danger. Having a heart full of gratitude is important and healthy for our relationship and intimacy with God. The psalmist manifested in the first verses of this psalm, important and wonderful words saying:

I love the LORD, for he has heard my voice and my supplications.
My voice and my supplications;
2 because he has inclined his ear to me;
Therefore will I call upon him all my days.
3 The snares of death compassed me about,
The anguish of Sheol met me;
I was distressed and afflicted.
4 Then I called upon the name of Jehovah, Saying:
O Jehovah, deliver my soul now. Psalm 116: 1-4



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As human beings we are exposed to terrible situations of illness that can bring us to the brink of death. The mere fact of knowing that one is about to die from a terminal illness produces anguish and despair. The author of this Psalm 116 was surely living a pressing moment of anguish that led him to believe that he was going to die, however, his cry to God filled him with confidence that God would deliver him and save him from certain death. Recognizing that God is just and merciful is very relevant when we know that we have rendered a service to God from the heart. God's mercy covers us and allows God to come to our aid to deliver us from distress and the valley of the shadow of death. God keeps the humble and simple of heart and will never allow anguish to take hold of our soul. The Lord is our rest in the days of despair. The psalmist tells his soul to return to his rest and his rest is God. I invite you, my reader friend, to make your own the words the psalmist expresses in the following verses:

The Lord is gracious and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple;
I was bowed down, and he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest.
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death
my eyes from tears
and my feet from slipping. Psalm 116: 5-8



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Recognizing that only in God's ways will we find help and favor is of vital importance. It is necessary for the children of God to walk before the Lord in the midst of this world full of evil and sickness. God is our comfort, in men we will never find help and succor, for in man there is no truth. Taking God's truths and anchoring them in our hearts will allow us to speak in faith of what God promises us. The psalmist says: "I believed, therefore I spoke". In the midst of adverse circumstances it is necessary to declare victory over problems. Victory is obtained by believing what God tells us in his word. Declaring a word from God confirms that we have success over problems. In God there will never be defeat, therefore, it is necessary to bring into our life the words of the Most High God and walk in the paths of his truths as expressed by the author of Psalm 116:

I will walk before the Lord
In the land of the living.
10 I believed; therefore I spoke,
I was greatly distressed.
11 And I said in my trouble:
Every man is a liar.
12 What shall I render to the LORD
for all his benefits to me? Psalm 116: 9-12



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When God delivers us from anguish and death, we experience a deep heart of gratitude that leads us to drink the cup of salvation that God has given us through his Son Jesus Christ. Jesus delivered us from certain death that was coming because of sin. The death of Jesus on the cross allowed mankind to drink the cup of salvation, however, those who still despise the cup of the King that has been served for all men, the price to pay is very expensive, however, God esteems the death of his saints, that is, the death of Christians who have drunk from the cup of Christ's salvation, through his blood shed on the cross. If anyone has not drunk from the cup, I invite him to do so according to what the psalmist says:

I will take the cup of salvation,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
14 Now I will pay my vows to the LORD
In the presence of all his people.
15 Esteemed in the sight of the LORD
The death of his saints. Psalm 116: 13-15



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What a wonderful joy when we can express from our hearts that we are servants and children of God, and even more interesting, when we know that our God has delivered us from death and any terminal illness. The heart is filled with gratitude and with joy we pay our vows before the Lord. A grateful heart before God is filled with praise and overflowing joy for the salvation that the Lord gives us in the most dangerous situations of our life. Let us praise God for his many favors and mercies that he has had with us, let us enter his courts with thanksgiving and much praise.

O Lord, surely I am your servant,
I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;
You have broken my bonds.
17 I will offer you a sacrifice of praise,
and I will call upon the name of the LORD.
18 Now I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Alleluia. Psalm 116: 16-19



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