Blessings from Our Benefactor
Psalm 116:12-19
12 What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me?
13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord.
14 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
16 O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord.
18 I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people.
19 In the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.
Introduction: Two things stand out as far as the context is concerned. First, we don’t know what type of peril David had been in. Perhaps it was connected to his trouble with his son Absalom who overthrew the king and caused David to flee for his life. Second this is Hebrew (Hallel) or hymn of praise and thanksgiving. Psalm 116 is a prayer of thanksgiving. “Praise (Hebrew: hallel) Yah!” (Hebrew: yah) (v. 19b). Our word hallelujah comes from hallel (praise) and yah (Yahweh or God or the Lord), so it means “praise the Lord.”
Like other psalms of this type (see Psalm 30; 32; 34), Psalm 116 begins by saying that God has rescued the psalmist from trouble (verses 1-2). Then the psalm describes the distressing circumstance now past (verse 3), recalls a prayer for help (verse 4) along with the Lord’s saving response (verses 5-11), and then vows to give witness to God’s salvation before the congregation (verses 12-19). Perhaps the most distinctive mark of this type of psalm is the promise of a thanksgiving offering (verse 17). The thanksgiving psalms probably began as part of the liturgy that accompanied this offering (see Jeremiah 33:10-11).
I. Our Benefactor – The Lord – v. 5
a. God is gracious
Grace is defined as God’s unmerited favor.
"Because God is gracious, therefore sinful men are forgiven, converted, purified and saved. It is not because of anything in them or that ever can be in them that they are saved."
(Source: Charles Spurgeon, All of Grace)
b. God is righteous
"God never alters the robe of righteousness to fit man, but the man to fit the robe."
The Chinese character for "righteousness" is most interesting. It is composed of two separate characters one standing for a lamb, the other for me. When "lamb" is placed directly above "me," a new character "righteousness" is formed. This is a helpful picture of the grace of God. Between me, the sinner, and God, the Holy One, there is interposed by faith the Lamb of God. By virtue of his sacrifice, he has received me on the ground of faith, and I have become righteous in his sight.
c. God is merciful
Jack Hayford: "Mercy is God's constant compassion for the helpless and undeserving--to show compassion for someone in serious need, i.e. 'showers of mercy.' Mercy is not merely a passive emotion but an active desire to remove the cause of distress in others."
II. Our Benefits – Lit. His precious blessings…
David acknowledges the blessings of God (Jehovah) in his life.
a. His prayers have been heard –
1 I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice,
and my cries for mercy.
2 Because he has turned his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
“Then I called on the name of Yahweh” (v. 4a). The people of that time and place thought of names as more than labels. A name expressed the person’s essential character––something of the person’s power or authority. To call upon the name of the Lord, then, means something more than appealing for relief from a crisis. It means identifying oneself with the Lord in such a way that one’s own identity is tied together with the Lord’s identity. Calling on the name of the Lord requires allegiance––commitment––faith.
“Yahweh, I beg you, deliver (Hebrew: malat) my soul” (Hebrew: nepes) (v. 4b). The word malat is more usually used to mean escape or flee. The psalmist is praying for Yahweh’s help in escaping from the peril that so threatens him.
b. He has been delivered - (v. 8). The psalmist describes a three part salvation: From death, tears, or falling.
Deliverance from death is obviously significant, but deliverance from tears and falling is equally significant. Once a person is dead, he/she feels no more pain. But the person who can still experience tears and falling finds pain an ongoing problem.
DELIVERANCE
Stanley Praimnath, Vice President for Fuji Bank, was in his office in the South Tower at the World Trade Center when his phone rang. "Are you watching the news?' asked a woman in their Chicago office. "Are you alright?" "I'm fine" he said wondering why she had called. Just then he turned to gaze out the window at the Statue of Liberty, as had been his routine. The surreal sight of a low-flying commercial jet, heading straight for his tower, disrupted his view.
He dropped the phone in mid-sentence and dove to the floor. Curling under his desk he began praying to God, "Lord, help me," he prayed desperately as the aircraft smashed into the tower. The smell of jet fuel was in the air. Equipment was scattered all around with rubble covering the floor and dust in the air. He began clawing his way out. "Lord, I have to go home to my family," he wheezed. "I have to see my daughters."
Just then he saw a light. "I am here to help you." He thought, "This is my guardian angel! The Lord sent somebody to help me!" Praimnath's guardian angel was Brian Clark, a Christian who was an executive three floors below. The two miraculously climbed out of the rubble to safety.
Praimnath stated, "My Lord has some unfinished tasks for me." "I took the tattered clothes I was wearing that day, put them in a box, and wrote DELIVERANCE all over it. I told my wife, 'if I ever get spiritually cold, I want you to bring this box to me, open it up, and show me what the Lord brought me from."
Stanley used the bombing as a positive motivation to face the past.
(Source: James Botts, from a sermon by Leland Patrick, "Trading Sorrow for Singing" 7/14/08, SermonCentral.com)
PRAYING FOR DELIVERANCE
John Paton was a missionary in the New Hebrides Islands. One night hostile natives surrounded the mission station, intent on burning out the Patons and killing them. Paton and his wife prayed during that terror-filled night that God would deliver them. When daylight came they were amazed to see their attackers leave.
A year later, the chief of the tribe was converted to Christ. Remembering what had happened, Paton asked the chief what had kept him from burning down the house and killing them. The chief replied in surprise, "Who were all those men with you there?" Paton knew no men were present—but the chief said he was afraid to attack because he had seen hundreds of big men in shining garments with drawn swords circling the mission station.
SOURCE: Today in the Word, MBI, October, 1991, p. 18.
c. He has peace – rest for his soul v. 7
“Return to your rest, my soul, for Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you” (v. 7). Having experienced bountiful blessings at Yahweh’s hands, the psalmist can retreat to a safe place––a place where he not have to fear the enemy’s assaults––a place where he will no longer feel beleaguered.
“For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling” (v. 8). The psalmist describes a three fold salvation: From death, tears, or falling.
Deliverance from death is obviously significant, but deliverance from tears and fall is equally significant. Once a person is dead, he/she feels no more pain. But the person who can still experience tears and falling finds pain an ongoing problem.
“I will walk before Yahweh in the land of the living” (v. 9). Since Yahweh has saved his life, the psalmist pledges to walk before Yahweh “in the land of the living”––while the psalmist is alive.
III. Our Behavior – (NIV) How can I repay…
“What w ill I give to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me?” (v. 12). The psalmist’s question is rhetorical. He understands that he has received much from Yahweh, but has nothing equivalent to give in return. What does he have that Yahweh needs? Not much!
a. I will call on the name of the Lord
The psalmist is calling on the name of Yahweh as a way of honoring Yahweh for the blessing of salvation that Yahweh has bestowed on him.
“I will take the cup of salvation” (v. 13a). But there is one thing that the psalmist can do. He can drink the cup of salvation that Yahweh has provided, and “call on the name of Yahweh.”
b. I will be faithful to the Lord
“I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all his people” (v. 14). A vow is a solemn promise to God, often made as part of a bargain where the petitioner promises a specific action in return for a blessing from God. Presumably the psalmist made such a vow when his life was threatened. Such a vow could be, “Save me, Lord, and I will do (whatever).”
c. I will worship the Lord
Not only will he pay his vows to Yahweh, but he will do so “in the presence of all his people”––bearing witness to the faithfulness that Yahweh has shown him.
d. I will serve the Lord
“Yahweh, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your handmaid” (v. 16). The psalmist acknowledges being Yahweh’s servant––one obliged to do Yahweh’s will. But he is not only a servant, but the son of a servant––Yahweh’s handmaid. As such, even if his father should gain freedom, as the son of a handmaid, the psalmist would remain a servant (Exodus 21:4). The phrase, “the son of your handmaid,” emphasizes both the psalmist’s double and his perpetual servitude.
Conclusion: Too often our gratitude is dependent upon the circumstances of life. A beautiful hymn was written by Martin Rinkart during the thirty-year war to help us look beyond our circumstances and see the hand of God. Rinkart was a pastor in Saxony, Germany as the turbulent years of the war dragged on. For a time he was the only pastor in his town. His pastoral duties caused him to preside at nearly 4500 burials in 1637 alone. In the context of this sad situation and these unfavorable circumstances he penned the words to Now Thank We All Our God. It is a hymn of unconditional gratitude to God.
Now thank we all our God
With Heart, hands, and voices
Who wondrous things has done
In whom his world rejoices
Thankful people don’t have to have everything going their way to rejoice.
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