The experiences we have had of God’s goodness in answer to prayer are great encouragements to us to continue praying and should cause us to praise Him continually.
Psalm 1
1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:
11 I said in my haste, All men are liars.
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.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 116:1-11 – He Delivered My Soul
Throughout this psalm we meet the pronoun in the first person. Only in two verses, Psalm 116:15 and Psalm 116:19, does it not so occur. There is no fear of egotism, however, when the heart of the singer overflows with divine love.
Psalm 116:1-4
The psalmist here compares himself to some wild animal ensnared by the hunter and bound by the sharp cords which make free movement impossible. Bow many of God’s saints have felt the deep incision of these cords! It has been with them as with Joseph, when let down into the pit. But there is no pit so deep that a cry from it may not reach the heart of God.
Psalm 116:5-11
When the quiet faith of answered prayer is ours, the fluttering soul seems to settle down to its nest in peace. The feet which were slipping now walk in the paths of life. Notice the prayer of Psalm 116:4 and the reply of Psalm 116:8. God does more than deliver; He wipes the tears from our faces, and holds us as a mother who places her hands under the armpits of her child, teaching it to walk. Paul quotes Psalm 116:10 in II Corinthians 4:13. How often must this psalm have been in his thought and on his lips! Do not speak hastily. An eminent religious leader said once, “I shall have good hopes of you, when you can speak and move slowly.” —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 116:4—Then called I upon the Name of the LORD.
What could we do without the resource of prayer? When compassed with the cords of death, and held by trouble and sorrow, what help would there be for us who eschew the methods of self-deliverance which the men of the world do not scruple to employ, if we might not betake ourselves to our knees?
“Nay, but much rather let me late returning,
Bruised of my brethren, wounded from within,
Stoop with sad countenance and blushes burning,
Bitter with weariness and sick with sin.
“Straight to thy presence get me and reveal it,
Nothing ashamed of tears upon thy feet;
Show the sore wound, and beg thine hand to heal it;
Your Thee the bitter, pray Thee for the sweet.”
Only let us never forget the immense importance of those five great “ifs”:–
John 15:7, which touches our life in Him, and his in us, in unremitted fellowship.
Matthew 18:19, which touches our life with others, that must be clear as crystal.
Matthew 17:20, which concerns the vigor and health of our own soul-life.
I John 5:14-15, which demands that we know God well.
John 14:14, which winnows out from prayer all that is inconsistent with the name of Jesus.
Oh for the deep-dwelling life, spent in the secret place, where earth’s voices grow faint, and God’s clear. Such a life is a perpetual appeal to God’s nature for succor—an appeal which awakens an instant response. “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not” (Jeremiah 33:3). —Our Daily Homily
Psalm 116:12-19 – Praise Him for All His Benefits
The psalmist dwells joyfully on his enslavement to God, because in and through it he had found perfect liberty. Thou hast loosed my bonds. They who become enslaved to Christ are set free from all other restraints. See John 8:31-36. Do not forget to pay your vows! In trouble we make promises, which, when the trouble has passed, we find it convenient to forget. See Genesis 40:23. —Through the Bible Day by Day