Sing Together
Opening Prayer
Lord, I thank You that Your eyes are upon the righteous and Your ears are open to their cry (Psa. 34:15).
Read Psalms 116,117
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.
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.
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.
Psalm 117
1 Praise the Lord, all you nations;
extol him, all you peoples.
2 For great is his love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.
Praise the Lord.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
“Every day God is deserving of words and music which celebrate God’s magnificence, generosity and imagination” (John Bell).
Think Further
Psalm 116 is a song of personal thanksgiving. It describes how the psalmist experienced God’s deliverance from a situation of crisis and disorientation (1–11) before promising to honor the vows made to God as part of his cry for salvation (12–19). However, although the psalm emerges from personal experience, much of it purports to profit a wider audience. Almost certainly, the people the psalmist has in view are the members of the temple congregation in Jerusalem (19). The song therefore assumes a community context for the expression of personal thanksgiving:
the goodness and faithfulness of God to one of his people should be
celebrated by all of God’s people (14,18). This is a timely reminder to
contemporary readers working out their Christian faith in an increasingly
individualistic world that a personal relationship with God should never
withdraw into a private relationship with God.
Sung in the context of community, the psalmist’s experience takes on the
form of testimony: telling others what God has done and what it reveals
about his character that is so worthy of their praise. In the same way—though on a much grander scale—the song of Psalm 117 summons all nations (1) to the praise of the Lord on account of the strength of his love and faithfulness as revealed to Israel (2). Paul interprets this as nothing less
than a prophetic anticipation of the welcome of the Gentiles into the expanded family of God through Christ (Rom. 15:7–13)!
At any given time the communities to which we all belong will embrace
those languishing under the strain of unanswered prayer. The vital need to
sustain their trust in God (without denying the reality of their experience)
makes the communal sharing together of his goodness and faithfulness absolutely essential.
Apply
“Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph 5:19,20).
Closing prayer
Lord, You have delivered me from so many pitfalls and misfortunes, many of them unknown to me. I voluntarily pay my vows (Psa. 116:14) to You in gratitude, for I remain Your servant (16).
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