Psalm 116:1-9 (NRSV)
Read Psalm 116:1-9 on biblegateway.com
Verse 1I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications.
Verse 2Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
Verse 3The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
Verse 4Then I called on the name of the Lord: "O Lord, I pray, save my life!"
Verse 5Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.
Verse 6The Lord protects the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
Verse 7Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
Verse 8For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
Verse 9I walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
Devotion
The Psalmist is ensnared by death. His sin and anguish pull him down into Sheol, the place of the dead. His soul is not at rest. He turns his heart to God. He prays. God acts for his deliverance. Then the psalmist turns to God with songs of praise.
“I love the Lord ... because he has heard my voice ...
gracious is the Lord, and righteous ...
I walk ... in the land of the living.”
The movement is from death to life, from suffering to deliverance, from despair to exaltation. This is the way it is with faith. We don’t know the source of the psalmist's pain or his experience of death.
Yet his story echoes our own encounters with darkness, defeat and depression. The place of death ensnares us. Then God acts. God triumphs for our deliverance. God sets us free. We walk in the land of the living.
Prayer
Lord, you hear our cries and lead us out of our despair. Lead us, we pray, to that land of the living where your joy is known and shared. Amen.