Psalms 116 · The Lantern

The LORD Has Heard My Voice

I love the LORD, because he hears my voice, my pleas for grace.

"I have loved," the psalmist says, "because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer." It is not in the power of everyone to say "I have loved," but of him who is already perfect and beyond the fear of slavery and who has been formed in the spirit of adoption as children.

I have loved, because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer. He did not say, I shall love: but, I have loved. He did not promise that he would do it, but he testifies that he has done it. I have loved. Why have I loved? Because the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer. "I have loved" belongs to time that is past; but in "will hear" it belongs to the future.

"I have loved, since the Lord will hear the voice of my prayer" [Psalm 116:1]. Let the soul that is sojourning in absence from the Lord sing thus, let that sheep which had strayed sing thus, let that son who had "died and returned to life," who had "been lost and was found;" [Luke 15:6, 24] let our soul sing thus, brethren, and most beloved sons.

Because he stretched out his ear to me, in my days I will call.

"Because he has inclined his ear to me." "He inclined," he said, not that you might take some corporeal notion about God having ears and inclining them to a gentle voice, as we do, putting our ear close to those who speak low, so that by the nearness we may perceive what is said. But he said, "he inclined," in order that he might point out to us his own weakness.

And in my days I will call upon him. Here the question is asked: how is it that he calls upon him in the days, and does not call upon him in the nights? And how does he say in another place, "At midnight I rose to give praise to you," since the saints are more accustomed to pray in the nights?

But whence hath he hoped for this? Since, he saith, "He hath inclined His ear unto me: and in my days I have called upon Him." I loved, therefore, because He will hear; He will hear, "because He hath inclined His ear unto me." But whence knowest thou, O human soul, that God hath inclined His ear unto thee, except thou sayest, "I have believed"?

The cords of death enveloped me, and the straits of Sheol found me; I found distress and sorrow.

"The sorrows of death," he says, "have compassed me; and the perils of hell have found me." Properly the sorrows of death have been agreed on as the pains of childbirth, when the womb, distended with its burden, thrusts out the fetus; then, the generative parts, being compressed and stretched around the fetus by spasms and contractions of the muscles, produce in the mothers the…

The sorrows of death surrounded me. It seems to me that the sorrows of death are foul thoughts. When the soul is thinking, and desires to sin, when it is in travail with sins, it is near to death. The perils of hell found me. O how unhappy and wretched and pitiable we are, because sin is always seeking us!

And what are your days, since you have said, "In my days I have called upon Him"? Are they those perchance, in which "the fullness of time came," and "God sent His Son," [Galatians 4:4] who had already said, "In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you"?

And I called on the name of the LORD: “Please, LORD, deliver my soul.”

Gracious is the LORD and righteous; and our God is compassionate.

"The Lord is merciful and just." Everywhere Scripture joins justice with the mercy of God, teaching us that neither the mercy of God is without judgment nor his judgment without mercy.

The Lord is merciful and just, and our God has mercy. Prick up your ears, sinner: the Lord is merciful. But do not be careless: for there follows, and just. If you are a great sinner, listen, the Lord is merciful: if you are careless, listen, he is also just.

"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful" [Psalm 116:5]. He is gracious, righteous, and merciful. Gracious in the first place, because He has inclined His ear unto me; and I knew not that the ear of God had approached my lips, till I was aroused by those beautiful feet, that I might call upon the Lord's Name: for who has called upon Him, save he whom He fi…

The LORD keeps the simple; I was brought low, and he saved me.

Return, my soul, to your rest, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.

For you have delivered my soul from death, my eye from tears, my foot from stumbling.

"For he has delivered my soul from death: my eyes from tears, my feet from falling." He describes the future rest by a comparison with things here. Here, he says, the sorrows of death have compassed me, but there he has delivered my soul from death.

Because he has rescued my soul from death. He has not yet returned into paradise, and already he says that he has returned into safety. He said, Turn, my soul, into your rest; and as though secure he says, Because he has rescued my soul from death. When did he rescue my soul from death?

"Since," he says, "He has delivered my soul from death." It is wonderful, most beloved brethren, that, after he had said that his soul should turn unto rest, since the Lord had rewarded him; he added, since "He has delivered my soul from death." Did it turn unto rest, because it was delivered from death? Is not rest more usually said of death?

I will walk before the LORD in the lands of the living.

I believed, therefore I spoke — I myself was greatly afflicted.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our bo…

And if we must also comment on the statement, "I said in my ecstasy, Everyone is a liar," its meaning again is different. It is not at all like that of a person who is out of his senses and mentally deranged (God forbid), but of one who is greatly astonished and who thinks with the powers of reason customary to those who see and act in the proper way.

You see, if there is faith in you, Christ is living in you. You heard the psalm: "I have believed, therefore have I spoken." It was impossible for him both to believe and remain dumb. It is being ungrateful to the one who fills you, if you do not pour out; so the fuller you are, the more you ought to pour out.

I said in my alarm, “Every man is a liar.”

What shall I return to the LORD for all his benefits to me?

This cup of the passion which is drunk Scripture names in many places, especially that which is properly drunk by the martyrs, as it is there: "what shall I render to the Lord for all the things which he has rendered to me? I will receive the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord".

"What," he asketh, "what reward shall I give unto the Lord, for all the benefits that He hath returned unto me?" (ver. 12). He saith not, for all the benefits that He hath done unto me but "for all the benefits that He hath returned unto me." What deeds then on the man's part had preceded, that all the benefits of God were not said to be given, but returned?

For it is absurd, the height of stupidity, no, of extreme insanity, for those only to sing the praises of the pilot who ride the rough waves and are borne on the breakers and who pass their lives in great misfortune, while those who are situated outside the range of fire, as the proverb has it, being spectators rather than contestants, hurl their blasphemous taunts at the ringm…

I will lift up the cup of salvations, and I will call on the name of the LORD.

My vows to the LORD I will fulfill, now in the presence of all his people.

Precious in the eyes of the LORD is the death of his loyal ones.

"For the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those who hope in his mercy, to deliver their souls from death," even eternal death, "and to nourish them in their hunger," that is, after eternal life.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Let the Jews now answer, how they say that every human body is unclean. Indeed in the Law, among the Jews, if anyone should die, whether a prophet, or a saint of whatever kind, if anyone should touch him, even if a priest, he is unclean until evening. This is written according to the letter in the Law.

Your blessed co-apostle, Paul, "vessel of election" and special teacher of the nations, coming to this city, was your associate at that time when all innocence, all honor, all liberty was suffering under the will of Nero.

Please, LORD — for I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.

When we read this, we correctly understand that Solomon was a natural and genuine son and do not consider him a servant just because we hear him so called.

You have broken my bonds: to you I will sacrifice a victim of praise. Truly it is of great happiness so to go to the Lord that one has no defiled conscience. Whoever, being holy, dies his own death, although he be holy who has performed works of mercy, wrought signs, cast out demons, does not go to the Lord secure: his conscience shudders when he sees the Lord.

Our Savior, dearly beloved, has ascended into heaven; therefore let us not be disturbed on earth. Let our spirit be in heaven, and peace will be here. Meanwhile let us ascend with Christ in heart, and when his promised day comes, we shall also follow in body. Nevertheless, we ought to know that pride or avarice or dissipation did not ascend with Christ.

To you I will sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and I will call on the name of the LORD.

It is for this raisin that to you I will sacrifice [Ps 115.8] neither quadrupeds with the hoof dividd who chew the cud, nor clan birds, nor fine flour mid with oil, nor pure frankincense, nor the incense of the mixture. For this are offers to you, Lord, from the earth.

"I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of praise." For I have not found any deserts of mine, since Thou hast broken my bonds asunder; I therefore owe Thee the sacrifice of praise; because, although I will boast that I am Thy servant, and the son of Thy handmaid, I will glory not in myself, but in Thee, my Lord, who hast broken asunder my bonds, that when I return from my desertion…

My vows to the LORD I will fulfill, now in the presence of all his people,

in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!

Psalms116

The LORD Has Heard My Voice