Psalm 116:1-7
“I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the LORD: “O LORD, save me!” The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The LORD protects the simple-hearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you. For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling!”
The abruptness of this Psalm shows that it was the fruit of much previous meditation; the writer of it had been “musing in his heart, until at last the fire kindled, and he spoke with his tongue.” It begins, “I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy!” The fact is, that nothing so endears God to the souls of men as answers to prayer; nor does anything so encourage sinners to address him with unwearied importunity.
The two first verses of the Psalm are a kind of summary of the whole; setting forth in few words what he afterwards expatiates upon more at length; but though we shall, on this account, pass them over in our discussion, we shall not be unmindful of the resolution contained in them, but shall conclude our subject with commending it to your most serious attention.
The points which now call for our notice are:
I. The troubles which the Psalmist had endured.
We know not for certain what these were; but we are sure, that the Psalm was written after the ark had been brought up to mount Zion, and the worship of God had been permanently settled at Jerusalem, verse 18, 19; and therefore we apprehend, that is was written on occasion of David’s deliverance from some overwhelming distress both of body and mind, resembling that specified in the sixth Psalm, Psalm 6:2-3.
The terms used in our text might indeed be interpreted of death only; because the word “Hell” often means nothing more than the grave; but we rather think that terrors of conscience, on account of his sin committed in the matter of Uriah—had given a ten-fold poignancy to the fear of death, and that his experience was similar to that described in the 25th Psalm, where he says, “The troubles of my heart are enlarged; O bring me out of my distresses! Look upon my affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins! Psalm 25:17-18.”
But whatever was the precise occasion of David’s sorrows, it is manifest, that, sooner or later, we must all be brought into a situation wherein his language will be exactly suitable to us. “The sorrows of death” will shortly “encompass us,” and “the pains of Hell,” if we have not previously obtained a sense of reconciliation with God, will “get hold upon us;” and, in the contemplation of an approaching eternity, “we shall find trouble and sorrow,” such as in our present state of carelessness and security we have no conception of.
O that we could but bring our hearers to realize that awful hour, when we shall look back upon our misspent hours with unavailing regret, and look forward to our great account with fear and trembling, wishing, if it were possible, that we might have a fresh term of probation allowed us, or that the hills and mountains might cover us from the face of our offended God!
Let all, even though, like David, they are monarchs upon their thrones, know, that the time must shortly arrive, when the things of time and sense will appear in all their real insignificance; and nothing will be deemed of any importance but the eternal welfare of the soul!
Whatever his troubles had been, we have no doubt respecting:
II. The means the Psalmist had used for his relief from them.
David had had recourse to prayer, “Then I called on the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech you, deliver my soul!”
Prayer is the proper remedy for all our troubles.
“Is any afflicted? let him pray;” says the inspired apostle. God himself says, “Call upon me in the time of trouble; and I will hear you; and you shall glorify me.” Indeed, where else can we go with any hope of relief?
If it is the death of the body that we dread, man can do nothing for us, any farther than it shall please God to employ him as an instrument for our good.
If it is the death of the soul which we fear, who but God can help us? Who can interpose between a sinner and his Judge?
If we betake ourselves to a throne of grace, and “pray unto our God with strong crying and tears,” we shall find that He “is able to save us from death;” but the best of men are at best, physicians of no value.
We must however, in our prayers, resemble David.
Behold what humility and fervor were manifested in this petition, “O Lord, I beseech you, deliver my soul!” Prayer does not consist in fluent or eloquent expressions, but in ardent desires of the soul; and it may as well be uttered in sighs and groans, as in the most energetic words that language can afford. “God knows the mind of the Spirit,” by whose inspiration all acceptable supplications are suggested. Never was there a petition more pleasing to God than that of the publican, “God be merciful to me a sinner!” Nor did any prayer prove more effectual for immediate relief than that recorded in our text.
Truly this is a comfortable consideration to the broken-hearted penitent; the greatness of his sorrows perhaps prevents the enlargement of his heart in prayer; but God estimates his prayers, not by their fluency, but by their sincerity; and that which is offered in indistinct and unutterable groans, is as intelligible and as acceptable to him, as if every request were offered in the most measured terms. Prayer thus offered, shall never go forth in vain.
This appears from,
III. The success of those means.
Most encouraging is the testimony which the Psalmist bears to the condescension and goodness of God.
Not a word intervenes between his petition for mercy and his acknowledgment of mercy received, “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yes, our God is merciful.” Here the Psalmist marks the union of justice and mercy in the dispensations of God’s grace towards him; and that union is invariable, whenever we plead before him that great sacrifice which was made for the sins of men, and which has fully satisfied the justice of our God. Moreover, he represents this mercy as the common lot of all who in simplicity and godly sincerity implore it at God’s hands, “The Lord preserves the simple,” and will never allow one of them to perish. But then he brings it back again to his own experience, and acknowledges with heartfelt gratitude that God had received his prayer, and made him a most distinguished monument of his mercy.
Such is the testimony which every contrite and believing suppliant shall be able to bear.
Yes, justice is on the believer’s side, as well as mercy. Whoever comes to God in the name of Christ, may plead, that all his debts have been discharged by his great Surety, and that all the glory of Heaven has been purchased for him by his Redeemer’s blood. Through this infinitely meritorious atonement God is reconciled to man, and “the righteousness of Jehovah, no less than his mercy, is declared in the remission of sins, Romans 3:25-26;” so that, “if we humbly confess our sins, God will be faithful and just in forgiving our sins, and in cleansing us from all unrighteousness, 1 John 1:9.” Let the simple-hearted penitent rejoice in this assurance; and let every one labor from his own experience to say, “I was brought low, and he helped me.”
In the close of our text we see,
IV. The improvement which the Psalmist made of his whole experience.
He determined henceforth to make God “the rest” of his soul.
Truly there is no rest for the soul in any other. We may renew our attempts to seek soul-rest in this lower world, but we shall find none, except in the ark of God. Indeed the great use of troubles is to bring us to a conviction of this truth; and, whatever we may have suffered from “the sorrows of death,” or “the pains of Hell,” we may bless and adore our God for the dispensation, if it disposes us at last to seek all our happiness in him.
To the same “Rest” must we also continually “return”
As the needle of a compass which has sustained some violent concussion will continue its tremulous motion until it returns to the pole again, so must our souls do, if at any time through the violence of temptation they be diverted for a season from their God. Not a moment’s rest should we even wish to have, until we find it in him alone. In all his perfections we have “chambers into which we may enter,” and in which we may enjoy security from every impending danger.
His omniscience will prevent surprise.
His omnipotence will defeat our most potent adversaries.
His love will comfort us under our most painful circumstances.
His faithfulness will preserve us even to the end.
Let our troubles then drive us to him, and our experience of past mercies determine us to “cleave unto him with full purpose of heart.”
ADDRESS.
We now revert to the resolution announced by the Psalmist at the very beginning of the Psalm, “I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live!” This shows how justly he appreciated the Divine goodness; that he regarded it as an inexhaustible fountain, from whence the whole creation may incessantly “draw water with joy.” The very command which God himself has given us, attests the same, and proves, that it is no less our privilege than our duty to “pray without ceasing,” to “pray, and not faint.”
O brethren, let every answer to prayer bring you back again more speedily to the throne of grace; and every communication of blessings to your souls make you more importunate for further blessings, until “your cup runs over,” and you are “filled with all the fullness of God.”
Charles Simeon