I Love the Lord Because...
By Dennis Pollock
In this study, we will look at a Psalm of praise, which most commentators believe was written by David, and which describes a major reason why He loved the Lord. I believe David's reason for loving God should be the case for every one of us. Before we get into the Psalm, let me ask you a question: "Why should we love the Lord?" There could be many different answers to this question. But some might almost think it unspiritual or immature to love our Creator for the reason David did. Let's look at what he says:
I LOVE the LORD, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. (Psalm 116:1-2)
Here is a man who is joyful in the Lord, and God has surely done something for him. Some of the Psalms are gloomy, some are desperate, but this psalm is joyful, you might say ecstatic. David had been through some kind of ordeal that nearly took his life. He has passed through the valley of the shadow of death, and he did what he always did in such cases – he fervently and passionately called upon the Lord for deliverance. And God did what He always did for David in such situations – He intervened by His mighty hand and brought about a great deliverance.
Some Christians are, what I would call, overly spiritual, and they suggest that we should love God for who He is, without any reference to what He has done in our lives. They feel that if we are really spiritual, we will love God without the slightest regard for what He has done for us. This perhaps might be ideal, but it would not be human, nor would it align with how God's people have always responded to God's gracious interventions and blessings in their lives.
Need for God's Deliverance
In our humanity, we all need to see God come through for us and answer our desperate prayers uttered in seemingly hopeless and fearful situations. And when He does intervene on our behalf and our prayers have been answered, and the danger and the storm have passed, our love for the Lord jumps off the charts.
This was certainly the case with David here. We are not told what the specific danger and difficulty was, but whatever it was, David prayed, and God answered by a mighty hand. The result was David writing this exuberant psalm, saying essentially, "I just love the Lord so much. I prayed to him and called on Him while I was in big trouble, and He answered my prayers. I'm going to serve Him as long as I live!"
It was not carnal or unspiritual for David to love God for His wonderful blessing and deliverance. God did not mind this attitude, because He saw to it that it was included in His holy Scriptures. The reality is this: God likes it when we praise Him for the magnificent victories He works in our lives. He doesn't chide us for being unspiritual or loving Him for selfish reasons. For God's children to call on the LORD when they are in trouble, and then for God to answer us powerfully, and then for us to love the Lord more than ever before – well this is just a part of the normal Christian life. We get in trouble; we pray; God intervenes, and we praise Him and love Him more than ever.
Praise is Healthy
This is natural, normal, and healthy for every child of God. It is so natural and normal that if this has never happened to you, if you have never felt like David does in this psalm, something is seriously amiss in your walk with the Lord. Calling upon God in the name of His Son Jesus Christ when we face dangers and terrible challenges is what Christians do. And we do not pray little wimpy prayers, saying, "Lord, whatever you want to do is fine. Que sera, sera – whatever will be will be." When life's terrible storms come at us with gale-force winds, we pray with purpose, we pray intensely, and we pray constantly, looking to our Heavenly Father to show Himself strong in our lives. And when He grants us precisely what we have prayed for, we have a personal praise service, saying something like David did: "I love you, Lord, for you have heard my prayers, and I'm going to serve you as long as I live!"
Not only is it right and important for us to thank God for His mercies, once the battle is won, but it is also important that we never forget God's mighty works in our lives, even when those victories may be ten or twenty or thirty years in the past. As we grow old, we should be able to look back over our lives and think of numerous times when things looked dismal, and it felt like we were about to go under. But we prayed and God came through, just as He had done many times before. And it is right that we should remember those wonderful divine interventions in our lives and give God thanks.
The psalmist goes on to say, "The pains of death surrounded me, and the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me." This was not a slight annoyance; this was a life-threatening situation. One wrong turn, one false step, one bad decision, and he was toast. We've all been there, and when we look back in awe at how Jesus, our faithful and good Shepherd, led us, directed us, and sometimes carried us, we are in awe at the goodness and kindness of the Lord. How different this is from secular folks, who never think about God, never praise God, and never even consider that perhaps He had something to do with their survival in fearful situations. They just assume that they "got lucky."
David Called on God
When David felt that "the pains of death surrounded him," he did what believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob always do. He went to God in serious prayer. He writes: "Then I called upon the name of the LORD: 'O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!’” (Psalm 116:4). David did not simply hope for "good luck" or depend upon his formidable skills as a soldier. He called on God. This would not have been a quiet, brief, ceremonial prayer. This was, no doubt, a desperate, passionate prayer, and a cry for deliverance from this life-threatening situation.
David goes on to say, "The LORD preserves the simple…" He seems to be saying something like, "I'm not a complicated guy. I am just a guy who needed God to move on my behalf and He did! He preserved even me, a simple man." I like that. Some people are too complicated, too philosophical, and never can quite bring themselves to embrace the Scriptures or the God of the Scriptures. They are so busy being intellectual and complex that putting their faith in Jesus and trusting Him for eternal life seems beneath them. And they will end up perishing in their complexity. When it comes to God's plan of salvation, Jesus encourages us to come to God as little children, with no doubting, and no attempts to boast in our intellect. The truth is, drowning men are drowning men, whether they are geniuses or not very bright, whether they are billionaires or live from one paycheck to the next, whether they have degrees piled upon degrees or never graduated from high school. And we are all drowning in the ocean of our sins, and we all need Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, to become our own personal Savior.
In verse seven he says, "Return to your rest, O my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you." Here is a man who has come through a devastating storm in his life, but now the storm is over, and all is at rest; all is calm, David is one happy man. The clouds and rain have gone, and the sun has come out again. His rest had left him, but now it can return. All is well.
And so, we find those words we read at the beginning of this psalm:
I LOVE the LORD, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live. (Psalm 116:1-2)
As followers of Jesus, we, too, will have these seasons of fear and seasons of triumphant joy and beautiful rest. We too, can say along with David: "I love the LORD, because He has heard my voice…" There is a joy that comes with answered prayers after a long period of fear and struggle that is unlike any other joy. Our God and our Savior have come through for us once again. And it is right for us to rejoice. God is faithful!
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