Psalm 116:12 “ When Thank You is not Enough “

Psalm 116:1–12 (ESV)

1 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.

2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.

4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.

6 The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.

7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;

9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

10 I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”;

11 I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”

12 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?

“ When Thank You is not Enough “

Thank you

To Man

Has to be a different

Thank to God

Simply because

Man is Common

And God Uncommon

Example: A wife gives the Husband & the Son the same Christmas gift

Thank you to Man

Is with your Mouth

It’s expressing Gratitude

For what man has done

But Thank you to God

Must be with the Mouth

And with ACTIONS

A Thank You to God

With the Lips

And not followed by ACTIONS

Is not a Thank from the Heart

The Psalmist

Is expressing His Gratitude

To God

From the Many things God

Has DONE & BEEN in his time of DISTRESS

But The Psalmist in our text today

Is saying Thank You

With Lips

Is one thing

But I have to express my Thank You

With ACTIONS

And verse 12

The Psalmist comes to the conclusion

That Thank You

With The Lips and Actions

Won’t & Can’t be enough for all what God has done

The Psalmist

Is sharing how much

He loves the Lord

And when you love the Lord

You try to find a way

To show your appreciation to Him

Because the truth of the matter is

He’s done so much & been so good

But when you look around

And think things over

What could you do for Him

Love Him & Obey Him

Luke 6:46–49 (ESV)

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:

48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

The Psalmist realize

That God doesn’t Change

And that

It’s God’s Character ,His Nature

And not the Psalmist Behavior

That God determines

How He will deal with The Psalmist

This is where the psalmist is in Psalm 116.

Psalm 116 is part of a collection

which is call the “ HALLEL “ Psalms

Between Psalm 113 & Psalm 117

they all end with the same phrase

( Our bible says “ Praise the LORD )

In Hebrew it’s a phrase “ HALLELUJAH “

SO those psalms are called

the “ HALLEL “ psalms

because they end with

the psalmist saying “ Praise the Lord “

Now you must wonder

why the psalmist is saying

“ Praise the Lord “

Because the psalms between

Psalm 113 & Psalm 117

are all the psalms

that Israel would read & sing doing the season of passover

Passover

is when the people of God

in the promise land would pause

and remember everything

that the Lord had done to bring them out of Egypt

Note: Do you ever PAUSE to think about what the LORD has done for you

It was a time of reflection

How the LORD brought them out from the hand of Pharaoh

Took them to the Red Sea & made a way out of no way

How the Lord defeated their enemies on their backside

How the Lord got guide them through the wilderness

with a pillow of cloud & pillow of fire

How when they was hungry

And the Lord rain down manna from Heaven

How the Lord protected them

when the scorpions and the serpents tried to bite them

How the Lord shielded them

from the enemy that tried to destroy them

How the Lord brought them to Jericho

And the walls came tumbling down

And how the Lord brought them

to a land flowing with milk & honey

And when they thought about

what the Lord had done for them

they had no choice but to say “ HALLELUJAH “

NOTE: Some of us feel because of what you’re going through right now you don’t have no reason to say “ HALLELUJAH “ ( Just look back )

When you look at the Manna God gave —

the Directions God gave —

the Protection God gave —

the Discernment God gave ….. “ HALLELUJAH “

The psalmist in Psalm 116

is walking down memory lane

And I believe with tears in his eyes

The psalmist realize that

there are some benefits of walking with the LORD

I look at some of you tonight

And your LACK Of participation

Your LACK of Worship

Your LACK of Praise

And your LACK of Response

I can NOT TELL

If the Lord has done ANYTHING for you

But I Know He Has

Because He wouldn’t be God

If He hasn’t done NOTHING for you

I don't come to church

So that the service

Can motivate my PRAISE & WORSHIP

I come to church

To GIVE my PRAISE & WORSHIP

Because of what the Lord has done

And who He is

If you have this mindset

you will miss

the essence and beauty of worship

if the only question

on your mind is

what am I going to get out of this SERVICE

You have NO IDEA

What WORSHIP , PRAISE & THE SERVICE

Is all about

That worship primarily

is not about

you getting your blessing

you getting your breakthrough

you getting your word

you getting your revelation

you getting your song

and you getting your sermon … NO !!!!!!!!

Worship

is not about

what you get

but rather

it is about

what you will GIVE BACK

unto the GOD

that has brought you through the week you've just come through

Worship

at its best

is not a congregation of folks

who is looking to receive

but those

who walk in the house of God

declaring that God has been so good to me………..

I GOT TO GIVE HIM

NOTE: My question when I walk in the house of God is not who’s singing, not who’s preaching, not what people got on, but my question when I walk in the house of God is what can I give to God in Thanksgiving for what He’s done for me……….

The Psalmist Report of Deliverance

In the typical pattern of declaration praise psalms,

the psalmist presents his report of deliverance in vv. 3–11,

beginning with a vivid picture of the calamity that had threatened to kill him (v. 3).

His image that he employs as he pictures himself

“wrapped around” with “the ropes of death”

enables the reader to feel

what he experienced, even without knowing the specifics of his plight.

The psalmist felt hunted,

trapped, and overwhelmed,

face-to-face with death.

The verbs “overcame” and “encountered” both translate forms of māṣāʾ, “find.”

“It was as if Death were a hunter

throwing ropes over his prey

in order to capture it.…

Sheol or the grave

had gone looking for this prey,

found it,

and put it under confinement.

At least, that was how it seemed.

The constraining ropes were around the worshipper,

and it looked impossible to evade their power.”

This was truly a harrowing and nearly

fatal experience

as the torments of the grave

threatened to sweep over him,

bringing him trouble and sorrow (cf. Ps 55:4–5[5–6]).

“ When Thank You is Not Enough “

1st. When you Look at the Prayers God has Answered for Me ( V. 1 )

Psalm 116:1 (ESV)

1 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy.

It is evident

in the psalmist’s introductory proclamation

that the Lord’s goodness has prompted him to love him (cf. Ps 18:1[2]).

In a past time of great need,

the psalmist appealed to the Lord

for his merciful intervention,

and the Lord heard and answered his prayer.

As in Exod 2:24; 3:7; 6:5, the Lord’s hearing implied his helping.

When the psalmist begged the Lord for his assistance,

the Lord responded positively to his cry (cf. Ps 28:6),

and that now prompts his praise

God has answered some prayers when you didn't know what to pray for ( Life can be rough)

EXAMPLE: you ever went to the store asking for what you wanted but the clerk got you something better

And when you didn't know what to pray for He gave you what you didn’t even ask for

If we thank God

for the prayers He has answered,

we also got to thank God

for the prayers He didn’t answer ( “NO )

That man or woman —- House(Flood zone) — Car — Job

“ When Thank You is Not Enough “

1st. When you Look at the Prayers God has Answered for Me ( V. 1 )

2nd. When you look at how Patient God has been with Me ( V. 5 )

Psalm 116:5 (ESV)

5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.

Verse 5 fills out what the psalmist knew

of the character (šēm) of the Lord

when he called out to him in v. 4.

Echoing the Lord’s self-revelation of his name

in Exod 34:6,

the psalmist declares

that in his experience he has learned

that the Lord is just as he revealed himself to Moses—

he is gracious, righteous, and compassionate.

MERCY — Patient

You really don’t understand mercy until you have

Come to gribs

That you’re guilty as charge

With evidence

That God has pardon you with the evidence —— PATIENT

Quote: People will hate you off of speculation, but God will love you off the evidence….

And the reason why

we need mercy

is because we done something wrong

If the truth be told

some of us in here today

need more patients with each other

cause the LORD has been patient with you

Note: IF God has patience with us AND HE DOES . We should have patience with God. Because when we pray we won't go to move immediately, but we have to learn how to pray with patience and let God move and answer in His timing and it’s not that God needs time to change our situation, the patience with God it’s so that God is developing us through the waiting process.

“ When Thank You is Not Enough “

1st. When you Look at the Prayers God has Answered for Me ( V. 1 )

2nd. When you look at how Patient God has been with Me ( V. 5 )

3rd. When you look how God goes Above My Petition ( Request ) ( V. 7 )

Psalm 116:7 (ESV)

7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

NOTE: “ Bountifully with me “ — God went above what the Psalmist ask for

Scrip. Eph. 3;20

NOTE: you needed just a little bit BUT God gave you a lot ….

“ When Thank You is Not Enough “

1st. When you Look at the Prayers God has Answered for Me ( V. 1 )

2nd. When you look at how Patient God has been with Me ( V. 5 )

3rd. When you look how God goes Above My Petition ( Request ) ( V.

4th. When you look at how God has been Protecting Me ( V. 8 )

Psalm 116:8 (ESV)

8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;

The Lord has delivered

the psalmist

from the full range

of the effects of his distress

He has cut the cords

of death that surrounded him (cf. v. 3),

he has dried his weeping eyes (cf. Ps 30:5[6]),

and he has stabilized his stumbling feet (cf. Ps 56:13[14]).

From the Lord

the psalmist has received

safety, serenity, and stability

Truly the Lord has been good to him.

The Psalmist

has been in some

hell-a-fied places &

with some hell-a-fied people …

BUT THE LORD ……………

Now as I CLOSE

The psalmist in verse 12

discloses what is going on

in his mind and heart,

as the Lord’s goodness

prompts in him

a deep sense of gratitude

He wants to respond

appropriately to the Lord

who has been so good to him (cf. v. 7).

But in order

For the Psalmist

To respond appropriately

To the Lord

He has to ask himself

A Rhetorical question

He ASK it

Then respond appropriately

To what he asked Himself [ Big Mama See if you answer yourself you crazy ]

Psalm 116:12 (ESV)

12 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?

And when you look back over your life

And you get to verse number 12

You can only come to ONE CONCLUSION

Psalm 116:12 (ESV)

12 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me?

God is Worthy of My Praise ( V. 12 )

“ When Thank You is Not Enough “

1st. When you Look at the Prayers God has Answered for Me ( V. 1 )

2nd. When you look at how Patient God has been with Me ( V. 5 )

3rd. When you look how God goes Above My Petition ( Request ) ( V.

4th. When you look at how God has been Protecting Me ( V. 8 )