Because He Heard Me

Me

As we begin, these next two weeks are meant to prepare our hearts for Advent.

Today, Psalm 116 invites us to look back with gratitude.

Next week, Psalm 126 invites us to look ahead with hope.

With Thanksgiving coming up, this is the perfect moment to remember what God has done in our lives.

And right after Thanksgiving we enter Advent,

The pre-Christmas season where we prepare our hearts for why we celebrate Christmas in the first place.

So if Thanksgiving reminds us of what God has done, Advent reminds us of what God will do.

So let us turn to Psalm 116, and see the important truth, that,

Delivered People, Declare Praise!

Delivered people declare praise

But that journey always starts in the same place:

Needing God to hear you.

And we’ve all been there.

I’ve been there.

Maybe you’re there today

There is a melancholic beauty when we call on the Lord from places of difficulty.

As a pastor with Bible school training, it is easy to rely on skill or experience or what worked in the past.

But suffering strips all of that away.

Your mind loses the bandwidth.

Your strength dries up.

And what you need becomes very clear: Jesus.

This year I have felt that in a very real way after losing my brother Cam.

His birthday was Wednesday. He would have been 34.

Instead it was quiet, just like it has been since his passing.

And when all your education and experience are stripped away,

When your emotional capacity is thin,

You realize: I need Jesus to show up.

I need Him to get me through the days.

I need Him to give me what I cannot create on my own: strength, peace, even the sermons I preach.

And He did, and he does

He heard me.

Not by erasing the sorrow, but by meeting me inside it.

We

And I think many of us have felt that too.

We know what it is like to come to the end of ourselves.

We know what it is like to pray simple prayers because that is all we can manage.

We know what it is like to feel overwhelmed

or tired

or afraid

or unsure what to do next.

We know what it is like to need God to hear us.

Not to fix everything instantly

But to simply to listen

To be near

To carry us

To meet us right where we are.

All of us have walked through moments where we felt tangled by worry

Pressed by grief or stretched by responsibilities

And we needed God’s help in a very real way.

And if you have not yet, this is a blueprint for you when you do

Psalm 116 begins in that same place.

Not in strength but in struggle.

Not in celebration but in a cry for mercy.

And when we enter the psalm there

We start to see what it reveals about who God is

And what God does for His people.

God

So let us turn now to the heart of Psalm 116 and see what this psalm reveals about our God who hears us, who helps us, and who holds our lives as precious.

One of the best things about the Psalms is that they are honest.

They are not afraid to speak about the good, the hard, or the confusing moments of life, and often show how those things flow together in the life of faith.

God Hears Us

The psalm begins with a simple and stunning statement: “I love the Lord, because he hears me.”

Think about that for a moment.

The God of the universe hears you.

Not because you say the right words or perform the right ritual.

Psalm 116 says God inclines His ear toward us.

That means He turns toward our prayers.

He leans in. The NLT says, ‘He bends down to listen’.

This is not just the psalmist’s experience.

Scripture affirms this everywhere.

1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have before him: if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”

Hebrews 4:16 says we can approach the throne of grace with boldness, because God welcomes our prayers with mercy and help.

Hebrews tells us we can come to God with boldness, and Psalm 116 shows us why.

God really does hear us. He really does lean in. And that is exactly what the psalmist experienced.

Psalm 116 uses thirty-seven first-person words.

This is personal testimony. This is someone who walked through darkness, cried out for help, and discovered that God really does listen.

The psalmist is not offering a cliché. He is describing his own life.

God showed up by answering his cries.

But the reason he cried for help is because life had fallen apart.

He says the ropes of death wrapped around him.

Terror overwhelmed him. Trouble and sorrow surrounded him on every side.

So what do you pray when all you can see is fear and trouble?

You pray what the psalmist prays: “Lord, deliver my soul.”

This echoes David in Psalm 31 who said, “Terror is on every side… but I trust in you, Lord. You are my God. My life is in your hands.”

Thanksgiving begins right there, with a God who hears us and leans in when we call.

The psalmist cries out and discovers that God truly hears him. And now, in the next verses, he begins to tell us who this God is and what this God does for His people

God Helps Us

But hearing is only part of who God is.

The psalmist asks important questions:

Who am I crying out to?

What kind of God is listening to me?

Psalm 116 answers this clearly.

God is gracious. God is righteous. God is merciful.

These words are clear echoes of Exodus 34, where God reveals His name and character to Moses:

“The Lord, the Lord, a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.”

God is also a God who preserves the simple.

Who are the simple?

They are the ones who know they cannot save themselves.

They are the ones who come to the end of their own strength.

To frame it within this idea of deliverance,

Deliverance begins when self-sufficiency ends.

Childlike faith begins where adult self-confidence breaks.

The psalmist becomes “simple” when he cries, “Lord, save me.”

God preserves the simple because they are the ones who finally stop trying to be their own savior.

When we come to the God who hears and the God who helps, it often comes from realizing that we cannot help ourselves.

We rely completely on the God who hears us, helps us, and holds our lives precious.

The simple person is the one who has nothing left but God, and that is the safest place a believer can be.

So, how does God help the psalmist?

He delivers him from death.

He wipes tears from his eyes.

He keeps his feet from stumbling.

He restores peace to his soul.

He shows up when the psalmist is afflicted and facing death.

Even when people fail him, God does not.

Thanksgiving comes from trusting that the God who delivered us in the past will deliver us again.

But we need to pause I think, to understand what Scripture means by deliverance.

Deliverance is not always escape from danger.

Sometimes God rescues us out of danger.

Sometimes God sustains us through danger.

Deliverance looks like God preserving our faith when circumstances remain hard.

Or God giving peace in the middle of sorrow.

And sometimes deliverance happens in death, when God brings His people home

Psalm 116 celebrates deliverance from death, and rightly so.

God preserved the psalmist’s life.

And yet Scripture also tells us that for God’s people, deliverance is so much bigger than one moment.

Sometimes God delivers us out of danger.

Sometimes He delivers us through danger.

And sometimes deliverance is completed when He brings His people home.

Death is not the failure of God’s deliverance, but the moment He holds us fully and finally.

Because, God’s deliverance culminates in His nearness.

He stays with us through every part of life.

This is why Paul quotes Psalm 116 in 2 Corinthians.

He connects the psalm’s cry for deliverance to the suffering and resurrection hope we have in Jesus.

The God who raised Jesus from the dead is the God who will carry us and raise us too.

So deliverance is greater than “zapping us out” of trouble.

Deliverance is the way God sustains us through what feels unsustainable.

Delivered people declare praise because we know God hears us and helps us.

God Holds Us

And finally, God holds us.

When we pause and look carefully, we can see God’s hand of deliverance and His care all over our lives.

Not just in the dramatic moments, but in the ordinary ones too.

The very breath in your lungs, the strength to wake up, the ability to endure a hard week, the unexpected encouragement from a friend, the peace that comes from nowhere, these are all signs of a God who is sustaining you.

The psalmist looks back over his life and realizes:

“I am alive right now because God has held me.”

So he asks the natural question: “How do I respond to a God like that?”

For the psalmist, the answer is worship.

He declares God’s praise.

He makes vows and fulfills them publicly, in front of the assembly of God’s people.

In Psalm 116, thanksgiving is not completed until it is expressed publicly.

Private rescue becomes public praise.

Personal deliverance becomes public celebration

This tells us something important.

The Christian life was never meant to be solely a private life.

Your story of deliverance is meant to strengthen someone else’s faith.

Someone else’s testimony is meant to help carry you through your week.

Your worship strengthens the person next to you.

Your song may be the very thing that helps someone else keep going.

Story of Moody Men’s Choir and encouragement, when they had Ohio State’s Men’s Choir not long before us, but the difference in meaning the words we sang

Then comes one of the most beautiful and somber lines in the psalm:

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.”

The NLT says, “The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die.”

This is not a cold theological statement.

It is a window into the heartbeat of God.

And let me tell you, that hits differently when you have faces, and names, and memories of loved ones who are not here anymore.

I came across this psalm a few weeks after Cam died, and I forwarded it to mom and dad.

Nothing needed to be said. It was beautiful. It reminded us of who our God is.

It reminded us that our grief is not ignored by God. Our sadness is not dismissed by God. Our loss is not small to God.

It reminded us that death will be dealt with in full, but right now we see it only partially defeated.

But the day is coming when death itself will die.

There will be no more separation.

No more empty seats at the table during holidays, or at the weddings they should have been at

No more pictures that feel like reminders of what used to be.

Death will be undone by the One who is the Resurrection and the Life.

This is not contrary to deliverance.

This is the completion of it.

God treasures His people in life and in death.

And the New Testament gives us the same assurance.

Paul tells us that when God’s people die in this life, they are immediately with Him.

To be away from the body is to be present with the Lord.

God does not take the suffering or death of His children lightly.

Your life matters to Him.

Your suffering matters to Him.

Your death matters to Him.

God holds us dear.

He sustains us in life.

He receives us in death.

And He keeps us through it all.

And this is where Psalm 116 beautifully leads into Advent.

This is after all a pre-advent heart check

Advent declares that the God who hears us and helps us is the God who came near to us in Christ.

The God who holds our lives precious entered the world in weakness to save us.

He took on human flesh, He entered human suffering, and by His death and resurrection He broke the power of death forever.

This is why the psalmist speaks twice of fulfilling vows among God’s people.

When God delivers us, our testimony becomes fuel for corporate worship.

This is why we love testimonies.

This is why we are strengthened by hearing what God did for someone else.

This is why our faith deepens when we see God at work in the church.

We celebrate God’s deliverance in others and trust that if God did it for them, He can do it for us too.

Delivered people declare praise.

It starts because God hears us.

It is sustained because God helps us.

And it is fulfilled because God holds us through it all.

You

So if this is who God is

The God who hears you

The God who helps you

And the God who holds your life precious

Then the question becomes very personal.

What will you do with this truth this week?

Psalm 116 does not stay in theory.

It moves the psalmist to action.

And it calls us to action too.

Here are three simple, concrete ways you can live this out.

Call on His Name this week. Pray honestly.

Psalm 116 says, “I called on the name of the Lord.”

Not fancy prayers.

Not perfect prayers.

Honest prayers.

So here is your first step this week:

Choose one burden, one fear, one decision, one place of stress, and bring it to God every day.

Just one.

One thing that weighs on you.

And pray one simple prayer each day:

“Lord, hear me. Help me. Hold me.”

If you do nothing else this week, do that.

Tell someone one thing God has done for you.

Psalm 116 is full of “I” and “me,” but it ends with worship “in the presence of all His people.”

Your thanksgiving becomes your testimony.

So your second step this week:

Tell one person one way God has helped you.

Tell a friend.

Tell your spouse.

Tell your small group.

Tell your child.

Send a text.

Share a memory.

Speak it aloud.

One delivered person telling one story of God’s faithfulness

And you do not know the great joy it will bring, or the deliverance it will result in, by doing it

Eric Bitterman Story of porn

That is declaring praise.

Practice thanksgiving every day this week.

Thanksgiving is not a holiday.

It is a spiritual discipline.

Psalm 116 teaches us to recognize God’s hand in our lives.

So your final step:

Every day this week, name three things God has done for you.

Write them down or speak them out loud.

This will form your heart for Advent and build the habit of praise.

Delivered people declare praise.

And your praise this week can look like this:

Pray honestly.

Share your testimony.

Practice thanksgiving.

Small actions.

Simple obedience.

Honest gratitude.

Given to a God who hears

A God who helps

And a God who holds you through it all.

We

And here is the good news for us.

We do not walk this journey alone.

Psalm 116 ends in the gathered community of God’s people because the people of God strengthen one another

With our shared praise

With our shared stories

With our shared hope.

We are a church family that has been heard by God.

We are a church family who have been helped by God.

We are a church family held together because God holds us.

And when we live this out together

Our thanksgiving becomes a testimony

Our obedience becomes encouragement

Our praise becomes contagious.

Your honest prayer this week will strengthen someone else’s faith.

Your story of how God met you will remind someone else that they are not forgotten.

Your step of obedience will inspire someone else to trust God more deeply.

Your daily thanksgiving will help shape the heart of this church as we move toward Advent.

This is why God gathers His people.

This is why we sing together.

This is why we pray together.

This is why testimonies matter.

Because delivered people do not declare praise alone.

We declare praise together.

So as we step into Thanksgiving this week, and toward Advent in the coming weeks

We do it as one body

with one God who hears us

one God who helps us

and one God who holds us through it all.

Delivered people declare praise.

And by the grace of God,

We will declare it together.

Benediction

May the God who bends down to listen bend down to meet you in every place of need.

May the God who delivers sustain you, protect you, and guide your steps.

May the God who holds your life precious hold you close in His love.

And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the hope of His resurrection fill you with praise as you go into this week.

And All God’s people said,

Amen.