Praying in the Spirit
Psalm 116. This is a hymn of personal thanksgiving for God’s care. The specific circumstance is a deliverance from impending death (vv. 3, 8–9, 15); the words of the psalm may be generalized to other kinds of dramatic answers to prayer in a time of dire need. The psalm is notable for its assumption that one’s thanks for this very personal deliverance are properly consummated in public worship. These words are an excellent form for God’s people to use in giving public thanks after their own emergencies (e.g., some churches use the psalm in a service of thanksgiving after a woman has given birth).
116:5–7 The Lord Deals Bountifully with His Own. The answer to the urgent prayer leads to reflection on the character of God, namely, that he is gracious, merciful (cf. Ex. 34:6), and righteous (i.e., reliably faithful). The pious should know this already; and yet the experience being celebrated has made these notions all the more real to the believer.
116:1–19 The fourth of the Egyptian Hallel psalms (see note on 113:1–9), Psa 116 is a thanksgiving psalm in which the psalmist reflects on a time when Yahweh helped him, and he responds with gratitude and loyalty. Yahweh heard the psalmist’s plea for help and delivered him from danger (vv. 1–4). The psalmist then proclaims Yahweh’s goodness and deliverance (vv. 5–11). Looking to repay Yahweh, he states his intention to pay his vows and offer sacrifices of thanksgiving (vv. 12–19).
116:2 I will call An implicit expression of trust. The psalmist commits to depending on God for the rest of his life because God has helped him.
116:6 the simple Refers to a person who is young or naïve. The psalmist implies that Yahweh saves those who cannot save themselves.
116:1–19 See note on Ps 113:1–9. This is an intensely personal “thank you” psalm to the Lord for saving the psalmist from death (116:3, 8). The occasion and author remain unknown, although the language used by Jonah in his prayer from the fish’s stomach is remarkably similar. While this appears to deal with physical death, the same song could be sung by those who have been saved from spiritual death.
116:10 I believed. Faith in God and His ability to deliver preceded the psalmist’s prayer for deliverance. This verse is quoted by the Apostle Paul in 2Co 4:13. It rehearses the principle of walking by faith, not by sight.
Ps 116:1–19. The writer celebrates the deliverance from extreme perils by which he was favored, and pledges grateful and pious public acknowledgments.
1, 2. A truly grateful love will be evinced by acts of worship, which calling on God expresses (Ps 116:13; Ps 55:16; 86:7; compare Ps 17:6; 31:2).
3, 4. For similar figures for distress see Ps 18:4, 5.
gat hold upon me—Another sense (“found”) of the same word follows, as we speak of disease finding us, and of our finding or catching disease.
1. It is a point never to be forgotten, that if we love Christ, it is because he first loved us. 1 John, 4:19. Laying this down as the foundation, the superstructure must be proper. It was God the Father’s love that first gave us his dear Son; it was Jesus’s love that first prompted his infinite mind to love us. Reader! never love sight of these grand points of faith.
2. If we compare scripture with scripture, and read that part of the 91st Psalm, which evidently and plainly refers to Christ, I think the likeness between that scripture and this, may allow us to suppose that it is the ever blessed Jesus, as the head and surety of his church, who is here speaking. Psalm 91:14–16.