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Psalm 116

Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness

1

I love the L ord, because he has heard

my voice and my supplications.

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 L ord:

“O L ord, I pray, save my life!”

 

5

Gracious is the L ord, and righteous;

our God is merciful.

6

The L ord protects the simple;

when I was brought low, he saved me.

7

Return, O my soul, to your rest,

for the L ord has dealt bountifully with you.

 

8

For you have delivered my soul from death,

my eyes from tears,

my feet from stumbling.

9

I walk before the L ord

in the land of the living.

10

I kept my faith, even when I said,

“I am greatly afflicted”;

11

I said in my consternation,

“Everyone is a liar.”

 

12

What shall I return to the L ord

for all his bounty to me?

13

I will lift up the cup of salvation

and call on the name of the L ord,

14

I will pay my vows to the L ord

in the presence of all his people.

15

Precious in the sight of the L ord

is the death of his faithful ones.

16

O L ord, I am your servant;

I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.

You have loosed my bonds.

17

I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice

and call on the name of the L ord.

18

I will pay my vows to the L ord

in the presence of all his people,

19

in the courts of the house of the L ord,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the L ord!


12. What shall I render unto Jehovah? He now exclaims with devout admiration, that the multitude of God’s benefits was greater than he could find language to give expression to the grateful emotions of his heart. The question is emphatic, What shall I render? and imports, that it was not the desire, but the means, of which he was destitute, to enable him to render thanks to God. Acknowledging his inability, he adopts the only means in his power, by extolling the grace of God as highly as he could. “I am exceedingly wishful to discharge my duty, but when I look around me, I find nothing which will prove an adequate recompense.” Some understand the phrase, upon me, to intimate, that David had the recollection of all the benefits which God bestowed on him deeply engraven upon his mind. Others, along with the LXX., supply the particle for, What shall I render unto Jehovah for all his benefits towards me? But it is much better to make the first clause of the verse a complete sentence, by putting a period after Jehovah. Because, after confessing his incompetency, or rather his having nothing to offer to God as a sufficient compensation for his benefits, he at the same time adds in confirmation of it, that he was laid under such obligations, not by one series of benefits only, but by a variety of innumerable benefits. “There is no benefit on account of which God has not made me a debtor to him, how should I have means of repaying him for them?” All recompense failing him, he has recourse to an expression of thanksgiving as the only return which he knows will be acceptable to God. David’s example in this instance teaches us not to treat God’s benefits lightly or carelessly, for if we estimate them according to their value, the very thought of them ought to fill us with admiration. There is not one of us who has not God’s benefits heaped upon us. But our pride, which carries us away into extravagant theories, causes us to forget this very doctrine, which ought nevertheless to engage our unremitting attention. And God’s bounty towards us merits the more praise, that he expects no recompense from us, nor can receive any, for he stands in need of nothing, and we are poor and destitute of all things.


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