SOUNDING OUT:
Our Response to God’s Giving
Last
week we saw that God gives out of love, and He wants
us to acknowledge, use, and enjoy what He has given
us. We should respond “in kind” out of
love with thanksgiving, praise, and humility and live
for God. The Psalmist wondered what his response should
be to God in light of His many blessing on his life.
Psalm 116:12:
What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits
toward me?
In light of all God
has done for us, how should we respond? Psalms 68:18
declares, “Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth
us with benefits…” People are loaded down
and burdened down with so many things. How blessed
we are to enjoy a load of blessings! As we keep reading,
we will see just how the Psalmist responded.
Psalm 116:13:
I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the
name of the LORD.
Commentaries disagree
as to whether the “cup” alludes to offering
a “drink offering” or to lifting a cup
in celebration at a feast. Either way it denotes thanksgiving.
“Take” in the LXX is the Greek word lambano.
The first thing the Psalmist declares he will do in
light of all God’s blessings is to utilize or
manifest his salvation with thanksgiving. He will
enjoy what God has provided. God has prepared a table
before us (Remember Psalm 23?), and He wants us to
enjoy his provision with thanksgiving.
Next he promises “to call upon the name
of the Lord.” This refers to the oriental custom
of invoking the protection of the one named. (Psalms
99:6; 105:1; Romans 10:13; I Corinthians 1:2)
Psalm 116:14:
I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence
of all his people.
We pay our vows now.
By his freewill he made promises to God which he kept
without delay. Life is too short; we do have time
to waste. It is vital to keep the vows we make at
sober and reflective times. We cannot afford to let
the business of life deter us from keeping our vows.
Paying vows is often linked with praise and thanksgiving
and done in response to God’s gracious giving
to us. (Psalms 22:25,26; 50:14,15; 61:8)
Psalm 116:15:
Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of
his saints.
One cannot pay his vows
when he is dead. We serve God now with praise and
thanksgiving. God has freed us to live for Him, and
we serve Him with humility and newness of life.
Psalm 116:16-18:
O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant,
and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my
bonds.
17 I will offer to thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon
the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows
unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
It is a thankful heart
that acknowledges God’s manifold blessings,
and responds to God’s gracious giving by giving
himself. The doulos, or bond-slave referred
to here was one who had been freed from his servitude,
but refused to leave the service of his master. His
love for the master and his family were so great that
he wanted to commit the rest of his life to serve
him. (Deuteronomy 15:12-17; Philippians 2:5-8; Romans
1:1)
This example is echoed throughout the church
epistles. Because of God’s love and mercy upon
our lives, we, out of love, give our lives to Him
in service.
Romans 12:1:
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable
service.
II Corinthians 5:14,15:
For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we
thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all
dead:
15 And that he died for
all, that they which live should not henceforth live
unto themselves, but unto him which died for them,
and rose again.
Galatians 2:20:
I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
God gives out of love,
and he wants us to acknowledge, enjoy, and use what
he has given us. We respond to his gracious giving,
in kind, out of love with thanksgiving, praise, and
humility and live our lives in service to Him. Enjoy
your personal “load of blessings,” and
let everyone know what a great God you have.
