“Saving God” -- Psalm 116

When we began this series of messages, we said that praise and thanksgiving are similar yet distinct in what they address. Praise speaks of the attributes of God, while thanksgiving speaks to His actions. To date, we have focused on the attributes and brought in God’s activities relating to the attribute.

Today, we focus on an action, but that is not to the exclusion of His attributes. God saves us through Jesus Christ His Son. It was the supreme act of love for God to send Jesus to earth. It was the supreme act of humility and service for Jesus to give up His glory to become like us and walk on earth in order to save us.

It is in the activity of saving us, though, that we see attributes of God. In saving us, we see the Personal God. That is, God is our God, not just an aloof God who has no genuine interest in the lives of His people. God is personal, and He demonstrates this attribute by becoming actively and intimately involved in our lives.

In the activity of saving us, we see the Compassionate God. It was God’s ability to see us as we are and care for us that enabled Him to send Christ to die for us. It is the compassion of Jesus that led Him to reach out to the lost people He encountered each day.

In the activity of saving us, we see the Proactive God. God does not react to the world and to us. Rather, He is always aware of what is happening, and He acts not with anticipation but with the knowledge of who and what we are even before we know. God is not taken by surprise. There is no place in the Bible where it says, “And God said, ‘Wow. I never saw that coming.’”

The Saving God covers a multitude of attributes that come together in the activity of saving us, redeeming us from our sins and restoring a right relationship between Himself and us.

Central Truth: God is worthy of praise and thanksgiving because He hears and saves us.

The Saving God:

Listens to us (1-6)

I can think of fewer things that demonstrates a person’s importance than when we listen to someone. From our earliest days, we are taught to respect our elders, to respect those in authority over us. “Honor your father and mother.” “Respect your teachers.” “Respect the president, the governor, the police officer,” and on it goes. Unfortunately, we were never taught the opposite is true. The older person has an equal duty to respect the child. One of the ways we do that is by listening to each other.

Listening is a skill that requires effort. Reading the newspaper, checking texts, keeping tuned to the TV while someone is talking is not really listening. By doing those things we indicate that the speaker is more a distraction as opposed to a person of worth and respect. It is only when we focus our attention and respond to the words and message being conveyed that we let the speaker know they are someone we care about and want to respond to.

The psalmist raises that issue. “I love the Lord, for He heard my voice, He heard my cry for mercy,” is a declaration of God’s willingness to listen to us and respond to us favorably. “Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.”

God listens to us. Because He listens to us, we know that our prayers are not empty words, but they are words that are heard and responded to. As we’ve learned in the Sunday School lessons the last few weeks, Jesus taught His disciples, and teaches us, than when we pray, we should focus first on the personal, intimate relationship between ourselves and God. We address Him as “Our Father,” and we know that, as our Father, He listens to us.

In the instance of salvation, the psalmist paints a vivid picture. He describes his state of mind as “cords of death entangle me,” “anguish of the grave came upon me,” and being overcome by trouble and sorrow. I notice that he then writes, after this overwhelming sense of dread sweeps over him, that he then says, “Then I called on the name of the Lord: ‘O Lord, save me!’”

Isn’t that typical of us? We think we can handle things, but it’s when we become overwhelmed that we finally remember He who listens to us, and we finally turn in desperation to God and call out to Him, “Jesus, save me!” Why we wait is typical, but it really makes no sense. If we will learn to speak with Him daily, knowing that He listens and hears us, then we will be more in tune with Him and we in turn will more likely hear Him as He directs our paths. Still, it’s a lesson we have to learn over and over again.

The psalmist concludes this portion of the psalm with the reassuring words that God heard his cry for help. See how he describes God—gracious, righteous, full of compassion. He says that God protects the simplehearted—what we would call the simple-minded. “When I was in great need, He saved me,” is the final statement about proof that God listens to our prayers and responds in the way that is best for us.

Because God listens to us, He saves us, and for this we offer praise and thanksgiving.

Delivers us (7-11)

In these verses, the psalmist exclaims how God’s salvation has affected him.

God’s delivery gives rest to our soul. There have been times when I’ve had sleepless nights. You know the nights where unfinished things or imagined things crowd into the mind and create restless feelings, almost panic. It’s at those times we need to go to the Lord. As we said earlier, we should have taken those things to God at the outset, but when we find ourselves tossing and turning with the stresses of the life pressing in on us, that’s when we turn to God, and we find rest for our souls.

He talks about how God delivers him. Again, the description is one of abject desolation and sorrow, dread and uncertainty. He is delivered from hopelessness, with the result of this delivery being that he now “walks with the Lord in the land of the living.” God’s salvation takes us from the worst of circumstances and places us in a right relationship with Him. Because God saves us, He and Jesus abide with us, making their home in us. Jesus tells us that He is in the Father, and we are in Him, and He is in us. Paul tells us that, because of salvation, we are now seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father, so we should set our hearts and our minds on things above. Salvation takes us from being dead in our sins into becoming the children of God. We are filled with the Spirit that allows us to cry out to God, “Abba,” which is an Aramaic term for the familiar word for Father—like saying, “Dad.”

The last thing the psalmist writes about his delivery is that he believed, and because he believed, he confessed his stress to God. “In my dismay, I said all men are liars,” is an interesting thing to say. To me, it indicates that he had tried to find answers with others, but found that no one could save him. Realizing his faith in man was misplaced, he finally turned to the Way, the Truth, the Life and he found salvation.

Because God saves us, He delivers us and for that we give Him praise and thanksgiving.

Gives us a reason to follow Him (12-19)

It’s one thing to receive a gift from someone. It’s another thing to fail to acknowledge the gift. At Christmas at our house, something I was brought up with, is that we take turns opening our gifts. Each person opens a gift, and we all watch and see what they received. In part, it’s a way to all participate in the gift giving as a family. But it’s also a way for each person to take the time to realize each gift they received and who gave them that gift. I’ve been at places where people just rip into presents one after the other, barely taking the time to see what they just opened in the desire to get to the next gift.

The psalmist realizes he has been given a great gift, and he wants to express his appreciation for the gift. The way he does that is by committing himself to live in obedience to God.

We see this commitment in vs. 12-14. He asks how can he repay God’s graciousness, and decided that he will follow God and be a witness of God’s grace before everyone. He will seek to walk in obedience and he will remember God’s goodness and salvation.

He then acknowledges his relationship with God—“truly I am Your servant.” The reason he says this is because God freed him from his chains. Being set free in Christ is a gift far greater than we can ever repay. The only way we can respond is to be committed to becoming more like Him each day.

Think of it like this. Suppose you’re looking for work. You’ve looked long and hard, but there doesn’t seem to be anything available. Then along comes someone who says, “I have a job for you, and I will hire you.” The person who hires you is a kind person, a person who is generous and appreciative of his or her employees, but is also someone who expects his or her employees to earn their pay. How do you respond to such a person, so generous in giving you the opportunity you were looking for? Not only did that person hire you, but it turns out the job is the perfect one for you. It utilizes all your skills and talents while challenging you. How do you respond?

Most of us would respond by committing ourselves to doing our best in our new career, giving our new boss our best because of what was given to us.

In the same way, because God has saved us, we should respond with love and obedience. Our obedience is not predicted on the idea that we have to obey in order to keep our salvation. Rather, we obey because we come to realize that God’s ways are the best ways, and as we grow in our faith and commitment, we grow in our obedience and dedication.

That’s what the psalmist is saying in these last verses, and it is similar to what Paul writes us in Romans that we should offer ourselves as living sacrifices, giving ourselves completely to God in order to become transformed by His Spirit.

Because God saves us, we praise Him and thank Him in part by following Him in faith, love and obedience.

Conclusion

Looking back on my life, there have been gifts given to me that I treasured more than others. Those special gifts that express our belief in someone, or our trust in someone. The gift that speaks to a deeper meaning than usual. It is those gifts that touch us most.

There is no greater gift given than salvation through Jesus Christ. The Saving God that sent Him to die for us and the Saving God who convicted us by His Spirit has given us the gift that says He believes in us and wants what is best for us.

When God blesses us with such a marvelous, miraculous gift, how can we respond in any other way than to praise Him and thank Him and commit ourselves to living for Him?