PSALMS LESSON 119
We will begin this lesson by giving the 116th Psalm in metre.
THE PSALMS OF DAVID IN METRE
Chapter 116
Verse 1. "I Love the Lord, for he did hear My voice and supplications
all; Because he hath inclined his ear, I while I live, will
on him call."
Verse 2. "Death's sorrows compassed me around, The pains of hell
shook all my frame, I trouble great and sorrow found, Then
called I on Jehovah's name.
Verse 3. "O Lord, I humbly thee entreat, From all distress redeem my
soul; The kindness of the Lord is great, Our God is just and
merciful."
Verse 4. "The simple with his care are blest; I was brought low, God
rescued me; My soul return thou to thy rest, Great love the
Lord hath shown to thee."
Verse 5. "For thou from death hast saved me, Lord, And thou hast
freed my eyes from tears, My feet from falling hast secured.
With God I'll walk, through all my years."
Verse 6. "As I believed, so spake I then, When great affliction on me
pressed; "How false, how faithless are all men!" Were words
I uttered in my haste."
Verse 7. "What fit return, Lord, can I make For all thy gifts on me
bestowed? The cup of blessing I will take, And call upon the
name of God."
Verse 8. "Before God's people I'll appear, And pay my vows there
with delight; The death of saints to God is dear, Most
precious in Jehovah's sight."
Verse 9. "O Lord, the high and holy one, I am a servant unto thee,
Thy servant and thy handmaid's son, thou hast from bonds
delivered me."
Verse 10. "With sacrifice of thanks I'll go, And on Jehovah's name
will call; Will pay to God the vows I owe, In presence of
his people all."
Verse 11. "Yea, I will pay my vows to God In midst of thee, Jerusalem.
Within the courts of God's abode. Praise ye Jehovah, praise
his name."
We will now begin the verse by verse study of the 116th Psalm.
Psalms 116:1 "I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice [and] my
supplications."
The LORD loves us, in spite of the fact that we sinned. Jesus
gave His body on the cross, while we were yet in sin. We love Him
because, He loves us in spite of. The psalmist loves the LORD, because
He heard his prayer. God's love to man is an unselfish love. Man's
love is conditional.
Psalms 116:2 "Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore
will I call upon [him] as long as I live."
While I am alive, I will call upon the name of the Lord. There is
no help, except the help the Lord can bring. The Lord always hears our
prayer. He is always listening for the call of His children. I will
call, because He hears and answers, is what the psalmist is saying
here.
Psalms 116:3 "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of
hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow."
This is describing a man, before he has tasted of the grace of
God. Man, within himself, is headed for death and hell. The only
solution to the problem, is to let the LORD come into your life and
bring life to you. In this world, there is trouble and sorrow. We
begin to die the day we are born. There is no chance for man to save
himself. God saw the plight of fallen man and sent the Saviour. In
Him, we have life.
Psalms 116:4 "Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I
beseech thee, deliver my soul."
When there is no place to go for help, then it is time to cry out
to the LORD, and He will hear and answer. Jesus is the Deliverer. It
was the cry of the Israelites to God, that caused God to send Moses to
deliver them from bondage. The bondage of the spirit is even more
urgent to be delivered from. The LORD has always sent the Deliverer to
help His people in time of distress. There is no more earnest prayer,
than when it seems there is no hope.
Psalms 116:5 "Gracious [is] the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God
[is] merciful."
We all deserve to die for the sins we have committed. It is the
grace and mercy of God that saved us. His mercy endureth forever. The
one thing that brings help on the double from the Lord, is to cry out:
Be merciful to me, a sinner. The righteousness of the Lord has been
shared by the Christians. He gave us His righteousness to be clothed
in, if we are believers.
Psalms 116:6 "The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low,
and he helped me."
Those, who are worldly wise and self-sufficient, think they do
not need help from the LORD. God helps the humble. I Corinthians 1:27
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the
things which are mighty;"
Psalms 116:7 "Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath
dealt bountifully with thee."
There is a rest for the believer. I believe there can be perfect
peace for the believer all the time {even in time of trouble}, if we
will just put our total trust in the Lord. To be at peace with the
world is one thing, but to be at peace with yourself is entirely
another thing. The peace that we should all seek is, to be at peace
with God and oneself. If you are at peace with God, then somehow, you
are at peace with the world. Proverbs 16:7 "When a man's ways please
the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him." The
dealing bountifully with us, could easily be speaking of God giving
man the greatest gift that one can receive. He gave us eternal life
through the sacrifice of His Son.
Psalms 116:8 "For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine
eyes from tears, [and] my feet from falling."
The tremendous thing the psalmist is speaking of here, is the
salvation provided for us through Jesus. He will wipe away all tears
from our eyes. He has delivered us from sin and death. He even
strengthens us in our walk here, for Christ in me is my strength. His
light is ever shining before us that we might see the way and not
stumble and fall. Look, with me, at the next Scripture and you will
see how we walk without stumbling and falling. 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."
Psalms 116:9 "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the
living."
We see in this, as in the Scripture above, that the walk of the
believer in Christ will be upright. Our walk in this life reveals to
the world what type relationship we have with the Lord. The land of
the living, in this particular Scripture, possibly, means here on this
earth in front of the sons of men. Sometimes it means in heaven, where
men never die.
Psalms 116:10 "I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly
afflicted:"
I believed, is speaking of the faith this psalmist had. He is
saying that during the difficulties, his faith kept him going. The
affliction was great, but he never stopped believing. The affliction
just made him pray that much more earnestly.
Psalms 116:11 "I said in my haste, All men [are] liars."
The psalmist, here, was judging all men as liars, because the
people he was around were giving him that impression. He is, also,
saying, if I had taken time to think on this, I would not have judged
all men by the actions of the few.
Psalms 116:12 "What shall I render unto the LORD [for] all his
benefits toward me?"
Not just this psalmist, but all believers have felt this same
thing. The Lord has done so much for us, how can we repay Him? The
only thing He wants is our faith in Him and our love.
Psalms 116:13 "I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon
the name of the LORD."
The next Scripture is so beautiful to me, because salvation is so
simple. I Peter 1:9 "Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the
salvation of [your] souls." Notice in verse 13 above, that it is a
conscious act of willingness to receive on the person who gets
salvation. It is even a determination {I will} to be saved. Romans
10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." This leaves absolutely no doubt to how simple it is to receive
salvation.
Psalms 116:14 "I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the
presence of all his people."
The psalmist has decided, that the rest of his life, he will
spend fulfilling all the promises he made to God. He is not ashamed of
his Lord. He will do this in the presence of the people. Whatever you
promise God, you must do, without exception.
Psalms 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD [is] the death
of his saints."
I have been to funerals where the people had not confessed belief
in the Lord, and their funerals are very sad. On the other hand, I
have been to funerals of some dear old saint, and I felt like
shouting, not crying. We know that dear old saint is going home to
heaven to be with their Lord. Sure, the Lord would think it precious.
The saint that dies will spend all of eternity with Him. All the
problems of life are over. Pain and suffering and crying is over.
There shall be joy forevermore. It will be a glorious homecoming for
the saint, when death of this body occurs.
Psalms 116:16 "O LORD, truly I [am] thy servant; I [am] thy
servant, [and] the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds."
This psalmist is not only sure of his own state with the Lord,
but is assured of his mother's standing with the Lord, as well.
Notice, his mother was a handmaid of the Lord. He is free from the
bonds of sin and death, and he knows he is free.
Psalms 116:17 "I will offer to thee the sacrifice of
thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD."
The only thing that he can do for the Lord, is to thank Him.
This, to me, is saying that as long as his life continues, he will be
thanking God for the wonderful work of salvation that was wrought in
his life. This thanksgiving will be part of his regular praise in
prayer that he brings before God.
Psalms 116:18 "I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the
presence of all his people,"
This is not to be a private thing with the psalmist. He will do
this publicly, so that all may see and benefit from this. He is not
ashamed of the LORD, and he will tell everyone of his love for Him.
Psalms 116:19 "In the courts of the LORD'S house, in the midst of
thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD."
This is speaking of his place of worship. We hear people say that
they worship God alone in the woods. This is alright, but there is a
time to worship Him publicly. Jerusalem was where the temple stood,
and this would be his choice of places to worship the LORD.
We will continue on with this lesson by giving the 117th chapter
of Psalms in metre.
Chapter 117
Verse 1. "O All ye nations of the earth, Praise ye the mighty Lord;
And all ye people magnify His name with one accord."
Verse 2. "For great to us his mercies are, And lovingkindnesses: His
truth endures for evermore. The Lord O do ye bless."
We will now give the verse by verse study of the 117th Psalm.
Psalms 117:1 "O Praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye
people."
In chapter 116, we saw the psalmist determining to praise the
Lord. In this Psalm, he is encouraging everyone everywhere to praise
the Lord. This brings into the account of the Lord Jesus saying that
people from all nations would love and serve the Lord. The psalmist
here was most assuredly a Hebrew, and they thought at the time that
this was written, that they were the only true people of God in the
world. This, then, is a prophetic Scripture looking unto the time when
all nations and people could worship the Lord.
Why should we praise Him? Because He is our Creator and our
Saviour. When should we praise Him? All the time, in every
circumstance. How should we praise Him? With an humble heart. You can
praise Him in song, in word, or in deed. You can even raise your hands
in humble praise to Him. I will not tell you how to praise Him. Praise
Him the way you feel in your heart.
Psalms 117:2 "For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and
the truth of the LORD [endureth] for ever. Praise ye the LORD."
This is not speaking of just the Hebrews. It is speaking, again,
prophetically of all people. This is a continuation of the first verse
which is all people in all nations. His kindness is unmatched in all
the world. He was merciful to each of us, while we were yet in sin. He
saved us and prepared a wonderful place for us, to be with Him. He
keeps His covenant to all generations. He not only tells the truth all
the time, but is, in fact, the Truth. PRAISE YE THE LORD.
Questions 119
1. I love the LORD, because he hath ________ ___ _______.
2. What is different in the type of love we have, and the type of
love the LORD has?
3. How long did the psalmist say, that he would call on the name of
the LORD?
4. The sorrows of _______ compassed me.
5. What is verse 3 describing?
6. What is the only solution to this problem?
7. When do we begin to die?
8. Who is our Deliverer?
9. Which bondage is the most urgent to be delivered from?
10. What is the one cry that brings help more quickly from God?
11. We all deserve to die for our sins we have committed. It is the
_______ and _____ of God that saves us.
12. Quote 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 27.
13. How can there be perfect peace for the believer at all times?
14. Quote Proverbs chapter 16 verse 7.
15. Verse 8 tells of three things we have been delivered of, what are
they?
16. Quote Galations chapter 2 verse 20.
17. What does our walk in this life reveal?
18. What is verse 10 saying about his faith?
19. What had he said in his haste?
20. How can we repay God for all that He has done for us?
21. Quote 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 9.
22. What does, I will, in verse 14, tell us?
23. How does the LORD feel about the death of the saints?
24. What does the psalmist call himself in verse 16?
25. What type of sacrifice did he offer in verse 17?
26. Where will he pay his vows?
27. What does verse 16 tell us of the psalmist's mother?
28. What was so special about Jerusalem, to the psalmist?
29. In the first verse of chapter 117, who are told to praise?
30. How do we know this was a prophetic statement?
31. Why should we praise Him?
32. When should we praise Him?
33. How should we praise Him?
34. He not only tells the truth, He is the _______.
35. How will you praise Him?
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