Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Tuesday - Psalm 116 - I Love the Lord


D
o you love God? Why do you love God?  We know that if He hadn't loved us first, we would have had neither an opportunity nor the ability to love Him in return (1stJohn 4:19).  In this psalm, the author describes just how God had loved him and therefore the reasons why he loved God in return.  He felt God's love because God listened to his requests (Psalm 116:1).  That is indeed quite special.  Listening, caring, helping, giving: these are the things that touched this singer's heart. God was willing to listen to him. God cared about his plight.  God was willing to help him and to bless him. Because of these things, this man was driven to love the Lord.  He was wooed in... snagged and caught by the grace of God.

Now, once you pause to give this scenario some thought, you realize that, it was hardship which placed this man in a position to experience God's grace and love.  If life had been easy, with no danger in sight, there would have been no opportunity for this man to see God's great grace (Luke 7:47).  It is in contrast to the harshness of life that the loving-kindness of God shines through most brightly (Psalm 116:3-4).  Not only is our love for God spawned in dark waters, but also our faith in Him.  And, so also our testimony.  He has been gracious.  We learned to love Him and to trust Him.  And, now we speak of Him because we can't help it (Psalm 116:10). We look at what He has done for us and we can't help but speak of the things that we have seen and heard (Acts 4:20). When we consider deeply how He has loved us and will love us until death, we can and do explode with shouts of adulation concerning His person.  We give Him thanks before all men.  We stand and gladly say in the ears of others, "I too love the Lord... because He has done great things for me"

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