Psalms 116

I love the LORD, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
 2Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
 3The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
 4Then I called upon the name of the LORD:
"O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!"
 5Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
 6The LORD preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
 7Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
 8For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
 9I will walk before the LORD
In the land of the living.
 10I believed, therefore I spoke,
"I am greatly afflicted."
 11I said in my haste,
"All men are liars."
 12What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
 13I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
 14I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people.
 15Precious in the sight of the LORD
Is the death of His saints.
 16O LORD, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;
You have loosed my bonds.
 17I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the LORD.
 18I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people,
 19In the courts of the LORD's house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!


v.17
thanksgiving is the only thing left...
Heb. 13:10
We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.  11For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.  12Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.  13Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach.  14For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come.  15Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.  16But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.


You see, now that Jesus has fulfilled the Law and the Patriarchs, we are in an age of Praise and Thanksgiving. That's what this Psalm was feeling when he wrote that his rendering unto the LORD would be taking the cup of salvation! See? His Service was to Recieve! His Sacrifice was to say Thank You!


This is what Isaiah is saying in Is. 30:15

15For thus says the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel:
" In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."
But you would not,



There are just so few who will take up the faith to believe in and trust in and rely on the Grace of Jesus Christ and bear the fruit... this is the narrow way, and the Psalmist was on it! Didn't "get it", but was on it! Wow!

And that's how the Kingdom is, so often. We're in it and don't even get it: like the Tax Collector in Luke 18. Like the Thief on the cross in Luke 23.

I mean, this is amazing! And the "arrived" crew, they were washed up, didn't know it, and HATED Jesus... makes you tremble to consider yourself a religious/devout/christian person, eh?