PSALM 116: The Heart of The Father is Revealed
This Psalm reveals the heart of God toward those who choose to simply Trust in His Word. It is a powerful passage that has the potential to shake your shackles loose! Join me as we take the path of this Psalm and experience Jehovah in a new, deeper way.
First...we need to establish a solid foundation before building upon it with His Word. If we do not rightly understand the context of His Word, we will fail to apply it appropriately. It is my experience that many do not truly know their Heavenly Father. Why? Well....there are many reasons to be sure; each individual has their own set of reasons as to why they do not understand God as a Father who cherishes them deeply and truly only wants His Peace and Protection for them.
God offers many blessings to His people, His Beloved Children. These blessings are offered to all who simply choose to trust in Him and serve Him. Yeah...that concept of being a servant made some of you uncomfortable. Ask yourself Why? Why does it cause an unsettling in our core to even think about being a servant? It simply means one that VOLUNTARILY serves another.
To be the servant of God means that you perform the official duties of God; you are the Ambassador of Christ while here on this earth. As His Ambassador, you are asked to represent the power and dignity of His Sovereign, The Almighty God. As such, you are to manage the public concerns of your King...Christ Jesus Himself. So you see....being His servant is an honor and a privilege...not a punishment. It is perspective that focuses the beauty of His Word!
Psalm 116 is King David pouring out his heart for the One who has saved him. His praises are based on his personal experience with God as he indicates in verse 6. Experience that comes from a personal knowledge derived from trials, use, practice and/or from a series of observations. This is how Noah Webster defined experience in his dictionary; I think it fits beautifully here.
The Blessings of God are offered to everyone but only extended to those who choose Him. Joshua put it nicely when he said....Choose this day whom you shall serve. (Josh 24:15) He reminded the people that it is a choice, an individual choice that needs to be made regarding the offer made by God Himself:
Deuteronomy 11 and 30: "Today I set before you Life and Death; Blessing and Cursing...Now choose Life" It is a choice to be made each morning when we awaken to a new day! The choice has always been up to us...to serve the Creator and walk in His Ways and experience His protection and blessings or to choose to serve the enemy of our soul and live unguarded to his schemes to kill, steal and destroy us.
Now that we understand that He has given us the choice to serve Him and benefit from His Blessings, we can dive into Psalm 116. The Heart of the Father is revealed and can be experienced by any who simply choose to trust what He says about Who He is and how He wants to interact with each of us.
Let's take this verse by verse so that we do not miss what He reveals about Himself. you can follow along in your Bible. I am using TPT, The Passion Translation.
God Listens
He hears your prayers
He answers
Psalm 116 verse 2
God "stoops down" to listen to your heart's cry; (He draws near as we draw closer to Him)
Psalm 116 verse 5
God is kind and gracious
He is compassionate
He deeply loves you
He restores you
Psalm 116 verse 6
God protects those with childlike faith
He protects the humble
Psalm 116 verse 7
God rewards your trust in Him
Psalm 116 verse 8
God saves you from Fear
He keeps you from stumbling
Psalm 116 verse 9
God gives you strength to live according to His Ways
Psalm 116 verse 12
God pours blessings upon you
Psalm 116 verse 15
God cares deeply about you
Psalm 116 verse 16
God releases you from your chains...He sets you Free!
That's a pretty darn impressive characterization of the Heart of The Father. Wouldn't you agree?
You need to also understand that each one of these assertions made by David are also confirmed in other places in His Word. They are solid foundations to build your relationship with God upon. David wrote all of that based on his experiences with God; my own experiences with God have also been the same...God is very trustworthy; He does not lie. When you choose to be His servant and follow His Word, He blesses you. As you draw near to Him, He draws even closer.
James 4:7 Submit yourself to God (agree to be His Ambassador/servant), resist the devil and he will flee from you. Move your heart closer and closer to God and He will be touching you (He will come even closer to you)
The question to you is this....
Are you ready to embark on experiencing The Creator in such a beautifully, powerful way?
I hope you are!!! All it takes is a Green Gumball Faith...a simple, childlike faith and a heart willing to serve.
