Psalm 116

“O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!” Psalm 116:16-19 (NKJV)

Years ago, USA Today published an article about how eating oatmeal dropped cholesterol levels. Oatmeal sales skyrocketed.  Isn’t it amazing how people will scramble to the stores to buy-up products that may add a few years to their lives, yet they do not rush to find a Christian who could share the way of ETERNAL life?  Any follower of Jesus can find today’s psalm relatable, for it is a “Thanksgiving For Deliverance From Death.”  Truly, thanksgiving is what every believer should exclaim when we remember how we were dead in our transgressions (Ephesians 2:1-10). Yet, we have received eternal life through Jesus’ atoning sacrifice on the cross!  

The writer responsible for Psalm 116 is not ashamed of his prior near-death state.  But, even if he was, he is more concerned with telling everyone at church about how God has healed him.  We should take that same perspective concerning being honest about our spiritual transformation.  We should neither glorify nor be ashamed of our past; we should boast in the Lord’s work!  Furthermore, we should not be afraid to call others to make a public profession of their faith.  We are not trying to embarrass people for their past.  We are giving them an opportunity to thank and praise Jesus for salvation in the midst of the assembly of believers.  If we will not make our confession in a room full of believers who love us, we probably will not make a stand for Him out in the world where people are hostile to Him.

“Therefore, whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.  But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 10:32-33 (NKJV)

Jesus did not consider the gospel invitation as shaming.  He used it as an opportunity to glorify His power to transform!

“Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any, came from behind and touched the border of His garment. And immediately her flow of blood stopped. And Jesus said, ‘Who touched Me?’ When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, ‘Master, the multitudes throng and press You, and You say, “Who touched Me?”’ But Jesus said, ‘Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.’  Now when the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before Him, she declared to Him in the presence of all the people the reason she had touched Him and how she was healed immediately. And He said to her, ‘Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.’” Luke 8:43-48 (NKJV)