Psalm 116 again

Pastor humored me in Bible class. He preached on the psalm of the week until I was done asking questions. I didn't get to the point that I understood everything he said, but at least he gave me plenty to ponder.

He said Psalm 116 is indeed a cohesive unit with the theme of redemption/salvation. He said it starts with prayer that arises from faith (vs 1-2). In the following verses, the psalmist talks about sin, death, and hell (vs 3-4), and we pray for deliverance from these enemies because God is righteous and merciful. We confess that He is merciful (vs 5) even "in the midst of death's dark vale." Returning to "rest" (vs 7) isn't returning to a comfortable situation, but returning to our Rest who is Christ Himself. There may be deliverance in temporal matters, but our deliverance is ultimately in heaven, the land of the living (vs 9).

The next two verses were part of what really confused me initially. But Pastor pointed out that we have a vocab-word for what we "speak" when we "believe" (vs 10) -- "confession." Not only do we confess our sin ("all men are liars," including ourselves, because the lies are central to what was happening in Genesis 3) but we also confess our trust in God and that He will bring us to the land of the living.

Pastor then went on to link the communion canticle (vs 12-14 and 19) to the statement in Apology IV about the highest worship of God being the desire to receive the gifts He gives. He also pointed out that our "vows" would be better thought of as things like "Do you renounce the devil and all his works and all his ways? I do renounce them. Do you believe in God the Father, Maker of heaven and earth? I do believe...."

Verse 15 was one that confused me too -- not the content of the verse, but its connection to the rest of the psalm. But Pastor pointed out that death is when the bonds are finally completely loosed (vs 16) and when we are delivered (vs 4 and 8) into the land of the living (vs 9). And it is most precious to God when we are taken from this valley of sorrows to Himself in heaven.