RENDER (Psalm 116)

I have one bed of iris that rarely bloom (blame my black thumb!), 

but this rogue lily yearly pops up in the midst of them. Being red,

they make me think of "the Lamb of God, who takes away

the sin of the World."

(Part of an ongoing series of the 48 psalms recommended for study during times of "feeling down," from pastor-counselor David Seamands' book "Healing for Damaged Emotions.")

A classic Peanuts cartoon shows Lucy harassing Linus.  He groans, “Aaugh!” and rips his shirt apart. In the final panel, he declares, “Thou hast caused me to rend my garment!” I’d call that “expressing anger” with, ah, destructive enthusiasm. Psalm 116 has one verse that could be described as “anger”—“all men are liars” (v. 11) but the rest of it hinges on a word close to “rend,” but with a different meaning: “render,” to give back or restore.

RESCUED

God probably hears many prayers that begin, “Things are a mess and getting worse. Help!” But here, instead of woe, the psalmist begins with wonder and praise:

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy,

Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.(vv. 1-2)

Pagan faiths don’t have such access to God. They hope their god(s) is(are) in a hearing mood when they do their sacrifices and routines. Our God doesn’t have office hours. He’s 24/7, anywhere.

The psalmist then relates a situation where his life was in danger. “The cords of death entangled me,” a metaphor also used in David’s Psalm 18:4, graphically depicts a desperate situation. But the psalmist’s reaction was to call “on the name of the LORD,” and he experienced God’s compassion in his great need. Significantly, he called himself “the simplehearted” (v. 6). Our inscrutable God is accessible to us, the “simplehearted”!  

RENDERED

News media sometimes relate how a stranger saved someone in a dangerous situation. The “rescued” wants to express deep gratitude to the “rescuer,” but has no name or contact information. The psalmist, however, knew just Who to thank for his “rescue.”   In  his time and culture there was a religious rite called the “fellowship offering” of meat, bread and wine to render thankfulness to God . (Explained in Leviticus 3, 7:11-21, it’s also called “thank offering” or “sacrifice of thanksgiving.”) Besides sacrificing an animal as a token of the person’s gratitude, the priest would pour out a portion of wine to symbolize a life poured out to God (the “cup of salvation,” v. 13). Part of this food offering was set aside for the person and his family to eat—truly a “thanksgiving” meal (without a turkey!).

RELEASED

For me, the most precious verse in this psalm is this:

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. (v. 13)

I will never forget my dad sitting by my mother’s hospital bed in her last comatose hours before dying of cancer at age 59. Weary from his “last watch,” he opened a Bible and read this psalm aloud to her, not knowing if she could even hear. His voice broke at this verse. Such a hard, wrenching moment—yet it was “precious” in that this Christian woman would soon know “the other side” of being with the Lord.

I’ve heard it said that a believer’s death is “not an accident but an appointment.” Psalm 139:16 says God has ordained all our days. Psalm 39:4-5 recognizes the fleeting character of life. Psalm 90:12 speaks of our numbered days. Our lifespan is in God’s hands.

What should be our response? To declare, as verse 1 says, “I love the Lord.” Life on this planet will never be perfect until God turns everything upside down at the end of time and brings forth the new heavens and new earth. But, for now, He bids us look around and recognize His hand of grace and help. 

The last line of this psalm is significant: “Halle lujah” (Hebrew for “Praise the Lord”). When life drags us down, we’re more apt to do the Linus shirt-ripping trick (“Aaugh!”). Psalm 116 reminds: don’t rend your garment.  Render praise.