1971 was a defining year in my life. I had recently moved to Mission Beach, California, from a quiet country setting where the only distractions were the distant coyote chorus at night and an occasional jetliner passing high overhead. Mission Beach was not quiet. I worked at a vegetarian restaurant and Christian outreach center trying to share the gospel (which I had recently discovered) and healthy living with hippies, saffron-robed chanters, young Vietnam vets, and beach people of all types. I had grown up in a pretty protected environment and hearing the motorcycle gangs race up and down the boulevard at night was quite unsettling.
I remember lying in bed one night staring up into the darkness and
really talking to God – pouring out my heart and longing for some inner peace
in the midst of all the chaos. Though not audibly, God spoke to me and gave me such
a deep reassurance that the memory of that feeling lingers to this day. I heard
His voice, and He heard mine.
It was shortly after that “encounter” that a friend shared Psalm 116
with me and it was like experiencing the rays of a morning sunrise after a long
dark night. The words of David’s song gave a voice to what I had experienced
and it has been my favorite ever since. I have read and prayed and meditated
this psalm repeatedly in the course of my life because I find such solace, such
authentication, such hope for the detours of my journey.
Here are some of the reasons I love Psalm 116. It says that my love for
God is the response to His attention to me -- He hears my voice, He is aware of
my prayer. The fact that it is a prayer for mercy indicates the need for mercy.
This is not an "everything's just great" prayer, but a plea for help
-- a cry of desperation, "God have mercy on me." We need mercy when
we have offended God and He has reason to punish us. Psalm 103:10 says God
hasn't treated us how we deserve to be treated -- the implication being that if
He were to treat us as we deserve we'd be done in. Mercy also indicates I come
to God in my weakness, not my strength. There is a strong sense of dependence
here. I come to God relying on His ability and heart to treat me better, much
better, than I deserve.
And it says, "I love Him because..."
God initiates the relationship. This prayer is a response to Him paying
attention to me-- verse 2 says He "bends down to listen". King James
Version says He "inclined His ear". Whatever my need, whatever my
situation of desperation -- even when it is the result of my own sin and
failure -- God is interested in my cry for help. He is listening, He does hear
me. So, yes, I will come to Him as long as there is a single breath in my body.
Never stop coming to God. You can't wear Him
out, you can't exasperate Him or bother Him. Above everything else He is
interested in what's going on in your heart; He is sympathetic to your trouble;
He is waiting to give you hope again. And He will speak to you as He did to me
that night in Mission Beach and as He has done so many times since.
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