Read Psalm 116:1-11 1I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. 2Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. 4Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” 5Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. 6The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 10I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”; 11I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”
The psalm opens with a spoken declaration of love for the Lord. Why? Because the Lord has heard the voice of the psalmist, and listened to his pleas for mercy. But where did these pleas come from? They came from faith. From belief – I believed, even when I spoke. Faith produced the cry for help – I am greatly afflicted. The Lord’s answer, his deliverance, produced love for the Lord. Finally, this love produced a life lived before the Lord – I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
The Christian life is no different. It too begins with faith and progresses toward loving service. Paul shows us this as he quotes verse 10 in 2 Corinthians 4.
2 Corinthians 4:13-15. 13Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.
For both the psalmist and for Paul fear became faith when the resurrection was recalled. No fear of Sheol for the psalmist, he will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Nor fear of death for Paul, in Christ he will be raised with Jesus.
Are your fears becoming faith? Not faith in the suppression of the circumstance, but faith in your eternal life with Christ? Faith that you will walk with him in the land of the living? Faith in a resurrection glory that will transform all things? Do you speak this faith out loud? Has this faith produced loving service for others – it is all for your sake. Can you say these words? It’s possible when you believe that to live is Christ.
Prayer. Jesus, I have to speak for you to hear my voice. I trust you, Jesus. Produce your love in me so that I can say, “It’s all for others.” Amen.
To Live is Christ 