Psalm 116:1-9
Dealing with Death’s Effect
Death is a strange enemy. Over the dying Christian, it has no effect!
Thanks to what Jesus Christ did on the third day, death has been
defeated! That means for the departing saint who walks through the
valley of death’s shadow, death cannot touch him. The departing saint
simply closes his eyes on this plane and immediately opens them in
the presence of the Savior. However, we who are alive must still
grapple with death. We are not the ones walking through the valley.
We are the ones who have to deal with the results and for us, death
still causes grief. In the long run, death is defeated; but in the
here-and-now, death leaves those left behind with a loneliness and a
hurt.
The writer of this Psalm did combat with death. I do not think the
writer faced death. I think one he loved did, but that left him to
deal with the loss. He fought death, and he won. Let’s see how he
did it.
I. \\#3\\ The Need
A. Death’s sorrows had compassed this man about.
Psalm 116:3 The sorrows of death compassed me,
and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found
trouble and sorrow.
1. That is not an unusual phrase in the book of Psalms.
a. To be honest, I do not preach often from this book.
b. The reason why is because there is a lot of
repetition.
c. The plot of a lot of chapters is the same.
(1) There will be an enemy. It might be physical,
spiritual, or metaphorical.
(2) There will be a prayer. Someone being attacked
will call on God in obedience and faith.
(3) There will be a deliverance. God will rescue
the one who called upon Him.
d. You might ask, "If it is so common, why did God keep
repeating it?" Because life is hard and God’s people
need constant reminders to call upon the Lord.
e. We are so blessed we forget that for most people on
this globe, life is not so easy.
(1) Most do not live so happy.
(2) Most do not live so healthy.
(3) Most do not live so long.
(4) Most do not live so comfortable.
(5) Most do not live so secured.
2. In this Psalm, death is a common enemy.
a. However, I don’t think death came for the writer.
b. I think death came for the writer’s friend or family.
c. Notice, the writer does not say that death surrounded
him, but the sorrows of death.
(1) For the believer, death can be relatively easy.
(2) For the believer, death is just a door to take
you to Jesus.
(3) As Brother Mike testified, death is just part of
the journey from salvation to the Savior.
(4) Notice what this writer said of death…
Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.
(5) However, for the loved ones left behind, there is
the sorrows of death that we must live with.
3. It was not death which caused this man to cry unto the
Lord, but the battle with sorrow which caused him to do
so.
4. By the way, that is normal and natural—even for the most
spiritual of people.
B. The pains of hell got hold of him.
1. The word for hell here is a broad term.
a. It can mean anything from a whole in the ground to
hell itself.
b. 29 times the word is translated grave.
c. 31 times it is translated hell.
d. I say that not to correct the King James, but to say
to you that the use of word doesn’t necessarily have
to mean that someone went to hell.
e. It could just mean that they have died and are in the
grave.
2. However, it is not hell or the grave that got this person,
it was a great pain.
a. The word pain means misery.
b. Death can leave behind a sorrow, a loneliness, a
sadness, an emptiness, a discouragement, a pain, a
misery that can take hold of those that are left
behind.
c. It had gotten this writer,
C. As a result, this man was left with trouble and sorrow.
II. \\#4-6\\ The Solution
A. \\#4\\ He called upon the Lord.
Psalm 116:4 Then called I upon the name of the
LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
1. He prayed. Talking to God helps.
2. He asked for deliverance. Asking for deliverance brings
it.
3. He was asking for deliverance for his soul not his body.
a. Again, the writer’s life was not being threatened.
b. Soul is where our mind and emotions abide.
c. This man was being broken.
d. But God heals broken hearts too!
B. \\#5\\ He found God to be:
Psalm 116:5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
yea, our God is merciful.
1. The Bible does not say what God did for this broken man.
a. I believe if God had healed his loved, the Bible would
have told us.
b. I believe if God had erased the memory of his loss,
the Bible would have told us.
c. I believe if God had erased the hurt of this loss,
the Bible would have told us.
d. I don’t think God did any of those things.
2. I think what God did was made Himself so real to this
person that he was able to keep the memory and the hurt
of his loss and still rejoice.
3. He found God. Not in salvation, but in other ways.
a. He found God to be gracious.
b. He found God to be righteous.
c. He found God to be merciful.
4. This writer felt the presence of God so close that he
could bear the hurt he was going through.
5. I do not mean to be pompous, but hurt can open a new door
in the relationship between you and your God that nothing
else can open.
C. \\#6\\ God thus helped him.
Psalm 116:6 The LORD preserveth the simple: I
was brought low, and he helped me.
III. \\#8\\ The Deliverance - Because of God’s presence…
Psalm 116:8 For thou hast delivered my soul from
death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from
falling.
A. The man’s soul was delivered from death.
1. The soul is still the seat of our emotions and
intellect.
2. The Psalmist was not saying God delivered his body from
death, but his soul from it.
3. His heart was broken and filled with misery and sorrow,
but God became real to him—so real that his heart was—
in time—mended.
a. No one "gets over" the death of a loved one, but
everyone must mend.
b. Your life will never be the same, but it can still be
good and in fact, it can be better.
c. God gives life to the living and as long as a
Christian is alive, God wants us to have a full and
joyous life.
John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to
steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come
that they might have life, and that they might
have it more abundantly.
d. We lay the dead in the grave, but there is no reason
for the living to get into one.
e. God will deliver you from death’s sorrows if you will
let Him.
B. This man’s eyes were delivered from tears.
1. That means God gave him back his joy again.
2. In the beginning, he did not think it was possible but
God delivered him!
3. And God will deliver you too—if you will receive it.
C. This man’s feet were delivered from falling.
1. What does that mean?
2. When one falls, he stops. He goes down. He loses his
ability to continue on.
3. To stumble is a picture of a Christian quitting on God.
a. Grief kept can become a load too heavy to carry.
b. God did not intend us to carry our grief but to work
our way through it.
(1) There is no time schedule for it.
(2) There is no right or wrong way to do it.
(3) Each person must find their way of getting to
the other side, but there is an other side.
c. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and God
will get us to the other side—if we will let Him.
4. God got this man through it.
IV. The Promise
A. As a result of God helping him, this man was going to do some
things for God.
1. He was going to love God.
Psalm 116:1 I love the LORD, because he hath
heard my voice and my supplications.
2. He was going to call even more on God.
Psalm 116:2 Because he hath inclined his ear
unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long
as I live.
3. He was going to live right.
Psalm 116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the
land of the living.
4. He was going to believe God.
Psalm 116:10 I believed, therefore have I
spoken: I was greatly afflicted:
5. He was going to pay his vows.
Psalm 116:14, 18 I will pay my vows unto the
LORD now in the presence of all his people.
6. He was going to thank God.
Psalm 116:17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice
of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of
the LORD.
B. Why are all of these things listed?
1. Because the writer wanted us to know that he was not
quitting!
2. He did not stumble and quit on God and he did quit living.
3. He grieved, and it was unbearable; but he called upon the
Lord who helped him, and then he lived a good, godly,
full, and faithful life!
C. I don't know who the writer lost. wife? child? frend? It
does not matter who it was. What mattered was it placed him
in the tunnel of grief, but God brought him through to the
other side.
D. And if we will let Him, God will do that for us too.
We who are alive must face not the stinger of death but the sorrow of
death, but we are also victors thanks to God.
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