“I shall call upon Him as long as I live”
[Psalms 116]
Today, I drove to church with my youngest daughter, Yeun, to attend the Wednesday prayer meeting. Suddenly, as soon as she got into the car, she said ‘I want to grow up, Daddy.’ So, when I asked Yeun why she wanted to grow up quickly, the five-year-old kid said ‘because I want to have a pretty baby.’ Haha. So I told Yeun that when she grows up she had to marry a Christian man who loves Jesus so that she can have a baby. I encouraged her to start praying to God for such a man. Then I told Yeun, ‘This father was also praying and that God sent your mother to my life and got married.’ And I said to Yeun that I prayed for four children and that God answered my prayer and gave me four children. But Yeun said nothing. So I asked here whether she was listening to me and she said that she was praying. So I asked her what she prayed for, and she said she prayed for her boyfriend. So, when I asked Yeun if she prayed for a boyfriend who loved Jesus, she said she forgot to pray for the boyfriend who loved Jesus. Haha. In addition to this, while having conversations with Yeeun, I tried to teach her how to pray to God. In other words, I wanted to teach Yeun the need for prayer. Also, I wanted to teach Yeun that God answers our prayers.
As I looked closely at this presidential election and the Propositions 8 and 4 in which California, where I live, voted, I felt more of the need to pray for this country and its people. Although the current Proposition 8 support for traditional marriage (against gay marriage) has already been passed, I think that the problem will continue to become serious in the future. With lawyers here and there and civil right organizations suing the court, we cannot but pray more and more for our family. Also, since the church isn’t like the true biblical church, it gives the impression of antihomosexual, judgmental, and hypocrisy to unbelievers, so I think our church should repent. Since the church doesn’t show the true Christianity of this world, and rather, it is more and more known as what Christianity isn’t, I think this is also a point for us to repent. Also, I feel that I must pray more and more for all people but also for the leaders of this nation (1 Tim. 2:1-2). Nevertheless, when I look back at myself, I have to confess that I still don’t feel the need for prayer for some reason.
When I looked at an internet site, I saw an article saying, ‘In the case of Calvin, a reformer of the 16th century, the need for prayer is based on the Bible, the Word of God, and there are numerous necessities for prayer’: ‘The first reason we pray is so that the desire and enthusiasm to always seek, love, and serve God can be burning in our hearts. The second reason is to prevent shameful desires or wishes that we cannot share with God to invade in our hearts. The third reason is to be able to receive God’s various graces with sincere gratitude. The fourth reason is to meditate more hard on God’s lovingkindness with the confidence that God has answered our prayers. The fifth reason is in order to receive with greater joy what we admit that we have obtained through prayer. The sixth and final reason is to confirm His providence by habit and experience according to our degree of weakness’ (Internet). When I think about these six reasons, the fourth reason especially came to mind. I agree that we need to pray to God to meditate more and more earnestly on God's lovingkindness through answering prayers from God. In my prayers, God gives me the confidence that He has already answered my prayers. So He gives me the grace to go deeper into His love and grace. Therefore, God is compelling me to pray.
In Psalms 116:2, the psalmist is determined to say, “… Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.” Why did he decide, “I shall call upon Him as long as I live”? The reason is because God heard his prayer. Look at Psalms 116:1-2: “I love the LORD, because He hears My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live.” The God who hears our prayers is the God who listens to our petitions when we cry out in pain. When the psalmist was “greatly afflicted” (v. 10) and was in “distress and sorrow” (v. 3), God answered his petition. In other words, when the psalmist cried out, “save my life” (v. 4) in the “cords of death” and “the terrors of Sheol” (v. 3), God heard his prayer and saved him (v. 6). God not only saved him, but also gave rest to his soul (v. 7). Furthermore, God dealt bountifully with him (v. 7) and gave him abundant grace (v. 12). So the psalmist said: “What shall I render to the LORD For all His benefits toward me?” (v. 12).
Do we really realize and know all the grace that God provides? Indeed, are we enjoying all the grace of God who “is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us”? (Eph. 3:20) If so, we must determine to ack like the psalmist, “I shall call upon Him as long as I live”. Why should we make this determination? The reason is because we get to know who God is His answered prayers. In other words, because we get to know that God is gracious, righteous, and compassionate God through answered prayers like the psalmist (v. 5), we must make a decision to pray to God as long as we live. Therefore, we need the tribulation, pain, and sorrow that make us to pray. In other words, in tribulation, suffering, and sorrow, we must become “the simple” (v. 6). Here, “the simple” refers to the ‘open ones,’ that is, those who open their hearts and entrust themselves to God and don’t rely on their wisdom (Park). Those who trust in their wisdom in tribulation, pain, and sorrow will surely turn to human help. However, those who open their hearts and trust in God know that “All men are liars”, so they pray to only God who is gracious, truthful, righteous, and compassionate (v. 11). We must brought low by tribulation, suffering, and sorrow (v. 6). The psalmist said that “I was brought low, and He saved me” (v. 6). That's right. We must humble before God through adversity, difficulties, pain, and sorrow in our lives. In other words, through such a difficult, painful, and sad environment, we must humble ourselves before God and pray to God. What kind of grace did God give to the psalmist at that time? Look at verse 8: “For You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling.” How did the psalmist, who received answers from God and experienced the grace of salvation, respond? In other words, how and with what should we repay the grace of God who answered our prayers and saved us? (v. 12)
First, we must love God. And we must confess that love like a psalmist.
Look at Psalms 116:1 – “I love the LORD, because He hears My voice and my supplications.” We must sincerely confess, "God, I love you," to God who hears our prayers and who gives us the grace of salvation. The psalmist said, ‘I love the Lord. The reason is because He hears My voice and my supplications’ (v. 1). The order is confess love first. We have already meditated on this psalmist's confession in Psalm 18:1 – “I love You, O LORD, my strength.” We must be able to confess ‘Lord, I love You,’ to God who answered our prayers and delivered us.
Second, we must always strive to walk fully before God.
Look at Psalms 116:9 – “I shall walk before the LORD In the land of the living.” The psalmist pledged to walk before the Lord throughout his life because of God's answer to his prayer. Because God delivered him from the place of death, he tried to live completely in front of God who gave him the second life (Park). The Bible says, “"He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me” (Jn. 14:21). If we truly confess to God, “I love you,” we must obey His commandments. Therefore, we must live a whole life before the Lord.
Third, we must praise and worship God with thanksgiving in our hearts.
Look at Psalms 116:13, 17 – “I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the LORD. … To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the LORD.” We praise and worship the Lord because we are grateful for the God's saving grace. Those who receive God's grace and don’t have warm gratitude will not receive more grace in the future (Park). In order to receive more grace in the future, we must praise and worship God with thanksgiving in our hearts. Especially when we think of the saving grace (eternal life) that God gave us in Jesus Christ, we have reason to be grateful in every thing. Therefore, we must give praise and worship to God because we thank God for the saving grace of God.
Fourth and last, we must pay our vows to God.
Look at Psalms 116:14, 18-19: “I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. … I shall pay my vows to the LORD, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people, In the courts of the LORD'S house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!” As the psalmist decided to fulfill his vow, he remembered the fact that he had been saved by the dead before (v. 15) (Park). Look at verse 15: “Precious in the sight of the LORD Is the death of His godly ones.” This is the saying that God takes the matter of the death of a saint seriously and doesn’t allow his death without a special precious purpose (Park). Our God takes our life and death very seriously. Therefore, even when we are at the crossroads of life and death, we must long for and look forward to the Lord’s salvation while trusting in God who controls life and death. Then, when God hears our vow and rescues us from suffering and pains, we must pay the vow to Him.
Our God is the God who hears our prayers. He is the God who delivers us by listening to our cries when we are humbled ourselves in in pain, trouble, and sorrow. Furthermore, He is a God who gives us peace and who deals bountifully with us. Therefore, we will love Him more and more. We express that love to God because we walk fully before God. We also pay our vows to God by offering praise and worship to Him. May we become a lifelong prayer to God.
Praising the hymn “Sweet Hour of Prayer”,
James Kim
(After Wednesday prayer meeting)