Psalm 116; Luke 23:44-55

Psalm 116
I have heard it said, I'm not sure by whom, that we should praise the Lord for who He is rather than for what He does for us. I'm not sure this is true, because who can separate who God is from what He does? Actually, we should probably do both--praise the Lord for all His attributes AND for his mercy, grace and love toward us. This psalmist had no problem saying he loved the Lord because He heard his prayer!

Apparently, the psalmist had almost died, but the Lord heard his prayer and saved him. vv. 3-8  Perhaps his troubles had come because of someone's lie. v. 11. But he was faithful to acknowledge what God had done. "How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours! v. 5 He also vowed to keep his promises to the Lord, v. 14, 18.

V. 15 is interesting. "The Lord cares deeply when his loved ones die." The King James Version says, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." This shows how much God values His own; we are important to Him! Death is a part of life, and God is in control of it all. And He is loving and compassionate toward our sorrows.

V. 17 is appropriate for this coming Thanksgiving week: "I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord." Thanksgiving is a sacrifice, an offering we can give to the Lord as an act of worship. Let us not neglect thanksgiving.

Luke 23:44-55
This passage speaks for itself. The only comments I want to make is that God is doing His work on many levels. Jesus' death was part of God's eternal plan for our salvation, and the miracles that happened at the time were evidence of this--the darkness and the tearing of the veil in the Temple. Charles Ryrie says this in his study Bible, "...the curtain separating the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple was torm from the top to the bottom showing that God did it, not man. It signified that the new and living way was now open into the presence of God."

While all this is going on the Roman officer began to worship God. We also see that Joseph of Arimathea showed great faith and courage in going against the other religious leaders. Also, he broke the Passover rules by handling the body, but he knew what was really important, and he did what he could to honor the Lord.