This Bible Study is is provided by http://www.theseason.org/ and shared with permission from it's author R. Christopherson

Psalms 116:1 "I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications."

When you cry out to the Lord, you know absolutely that that He has heard them.

Psalms 116:2 "Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, Therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live."

David knew how to approach the Father, and have God's ear inclined to him. He had tasted the love of our Father many times.

Psalms 116:3 "The sorrows of death compassed me, And the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow."

You don't have to allow Satan or any part of his powers to get ahold of you. David is saying here that the old grave almost had me in my flesh.

Psalms 116:4 "Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul."

When it looked like David was about to die, he called on the Lord to deliver his soul: Not the flesh body but His soul. Our Heavenly Father is very good at saving the soul, while the flesh body goes back to the dust of the earth. Death is in the natural order of things and life on this earth. It is your soul that is eternal when you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Psalms 116:5 "Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yea, our God is merciful."

The Lord is gracious, He is fair, just and righteous, in His mercy. Father is not the God of fire and brimstone that many teach, but a God of love and mercy. He doesn't hold souls in the ground for a time much later and box them up in the funeral homes. No our Father draws each soul back to him instantly when that soul departs from the clay body, and in his love, He brings that soul to Himself. Our God is not a God of the dead, but a God of the living, and those souls are there with Him.

Psalms 116:6 "The Lord preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and He helped me."

"Simple" as used here is a word from the old English. Simple means "sincere or guileless ones. Simple today means one that is foolish. The Lord preserveth the sincere and guileless ones. When you are sincere in your life, and things don't go your way, God will help you through those hard times. God is ready to bless you and your family when you call on Him. God is righteous and merciful and He does not wish that any suffer. Our Lord paid the price and He has His arms open to you.

Psalms 116:7 "Return unto thy rest, O my soul; For the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee."

Your soul will find rest, peace of mind, when you follow His ways. YHVH Father is our rest, our Sabbath.

Psalms 116:8 "For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, Mine eyes from tears, And my feet from falling."

Notice that it is your soul that is delivered from Satan, from death. Satan is death, as recorded in Hebrews 2:14; "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; That through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil:"

Sure Satan can take your flesh body, but he cannot touch your soul, only God can claim the life of the soul. The time is coming when God shall wipe away all tears, and keep you from falling for Satan, and that time is at the close of the Millennium age, when Satan and his followers will go into the lake of fire. Father made His first move, when His son went to the cross, and He is waiting now on you to make your first move. Turn to Him and tell Him that you love Him. It is up to you to accept His offer for life for ever more for your soul.

Psalms 116:9 "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living."

When He puts live into your soul, you are going to serve Him in the land of the Living, because you will teach in the land of the Living. This is not talking about you flesh body but your soul.

Psalms 116:10 "I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:"

I believe Him, our Heavenly Father, and those words that He has written to us. When you are in trouble and feel alone, His Word is there to comfort us, and you can turn to Him for help.

Psalms 116:11 "I said in my haste, "all men are liars."

If you listen to man, you hear vanity, emptiness. This verse is so true, for when you study under most teachers of the Word, you will be left empty, because they do not teach a merciful loving Father. Their God is one playing the role of Satan, condemning people to the eternal fire. They hold you to them by fear, of death and the grave, and grind into your mind soul sleep. Your soul doesn't sleep for it has eternal life in Him.

Psalms 116:12 "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?"

This is a question that you had better know the answer, What should I render to our Heavenly Father, in order to receive His benefits back to myself? Those benefits can be many, more than you can count. And what does He expect back from you? "Salvation"

Psalms 116:13 "I will take the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord."

You take the "cup of Salvation", and in repentance call on the name of Jesus the Christ. Only in Jesus name can you receive salvation and eternal life. There is a cup that is of Satan, and it will be cut off in the middle of the week, but the cup of salvation is the cup of the holy communion, taken in remembrance of that walk of our Lord Jesus Christ, up the hill to Jesus' death on the cross. We take this cup in our life until that day when the seventh trumpet sounds and Jesus returns to this earth with His heavenly army. He said; "talk as oft as you meet", and they met on all feast days: That is about four times a year. Our Father wants you to take that cup in appreciation for the way that He opened to you.

Psalms 116:14 "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people."

I am not ashamed to call myself a servant of the living God before the entire world. We are to be ready and willing to allow His Holy Spirit to use us in these final days of this earth age. You pay your vows when you tell Him that you love Him.

Psalms 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

Stop and read this again. "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." God's "saints" are His set aside ones; they are His elect. In the Hebrew it is saying He will not permit it, He carefully calls his saints home to Himself when their work on this earth is over. Think of how the Lord will greet you on that day: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord." [Matthew 25:21]

God's separated ones are very important to Him, for they teach the truths of is Word to those people that God puts into their path. It doesn't matter if it is planting the seed of truth to one person, and ministering to thousands. It is whether you are faithful with the gifts that He has given you, and to the truths of His Word.

Psalms 116:16 "O Lord, truly I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, and the son of Thine handmaid: Thou hast loosed my bonds."

Can you say that? "I am thy servant". Friend, shake those old bonds of traditions that the church world is placing on your back. Know that you are a child of God and that you are free from those bonds that men would place upon you. Your heavenly Father is your freedom.

Psalms 116:17 "I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the Lord."

Your thanksgiving and sacrifice to the Lord is to tell our heavenly Father that you love Him. He became that sacrifice for one and all times for you.

Hebrews 10:5 "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, "Sacrifice and offerings Thou wouldest not, but a body hast Thou prepared Me:"

Hebrews 10:6 "In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin Thou hast had no pleasure."

Hebrews 10:7 "Then said I, Lo, I come in the (volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will O God."

Hebrews 10:8 "Above when He said, Sacrifices and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin Thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein;" which are offered by the law;"

What God wants from you is that you tell Him that you love Him. God created everything and He owns everything, the only thing that you can give to Him is your love. That is the only sacrifice that you can give Him. However, that is not considered a sacrifice, but a pleasure. Tell Him that you love Him and thank Him for the blessings you receive from Him, for He loves you.

Psalms 116:18 "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people,"

Don't be ashamed to serve Him, but keep your credibility, good name, and use common sense in all that you do. Let your light for Christ so shine that there is nothing that can cover that light. When you are around people, when they see you they will know that a man of God is with them.

Psalms 116:19 "In the courts of the Lord's house, In the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye THE LORD."

Our home will be in His favorite place on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem. This is the place that God made a covenant with, in Ezekiel 16, and that covenant is eternal. God's court and God's house will be established in Jerusalem, at the end of this age of flesh man, at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.