Psalm 116 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Psalm 116 Short Summary:

The writer of Psalm 116 had experienced some rough times. In his struggles, he called out to God and the Lord saved him from death. He praised the Lord for his salvation and promised to praise the Lord forever. He acknowledged that the death of God’s saints was precious to Him, but he was thankful that God had spared his life on this occasion.

Psalm 116 Summary

AUTHOR:

• Psalm 116 does not name its author.

NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES:

• 2 Corinthians 4:13

THEMES:

• God is worthy of worship because He supports His people.

• God is trustworthy in life and in death.

DEFINITIONS:

• Sheol (116:3) - The place of the dead, the grave.

OUTLINE:

• GOD, THE DELIVERER OF MY SOUL (116:1-19):

  • In Psalm 116, the psalmist recalled God’s faithfulness to him and how God saved him when other men failed him.

  • He expressed his love for God because God heard his prayers when he was in trouble.

  • Since God was there for him in his time of need, the writer promised to be faithful to God for the remainder of his days.

  • The writer’s situation had been grave, to the point of threatening his life, but God had kept him “in the land of the living.”

  • He highlighted God’s qualities of mercy, graciousness, and righteousness (116:6).

  • In contrast to God, the psalmist declared that “all mankind are liars,” they can’t be depended on, at least not in the same sense a person can depend on God.

  • The psalmist declared that He would worship God for His faithfulness, saying, “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people” (116:14).

  • He acknowledged that the death of God’s saints was a precious thing in God’s eyes, but he was thankful the Lord had allowed him to remain alive.

UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE:

• In some previous studies, we’ve looked at what the psalmists knew about life after death.

• It isn’t clear exactly how much they knew about the resurrection and eternal life, but this psalm gives us another small detail to consider.

• In 116:15, the psalmist wrote that God cherished the death of those who were faithful to Him.

• This statement wouldn’t make a lot of sense if the psalmist didn’t believe that God had something in store for His saints after death.

• If a person disappeared into oblivion after death and existed in no form other than dust, it would seem preferable in every case for them to remain alive rather than to die. Yet, the author wrote that a righteous man’s death is “precious in the sight of the Lord.”

• This seems to indicate that the psalmist knew physical death wasn’t the end of a person’s existence.