Psalm 116: Return to Your Rest My Soul

Psalm 116 journaling.

What a timely reminder. 

The psalmist says he loves the Lord because he cried out to God and He heard him. 

THIS is what keeps me praying. THIS is what keeps me trusting and believing. THIS is what makes the Christian life different. 

In good times and in bad, I cry out to the Lord. I thank Him when it’s good and I beseech HIm when it’s bad–KNOWING that either way He will HEAR and He will ACT. 

My Journible Bible asked (for verse 1), “Why is it so amazing for the Lord to “hear” the psalmist?” 

My response: Because the psalmist is just a man. It’s amazing to realize the God of the universe hears every cry–including mine…and not only does He “hear,” but He acts! (which really is what the psalmist is saying–God hears and responds!)

This comforts my soul to remember that whatever and whenever I cry out to God, He hears. He hears and He responds. He acts to deliver me–to bring me closer to Himself, to reveal the gospel to others, and to live in greater true life with Him. He is always acting in the gospel. 

And, midway through the Psalm, verse 7 brings comfort to me even further. “ Return, O soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” This. This is such a picture of what I want to have emerged from 2020 with. Returning to true rest for my soul, KNOWING the Lord has dealt bountifully with me (and my family). 

I don’t deserve ANY of the goodness the Lord brought me in 2020, and yet He dealt bountifully with me. 

Did it always LOOK like bounty upon its first arrival or on the outside looking in? Likely not. Or, better answered: most certainly not! 

2020 held much pain. 2020 revealed much darkness and held my loved ones deep in hardship, in longing, in crying out to the Lord. 

The carpet fibers are stained with tears. The journals vacillate between pages of writing and blank pages where words just couldn’t come. 

The pleas and the fears were real. The helplessness, the distance, the isolation. These were all real. 

And, yet, the Lord dealt bountifully with me. He dealt bountifully with us. 

In His grace, He gave us space to work through the pain. 

In His grace, He revealed Himself as the One who heard our cries and acted. 

And He has heard and acted in ways we couldn’t have imagined, even though the steps were wrought with great pain and sadness. 

And, today I recognize that my heart must continue to remember–to rest and remember, to allow itself to take a moment to do this, so that I can praise and exalt with joy and thanksgiving–the Lord has dealt bountifully with me. 

So far, 2021 is not beginning with glitter and fanfare. It is not raining down ease and celebration.

No, each day has proved to have its own toil and trouble (and some days a seeming extra bounty of toil and trouble). 

But, these two things I know and I will cling to: (1) the Lord has heard my cry and He has delivered me AND (2) the Lord is able to give my soul rest as I delight in His goodness and all the ways He has dealt bountifully with me. 

As I sit here today, I don’t suspect that this year will be ANY easier than the last; that would be gravely naive. 

But I do hope and expect that this year will be filled with many reasons to thank God for hearing my voice and many opportunities to offer my soul a return to rest, as I thank Him for His bounty of goodness and mercy towards me.