Charles H. Spurgeon on Psalms 116:2

Verses 1-2.

1. Present —"I love."

2. Past —"He hath."

3. Future —"I will."

Verses 1-2. Personal experience in reference to prayer.

1. We have prayed, often, constantly, in different ways, etc.

2. We have been heard. A grateful retrospect of usual answers and of special answers.

3. Love to God has thus been promoted.

4. Our sense of the value of prayer has become so intense that we cannot cease praying.

Verses 1, 2, 9. If you cast your eyes on the first verse of the Psalm, you find a profession of love —I love the Lord; if on the second, a promise of prayer —I will call on the Lord; if on the ninth, a resolve of walking —I will walk before the LORD. There are three things should be the object of a saint's care, the devotion of the soul, profession of the mouth, and conversation of the life: that is the sweetest melody in God's ears, when not only the voice sings, but the heartstrings keep tune, and the hand keepeth time. Nathanael Hardy.

"He hath, "and therefore "I will." Grace moving to action.

Verses 2, 4, 13, 17. Calling upon God mentioned four times very suggestively —I will do it (Ps 116:2), I have tried it (Ps 116:4), I will do it when I take (Ps 116:13), and when I offer (Ps 116:17).

Verses 2, 9, 13-14, 17. The "I wills" of the Psalm. I will call (Ps 116:2), I will walk (Ps 116:9), I will take (Ps 116:13), I will pay (Ps 116:14), I will offer (Ps 116:17).

Verses 3-4, 8. See Spurgeon's Sermon, "To Souls in Agony, " Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No 1216.

Verses 3-5. The story of a tried soul.

1. Where I was. Ps 116:3.

2. What I did. Ps 116:4.

3. What I learned. Ps 116:5.

Verses 3-6.

1. The occasion. (a) Bodily affliction. (b) Terrors of conscience. (c) Sorrow of heart. (d) Self accusation: "I found, "etc.

2. The petition. (a) Direct: "I called, "etc. (b) Immediate: "then, "when the trouble came; prayer was the first remedy sought, not the last, as with many. (c) Brief —limited to the due thing needed: "deliver my soul." (d) Importunate: "O Lord, I beseech thee."

3. The restoration. (a) Implied: "gracious, "etc., Ps 116:5. (b) Expressed, Ps 116:6, generally: "The Lord preserveth, "etc.; particularly; "I was brought low, " etc.: helped me to pray, helped me out of trouble in answer to prayer, and helped me to praise him for the mercy, the faithfulness, the grace, shown in my deliverance. God is glorified through the afflictions of his people: the submissive are preserved in them, and the lowly are exalted by them. G. R.