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"Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live."

~ Psalm 116:2

 

Three thoughts/observations from this text today:

First, I wonder if this psalm was on the heart and mind of Jonah while in the belly of the great fish.  It rings familiar to the prayer/psalm that Jonah penned in Jonah chapter 2.  (read that text as well today)

Second, God loves us because he loves us.  We love because he first loved us.  The sum of the law is to love God and love others.  The world will know that we are disciples of Jesus by our love for one another.  We can be assured of our own salvation by seeing Christ’s love in and through us. (Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:7-21; John 13:34-35; Matthew 22:36-40)

Third, in the opening verses, this psalmist declares that because God has heard and inclined his ear, therefore I will call on the name of the LORD.  It is NOT the other way around.  God does not incline his ear because we call.  God is always the one who initiates.  He, firstly, inclines his ear and then we call on his name.  There is nothing about us that draws or requires God to bend his ear to us.  But there is infinite and eternal reason for us to call upon God.  There is no natural inclination within ourselves that draws us to call upon the LORD, we are dead in sin; but because he is ready, willing and able to be called upon, we do.

Does your heart have a rightful response and disposition, as this psalmist does (v.9-19), in regard to the truths expressed here?  Seek the LORD while he may be found! (Isaiah 55:6)