Psalm 116 is a hymn by an individual celebrating God's deliverance from a sickness so severe he thought he was going to die. But more than that, it is a poem about prayer and thanksgiving. It begins by stating the writer's love for God because God heard his cry for mercy. This means that he prayed or "called” on God and God heard him. Because of this, he says, “I will call on him as long as I live” (v. 2). The two statements, “I called” and “I will call," are repeated throughout the psalm, being found in verses 2, 4, 13 and 17. They teach that God cares for those who are helpless, that he hears their prayers and saves them when they cannot save themselves. 

What happens if we do trust the Lord? Will we be disappointed? Those who trust in their idols or false gods will be disappointed, because the idols are nothing and can do nothing. The worshiper will get nothing from them. But those who trust God will never be disappointed, because he is the living, true, kind and compassionate God who delights to do good to those who seek, trust in and obey him. 

The first major section of the psalm, after the thematic statement of verse 1, is the polemic against idols found in verses 3-8. It is the first polemic against idols in the Psalter, though there was one brief reference to idols in Psalm 96:5. This is somewhat surprising when we think about it, but it may indicate that Psalm 115 was written after the Jews' return from the Babylonian Captivity, where they would have been able to witness the idol worship of the Babylonians first-hand. These verses are highly sarcastic and profoundly mocking, much like several well-known passages in Isaiah (see 44:6-20 or 46:5-7; similarly Deuteronomy 4:28; 28:36; Habakkuk 2:18; Isaiah 41:21-24; Jeremiah 2:8 and 16:19). 

In Romans 8:39 Paul wrote that nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What are these forces arrayed against us? In yesterday's study we looked at trouble, hardship and persecution. As we continue with this list, remember that all these forces, though powerful, will bow before the presence of our God. 

What could possibly have caused such disturbances in the natural course of nature—the sea to part, the river to reverse its flow, the majestic peaks of Sinai to tremble? This is what the third stanza of the psalm asks rhetorically: 

Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs?