Today's Psalm is Psalm 116.
This Psalm is a thanksgiving Psalm, giving thanks to God for deliverance from death. The Psalmist opens with a statement of love for the Lord for hearing him. The Psalmist recalls a life-threatening time and his fear, and how he called upon the Lord to save his life.
He reflects on his deliverance, recounting the graciousness and compassion of God, and how God preserves the simple. He acknowledges God's hand in his rescue.
The Psalmist wonders what he can offer to God for all His benefits:
What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people.
Precious in the sight of the LORD
Is the death of His saints.
O LORD, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;
You have loosed my bonds.
I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the LORD.
I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the LORD's house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
What can we give God for His benefits? The commitment to take His salvation and call on His name, and to offer ourselves to Him as His servant, and to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. How hard is all this to do? His salvation is a gift to us, completely paid for by Jesus' atoning work. Calling on His name is a similar act of grace, done by our spirit in response to His call. Offering ourselves to His service is a life of discipleship, as Paul commends us to do in Romans 12:1. The sacrifice of thanksgiving is a life of continuous prayer, acknowledging God's goodness in all our circumstances, again as Paul commends us to do in Philippians 4:6.