WEBVTT 00:00:01.449 --> 00:00:04.889 This is your daily reminder. God has not run 00:00:04.889 --> 00:00:08.609 out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome 00:00:08.609 --> 00:00:12.119 to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome. Today is 00:00:12.119 --> 00:00:15.539 Saturday, March the 28th, 2026. We're excited 00:00:15.539 --> 00:00:18.899 about what the reading is for today. As always, 00:00:18.980 --> 00:00:20.719 if you're new here, be sure you like and subscribe 00:00:20.719 --> 00:00:23.660 and follow so that you never miss an episode. 00:00:23.699 --> 00:00:25.620 If you want to donate, you can do that in the 00:00:25.620 --> 00:00:28.879 link in the episode description. Today's reading 00:00:28.879 --> 00:00:34.880 is Psalm 116. And I love this psalm mainly for 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:37.939 a few reasons. One, as we are building up to 00:00:37.939 --> 00:00:40.960 what's going to happen tomorrow, Sunday, We are 00:00:40.960 --> 00:00:42.899 talking about, it's Palm Sunday, but we're not 00:00:42.899 --> 00:00:45.939 doing the typical Jesus riding into town with 00:00:45.939 --> 00:00:48.420 the palm branches. We're not doing that in our 00:00:48.420 --> 00:00:50.700 church service. We are going to be looking at 00:00:50.700 --> 00:00:53.859 Luke chapter 23, the last half of the chapter, 00:00:53.939 --> 00:00:55.579 which is the crucifixion of Jesus. We're going 00:00:55.579 --> 00:00:57.909 to talk in depth about the crucifixion. And so 00:00:57.909 --> 00:01:00.630 knowing all of that, we've been building up to 00:01:00.630 --> 00:01:02.609 that this week. In our reading plan this week, 00:01:02.670 --> 00:01:05.189 we've looked at several places in the Old Testament, 00:01:05.269 --> 00:01:07.750 the New Testament, and as we're guiding into 00:01:07.750 --> 00:01:10.849 where we're headed, I'm very excited about what 00:01:10.849 --> 00:01:14.250 today holds because Psalm 116 is sort of a worship 00:01:14.250 --> 00:01:17.750 psalm of where we can be. This psalm has so much 00:01:17.750 --> 00:01:20.769 gratitude in it. The writer refers to himself 00:01:20.769 --> 00:01:24.209 so many times, more than 30 times in these 19 00:01:24.209 --> 00:01:27.140 verses, but it's not a selfish psalm. He refers 00:01:27.140 --> 00:01:30.060 to the Lord 15 times in these verses, specifically 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:33.700 with a very pointed effort. This psalm has a 00:01:33.700 --> 00:01:36.500 lot to it, and I want to be able to share a little 00:01:36.500 --> 00:01:38.599 bit about the psalm before we jump into it, because 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:40.799 one of the things that I've been able to hear 00:01:40.799 --> 00:01:43.519 from our listeners and the people around that 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:45.359 are paying attention to the podcast is they say 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:47.099 whenever I talk about a psalm, they appreciate 00:01:47.099 --> 00:01:50.329 me explaining it a little bit more. Because the 00:01:50.329 --> 00:01:52.290 Psalms can be harder to deal with or harder to 00:01:52.290 --> 00:01:54.290 understand if you're used to reading in the New 00:01:54.290 --> 00:01:56.549 Testament or reading a historical element in 00:01:56.549 --> 00:01:58.590 the Old Testament, or maybe you're used to reading 00:01:58.590 --> 00:02:00.349 some prophecy books, or maybe you're used to 00:02:00.349 --> 00:02:03.209 reading a gospel account, the eyewitness account 00:02:03.209 --> 00:02:06.109 of Jesus, or maybe you're used to reading the 00:02:06.109 --> 00:02:08.610 instructions to the church. And you say, well, 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:10.669 how do I read the Psalm? How do I understand 00:02:10.669 --> 00:02:12.789 this? It doesn't make any sense because it's 00:02:12.789 --> 00:02:15.710 poetry and wisdom. And so we need to kind of 00:02:15.710 --> 00:02:17.590 understand a little bit of a framework. This 00:02:17.590 --> 00:02:20.719 is not where you go to get. specific doctrine 00:02:20.719 --> 00:02:22.639 for the church, right? This is where you go to 00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:25.240 worship. This is where you go to hear the experiences 00:02:25.240 --> 00:02:27.900 of who this God is. And you understand a little 00:02:27.900 --> 00:02:29.719 bit more of the depth of what he does and who 00:02:29.719 --> 00:02:31.740 he is and the way he acts and the way he does 00:02:31.740 --> 00:02:34.639 things. There's some Psalms that have some messianic 00:02:34.639 --> 00:02:37.879 promises and prophecy in it. There's some Psalms 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:40.500 that are just a human interacting with God. There's 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:42.039 some Psalms about a human interacting with others. 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:46.120 And so today's Psalm is very personal. And so 00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:47.520 one of the reasons I put this in our reading 00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:49.629 plan was because it's such a personal psalm. 00:02:49.669 --> 00:02:51.789 This thing Jesus does for us that we're going 00:02:51.789 --> 00:02:53.870 to talk about again on Sunday and we're going 00:02:53.870 --> 00:02:55.509 to talk about again on Monday and we're going 00:02:55.509 --> 00:02:58.289 to talk about again until he returns is how much 00:02:58.289 --> 00:03:02.229 Jesus loves us and how personal this relationship 00:03:02.229 --> 00:03:04.729 he has with us is. So I want to just kind of 00:03:04.729 --> 00:03:06.110 give you a little bit of understanding of this 00:03:06.110 --> 00:03:10.330 psalm. It has no author to it. It has no date 00:03:10.330 --> 00:03:13.009 on it. Kind of hard to figure out who wrote it 00:03:13.009 --> 00:03:15.349 or when it was written. Some people believe that 00:03:15.349 --> 00:03:18.590 it was written by Hezekiah. during Hezekiah's 00:03:18.590 --> 00:03:21.949 reign. Some people believe it was a post -exile 00:03:21.949 --> 00:03:25.349 psalm that was written after the Israelites came 00:03:25.349 --> 00:03:29.229 out of the Babylonian exile. Some people think 00:03:29.229 --> 00:03:31.610 it was written after that. I kind of land in 00:03:31.610 --> 00:03:33.330 a couple of different places, and it doesn't 00:03:33.330 --> 00:03:35.409 matter ultimately when exactly it was written. 00:03:35.449 --> 00:03:37.710 What matters is the words to it and how this 00:03:37.710 --> 00:03:40.629 is what the Hebrews would sing as they were praising 00:03:40.629 --> 00:03:42.990 and worshiping the Lord. This psalm begins with 00:03:42.990 --> 00:03:46.560 the phrase, I love the Lord. It's awesome. If 00:03:46.560 --> 00:03:48.780 we could just start everything we do that way. 00:03:49.060 --> 00:03:52.020 Start your work day, I love the Lord. That's 00:03:52.020 --> 00:03:54.180 how I want to start today. I want to start my 00:03:54.180 --> 00:03:56.620 morning, I love the Lord. That's the first thing 00:03:56.620 --> 00:03:58.620 I'm going to do and say. Maybe the first thing 00:03:58.620 --> 00:04:00.539 you do before you go into a hobby that you love 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:03.340 or some craft that you enjoy, just start it by 00:04:03.340 --> 00:04:05.259 saying, I love the Lord. Maybe we don't tell 00:04:05.259 --> 00:04:07.599 him we love him enough. When was the last time 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:11.240 you just told the Lord, I love you? And mean 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:13.300 it and know that this is where it is all coming. 00:04:13.340 --> 00:04:16.000 It's flowing into gratitude. which is why I want 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.040 to explain the first nine verses of Psalm 116 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:22.279 are verses of gratitude. You can hear it in the 00:04:22.279 --> 00:04:26.019 author's voice, in his tone. He is just giving 00:04:26.019 --> 00:04:29.180 thanks. It's the first section is just gratitude. 00:04:29.319 --> 00:04:31.699 The first nine verses of this chapter are just 00:04:31.699 --> 00:04:34.019 gratitude, gratitude, gratitude, gratitude. I 00:04:34.019 --> 00:04:37.379 love the Lord so much. Then it moves from gratitude. 00:04:37.839 --> 00:04:40.300 One of my favorite commentators has broken this 00:04:40.300 --> 00:04:43.920 text down, so I didn't make this up. I've learned 00:04:43.920 --> 00:04:46.339 this from what he had said. And so I want to 00:04:46.339 --> 00:04:48.959 include that in here. This is not all your pastor 00:04:48.959 --> 00:04:51.759 just making up stuff. I read this from his commentary. 00:04:51.839 --> 00:04:54.019 He says the first section is all about gratitude. 00:04:54.060 --> 00:04:57.100 Then the author goes into this grief. What it 00:04:57.100 --> 00:04:59.120 says in verse number 10 is that he has these 00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:02.060 afflictions. He goes into this personal aching 00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:05.560 that goes on. And so he goes from gratitude to 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:08.319 grief. And then from grief, he goes into what 00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.800 this commentator says are goals. Basically, they're 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.060 directives. He says, I will do this. I will do 00:05:14.060 --> 00:05:16.540 this because the Lord's been good, so I'm going 00:05:16.540 --> 00:05:19.860 to do this. So from verses... verses 10 through 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:22.620 11, he was in this grief mode. Then verses 12 00:05:22.620 --> 00:05:25.399 through 15, he's in this goal mode. I'm going 00:05:25.399 --> 00:05:27.920 to do these things. I will, I will. Verses 13 00:05:27.920 --> 00:05:30.939 and 14 specifically, he says, I will do this. 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:35.259 I will do this. And then the Psalm ends in gladness, 00:05:35.259 --> 00:05:37.620 as the commentator says. I like to think he just 00:05:37.620 --> 00:05:40.660 ends with this thankful, praising heart. He ends 00:05:40.660 --> 00:05:43.379 the Psalm with this praise. He begins it with 00:05:43.379 --> 00:05:45.639 how much he loves the Lord. He ends it with how 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:48.129 much praise there is. I want to read a couple 00:05:48.129 --> 00:05:50.970 of verses. I don't want to just overly explain 00:05:50.970 --> 00:05:55.129 the breadth of the psalm. I want to read just 00:05:55.129 --> 00:05:56.870 a couple of verses. Again, I want to read verse 00:05:56.870 --> 00:05:59.189 number one first because it's a really great, 00:05:59.269 --> 00:06:01.709 great verse. It starts out like this. I love 00:06:01.709 --> 00:06:04.589 the Lord because he has heard my voice and my 00:06:04.589 --> 00:06:07.009 pleas for mercy. I want to stop there and I want 00:06:07.009 --> 00:06:10.000 to give you just a little understanding. The 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:12.300 psalmist says, I love the Lord because he has 00:06:12.300 --> 00:06:15.399 done these things for me. Now, here's the difference 00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:19.259 in our love and God's love. Our love has these 00:06:19.259 --> 00:06:23.259 stipulations or it's a cause, right? We love 00:06:23.259 --> 00:06:28.279 because he did something. He loves us because 00:06:28.279 --> 00:06:31.920 of who he is. There is a deep understanding of 00:06:31.920 --> 00:06:34.220 love. Once you realize that he didn't love you 00:06:34.220 --> 00:06:40.019 so he could get something out of you. give him 00:06:40.019 --> 00:06:42.800 something that he needed. He loves us because 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:46.019 he is love. That's the bottom line, bare truth 00:06:46.019 --> 00:06:48.939 of all of it. He loves us because he's love. 00:06:49.220 --> 00:06:52.439 We should be praising him for that. We should 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:54.779 love him and thank him so much more. Again, the 00:06:54.779 --> 00:06:58.500 gratitude should just come pouring out over and 00:06:58.500 --> 00:07:02.160 over and over again in our praise to him because 00:07:02.160 --> 00:07:05.360 he's good. He's love. That's who he is. We love 00:07:05.360 --> 00:07:08.699 him because he's awesome. That's why we as humans, 00:07:08.759 --> 00:07:11.759 as frail, broken human beings, we have to have 00:07:11.759 --> 00:07:14.620 a reason for some reason. We have to have a cause. 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:17.439 He doesn't need a cause. It's just because it's 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:21.500 who he is. It is just because of who he is. That's 00:07:21.500 --> 00:07:24.839 why he loves us. As I look down, there's a couple 00:07:24.839 --> 00:07:27.939 of verses in 7, 8, and 9 that I want to point 00:07:27.939 --> 00:07:30.379 out. This is in the gratitude section. Again, 00:07:30.439 --> 00:07:32.540 I love the gratitude stuff. I want to read these 00:07:32.540 --> 00:07:34.420 couple of verses to you in 7, 8, and 9. Here 00:07:34.420 --> 00:07:37.389 are the verses. Return, O my soul, to your rest, 00:07:37.569 --> 00:07:40.350 for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 00:07:40.470 --> 00:07:43.930 For you have delivered my soul from death, my 00:07:43.930 --> 00:07:47.290 eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will 00:07:47.290 --> 00:07:50.870 walk before the Lord in the land of the living. 00:07:51.009 --> 00:07:55.670 When I read the text, I see the psalmist writes 00:07:55.670 --> 00:07:59.350 three things in those three verses. In verse 00:07:59.350 --> 00:08:03.649 7, he says, I'm going to rest in the Lord. I 00:08:03.649 --> 00:08:05.290 don't know if you've ever tried to rest and you 00:08:05.290 --> 00:08:08.370 can't find it. I know there's been seasons in 00:08:08.370 --> 00:08:11.269 my life where rest seems to be escaping away 00:08:11.269 --> 00:08:15.209 from me. Rest is just that simple piece. I want 00:08:15.209 --> 00:08:18.029 to rest. I don't know if you maybe have slept. 00:08:18.250 --> 00:08:20.889 I wear my watch to bed and it tells me it gives 00:08:20.889 --> 00:08:22.949 me a sleep score every morning. Some mornings 00:08:22.949 --> 00:08:24.850 I get a really good sleep score. Some mornings 00:08:24.850 --> 00:08:27.829 I get a terrible sleep score. And it's because 00:08:27.829 --> 00:08:31.990 of how good the quality of the rest is. And what 00:08:31.990 --> 00:08:35.179 I realized is, We look for peace and rest in 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:37.740 a lot of areas. I think, did I have enough water 00:08:37.740 --> 00:08:40.320 today? Am I hydrated? Did I have enough nutrients 00:08:40.320 --> 00:08:43.279 today? Did I get enough steps in? Did I get out 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:45.320 my energy the right way? Did I do all this? Did 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:49.080 I sleep in the right way? And all those things. 00:08:49.200 --> 00:08:51.279 And ultimately, there's a lot that goes into 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:55.059 finding my rest physically. But I wonder, where 00:08:55.059 --> 00:08:57.120 do we put our rest spiritually? We're burning 00:08:57.120 --> 00:08:59.759 the candle at both ends. We're running our tank 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:01.840 on empty. We're doing all the things, and our 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:04.059 lives are busy, and our calendar's busy. Where 00:09:04.059 --> 00:09:07.539 is our peace and rest? It should be found in 00:09:07.539 --> 00:09:10.889 the Lord. As I read on verse number eight, he 00:09:10.889 --> 00:09:13.470 talks about first his rest is in the Lord. Then 00:09:13.470 --> 00:09:15.730 he talks about how his rejoicing is in the Lord. 00:09:15.789 --> 00:09:18.789 His praise is in the Lord, right? Listen to verse 00:09:18.789 --> 00:09:21.250 eight again. For you have delivered my soul from 00:09:21.250 --> 00:09:24.210 death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stomach. 00:09:24.250 --> 00:09:27.350 You've taken care of me. I'm going to praise 00:09:27.350 --> 00:09:30.730 you for that. I want to acknowledge it and thank 00:09:30.730 --> 00:09:33.409 you for it. Maybe it's time today to think about 00:09:33.409 --> 00:09:36.580 where he's delivered you from. You are listening 00:09:36.580 --> 00:09:38.779 to this today. You're seeing this today because 00:09:38.779 --> 00:09:40.980 he's given you more breath in your lungs. He's 00:09:40.980 --> 00:09:43.940 given you more life in your journey. He's done 00:09:43.940 --> 00:09:46.240 all this for you. He's kept you from a lot of 00:09:46.240 --> 00:09:48.379 things. No matter what you've been through, today 00:09:48.379 --> 00:09:51.419 is a day you can thank him and rejoice in him. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.320 Then verse number nine, he goes into making a 00:09:54.320 --> 00:09:57.299 resolve for the Lord. He says, I want to commit 00:09:57.299 --> 00:09:59.519 to this. This is something that matters to me. 00:09:59.919 --> 00:10:01.860 He's like, I'm going to walk in the Lord. This 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:04.659 is what I'm going to do. I am going to walk in 00:10:04.659 --> 00:10:07.899 the Lord today. Here's the challenge from Psalm 00:10:07.899 --> 00:10:10.000 116 today. And the rest of the chapter is awesome. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:12.500 Read it all. Read every word. Let it soak into 00:10:12.500 --> 00:10:14.100 your heart and into your life. There's so much 00:10:14.100 --> 00:10:16.519 in the Psalm. This could be a two -hour long 00:10:16.519 --> 00:10:18.980 episode, but I've been trying to kind of condense 00:10:18.980 --> 00:10:20.440 a little bit more because I know I'm going to 00:10:20.440 --> 00:10:23.360 talk a lot on Sunday, so forgive me a little 00:10:23.360 --> 00:10:25.480 bit. But I just want to say the whole chapter 00:10:25.480 --> 00:10:27.639 is awesome. But here's the deal. Today, he says, 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:30.139 I will make a resolve. I will walk in the Lord. 00:10:30.200 --> 00:10:32.940 Today, I'm asking you, what would it look like 00:10:32.940 --> 00:10:35.690 to walk in the Lord? What message? would you 00:10:35.690 --> 00:10:37.830 send if you were walking in the Lord? What places 00:10:37.830 --> 00:10:39.769 would you go if you were walking in the Lord? 00:10:39.850 --> 00:10:42.389 What things would you say? What ways would you 00:10:42.389 --> 00:10:44.789 treat people if you were walking in the Lord? 00:10:44.889 --> 00:10:47.710 Whatever that looks like, do it today so that 00:10:47.710 --> 00:10:49.990 we can make the resolve that we're going to walk 00:10:49.990 --> 00:10:51.509 in the Lord.