URC Daily Devotion 18 January 2026

Psalm 116 
 
Alleluia
 
I love the Lord for he has heard
the cry of my appeal;
for he turned his ear to me
in the day when I called him.
 
They surrounded me, the snares of death,
with the anguish of the tomb;
they caught me, sorrow and distress.
I called on the Lord’s name.
 
O Lord, my God, deliver me!
 
How gracious is the Lord, and just;
our God has compassion.
The Lord protects the simple hearts;
I was helpless so he saved me.
 
Turn back, my soul, to your rest
for the Lord has been good;
he has kept my soul from death,
(my eyes from tears)
and my feet from stumbling.
 
I will walk in the presence of the Lord
in the land of the living.
 
I trusted, even when I said:
“I am sorely afflicted,”
and when I said in my alarm:
“There is no one I can trust.”
 
How can I repay the Lord
for his goodness to me?
The cup of salvation I will raise;
I will call on the Lord’s name.
 
My vows to the Lord I will fulfil
before all his people.
O precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death of his faithful.
 
Your servant, Lord, your servant am I;
you have loosened my bonds.
A thanksgiving sacrifice I make;
I will call on the Lord’s name.
 
My vows to the Lord I will fulfil
before all his people,
in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
 
Reflection
 
The Psalm begins with a declaration of love for the Lord. The poet is giving thanks to God, for responding to prayer. These opening lines give the Psalm its classification as an ‘Individual Thanksgiving’.
 
The Psalm moves from thanksgiving into lament and deliverance. The poet shares their troubles, they suffer anguish, sorrow and distress. The poet is at death’s door. The poet calls upon God and is delivered. The poet speaks of a gracious, just, compassionate protecting God, and at the heart of the Psalm we read: ‘I was helpless so he saved me’.
 
The Psalm reiterates how God has protected the poet from death, and now in the Lord’s presence they walk in the land of the living.
 
The poet may have gone through a time of anguish, there may be no one that they can trust, but they can see things in the new light, and they can raise the cup of salvation to the Lord’s name. The cup of salvation is a metaphor for thanksgiving and seems to refer to a drink offering of wine in worship.
 
The vows of thanksgiving will be fulfilled in presence of the Temple worshippers.
 
The psalm is a thanksgiving of an individual for God’s deliverance from a time of anguish and it invites the community of worshippers to enter into this experience.
 
Psalm 116 is one of a group of psalms (Psalms 113-118) known as the ‘Egyptian Hallel’ related to the term Hallelujah. The Hallel psalms are used at the Passover, linked with deliverance from slavery in Egypt.
 
In Christian Worship, Psalm 116 is perhaps best known for its use on Maundy Thursday where it draws upon the idea of the ‘cup of salvation’.
 
Psalm 116 is readily used in communal worship, but it also provides a prayer for someone who seeks to thank God, for the way God has helped through deeply troubled times. We love God, and God loves us, supporting us through troubled times.
 
 Prayer
 
Gracious God,
we thank you for the Psalmists,
who provide words,
to draw us in,
and inspire our worship.
 
Who provide words,
that we can use in our own prayers.
 
We thank you,
that like the Psalmist,
we may call upon your name,
and in times of helplessness,
find rescue.
Amen