Catechesis Notes for the Week — Psalm 116 —The Lord Loves Me and Hears My Prayers — “I love the Lord, because He has heard My voice and my supplications…Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.” Psalm 116 begins with the confident and comforting assertion that the Lord hears our prayers. When we are troubled by our sins, He hears. When we are surrounded by trouble and adversity, He hears. When the pains of death threaten us, He hears. This psalm echoes the words of the Apostle John, “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), and His ears are open to every cry, complaint, and need of the Christian. This is why we love Him. Our Lord has died for us, shed His blood for us, forgives us, protects us, upholds us, defends us, and never fails us. So, the psalmist confesses, “Gracious is the Lord…I was brought low, and He saved me…You have delivered my soul from death…I will call upon the name of the Lord.” The faithfulness of the Lord is what draws us to the Divine Service to receive the blessing of His Word and Supper. “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.” Psalm 116 also speaks of the inevitable death of the Christian but does so in the confidence that when the Christian leaves this world he is with the Lord and will forever praise Him for His love and faithfulness. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.” Confirmation vows of lifelong faithfulness to the Lord rest upon His eternal faithfulness to us.

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