Psalms 116:10 - Meaning and Application

The Septuagint and some other old Bible versions treat these verses as a separate psalm from the one before it. Some have called it the Martyr’s Psalm, likely because of verse 15. Here David makes three confessions: his faith, his fear, and his gratitude.

First, he confesses his faith: “I believed, therefore I spoke” (Psalm 116:10). The apostle quotes this and applies it to himself and his fellow ministers, who were not ashamed to own Christ even while suffering for him (2 Corinthians 4:13). David believed in God’s existence, God’s care over him, and God’s promise, especially the promise given through Samuel that he would one day exchange a shepherd’s staff for a king’s scepter. He went through much hardship while trusting this, and because he believed, he spoke. He spoke to God in prayer (Psalm 116:4) and in praise (Psalm 116:12). Those who truly believe in God will turn to him in speech.

He also spoke to himself. Because he believed, he told his own soul to return to its rest. And he spoke to others, telling his friends what he hoped for and why he hoped for it, even though this stirred Saul’s anger and brought him much suffering. Those who believe in their hearts must confess with their mouths, for God’s glory, for the good of others, and to show their own sincerity (Romans 10:10; Acts 9:19, 20). Those who live in hope of glory should not be afraid or ashamed to admit their duty to the one who bought that glory for them (Matthew 10:22).

Second, he confesses his fear: “I was greatly afflicted, and I said in my haste, All men are liars” (Psalm 116:11). Some read this as a rash word, spoken in shock, fear, or flight, when Saul was chasing him. He felt let down by people around him, including Saul’s court and even his friends, who deserted him when he fell out of favor. Some think this may also include a complaint about Samuel, who had promised him the kingdom, though others understand it differently, as in 1 Samuel 27:1.

This shows that the faith of the best saints is not perfect, and it is not always equally strong. David believed and spoke well in verse 10, but now, under pressure, he spoke wrongly through unbelief. When affliction is heavy and long, people are tempted to grow tired, lose heart, and nearly despair of help. We should therefore be slow to judge others and careful to watch our own hearts in trouble (Psalm 39:1-3). If godly people speak wrongly, it is often in a moment of surprise or temptation, not by planned evil like the wicked, who sit down and speak against others (Psalm 1:1; Psalm 50:19, 20).

What we speak wrongly in haste, we must take back through repentance, as David did (Psalm 31:22). Then it will not be held against us. Some, however, think David was not speaking rashly at all. Since he was forced to flee and was deeply afflicted, he did not trust in man or make human help his strength. In that sense, “All men are liars” means that every human helper is unreliable when compared with God. People are changeable and unstable, so we should stop leaning on man and hold fast to God. The apostle seems to use the words in this way, “Let God be true, and every man a liar” compared with God (Romans 3:4).

Third, David confesses his gratitude in verse 12 and beyond. God had been kinder than his fears and had delivered him from his troubles. In light of that, he asks what he can give back: “What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me?” He speaks as one who feels the weight of many mercies, not just one. This psalm may have been written after one special rescue (Psalm 116:6, 7), but that one mercy brought many others to mind. When we speak of God’s mercies, we should speak of them as great and rich.

He also speaks as one eager to show gratitude. He knows he cannot repay God in any fair or equal way. No one can make God an equal return, and no one can earn his favor. But David wants to offer something pleasing, something that shows a thankful heart. He asks, “What shall I render?” as someone thinking seriously about how to honor God. When we receive many gifts from God, we too should ask what we can return.

He decides that he will answer God with worship and thanks. “I will take the cup of salvation” (Psalm 116:13). This likely refers to the drink offering required by the law, offered in thanksgiving to God, and to joy shared with friends because of God’s goodness. It may also mean the cup God places in his hand. If so, David says he will gladly take either the cup of trouble or the cup of comfort from God’s hand. Many faithful teachers understand the cup of salvation as the bitter cup of suffering, which God makes useful to his people so that it becomes a means of spiritual good. David’s sufferings pointed ahead to Christ’s sufferings, and in our own suffering we share in Christ’s. In that sense, Christ’s cup truly became a cup of salvation. David’s words also match the spirit of Jesus, who said, “The cup my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:11).

David also says, “I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Psalm 116:17). These were the thank-offerings God required (Leviticus 7:11, 12, and following). Those with truly thankful hearts will show it with thank-offerings. First, we must give ourselves to God as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1; 2 Corinthians 8:5), and then use what we have for his honor in acts of worship and mercy. Doing good and sharing with others are sacrifices that please God (Hebrews 13:15, 16). If God has been generous to us, the least we can do is be generous to the poor (Psalm 16:2, 3). Why should we give God something that costs us nothing?

He adds, “I will call on the name of the Lord.”

This was what he had promised earlier, in Psalm 116:2, and he repeats it again in Psalm 116:13 and Psalm 116:17. If we receive a kindness from another person, we may tell them we hope never to trouble them again. But God counts the prayers of his people as an honor and a delight, never as a burden. So, in thankfulness for past mercies, we should keep coming to him for more and continue to call on him.

He will also keep speaking well of God, because God is so tender toward the lives and comforts of his people. “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints” (Psalm 116:15). Their death is so important to him that he will not hand David over to Saul or Absalom, David’s rebellious son, or to any of David’s enemies, no matter how badly they want it. David had taken comfort in this truth when he was in deep distress and danger. Now that the outcome had proved it true, he uses it to comfort others who may face the same kind of trouble.

God has a people in this world, his saints, his merciful ones, people who have received mercy from him and show mercy for his sake. The saints of God are mortal and will die. Some people even want them dead and work hard to bring that about, and sometimes they succeed. Yet their death is precious in the sight of the Lord. Their life is precious too (2 Kings 1:13), and so is their blood (Psalm 72:14). God often wonderfully keeps his saints from death when they are only one step away from it. He also takes special care over their death, ordering it for their good in every detail.

Even if people who kill them think little of it, they will pay dearly when God calls them to account for the blood of the saints (Matthew 23:35). Though no one else may care when the righteous die, God will show that he cares deeply. This should make us willing to die, even to die for Christ if we are called to it, because our death will be recorded in heaven. Let what is precious to God also be precious to us.

He will also bind himself to be God’s servant all his days. After asking, “What shall I render?”, he now offers himself, which is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices (Psalm 116:16). “O Lord, truly I am your servant.” Here he states the relationship in which he stands to God. “I am your servant. I choose to be so. I resolve to be so. I will live and die in your service.”

He had called God’s people, whom God loves, his saints. But when he speaks of himself, he does not say, “Truly I am your saint,” which would sound too high for him. He says, “I am your servant.” David was a king, yet he takes glory in being God’s servant. It is no shame, but a great honor, for the greatest kings on earth to serve the God of heaven. He is not merely speaking politely, as people often say, “I am your servant, sir.” No, he means, “Lord, I truly am your servant. You know all things, and you know that I am.” He repeats it because he takes pleasure in that thought and is resolved to keep it: “I am your servant, I am your servant. Let others serve whichever master they choose, truly I am your servant.”

He also gives the ground for that relationship. People can become servants in two ways. First, by birth: “Lord, I was born in your house. I am the son of your maidservant, and therefore I belong to you.” It is a great mercy to be born to godly parents, because that places a duty on us and gives us a reason to ask God for mercy. Second, by redemption: the one who paid to free a captive took that person as his servant. “Lord, you have loosed my bonds. Those sorrows of death that surrounded me, you have freed me from them. So I am your servant, and I have a claim on your protection as well as an obligation to do your work.” The very bonds you have broken will bind me more tightly to you.

He will also be careful to pay his vows and to do all he promised God, not only the sacrifices of praise he had vowed to bring, but every other promise he made to God in his time of affliction (Psalm 116:14). “I will pay my vows,” and again in Psalm 116:18, “now in the presence of all his people.” Vows are debts that must be paid, because it is better not to vow at all than to vow and not pay. He will pay his vows at once. He will not, like a bad debtor, put them off or ask for more time. “I will pay them now” (Ecclesiastes 5:4).

He will pay them openly. He will not hide his praise in a corner. Whatever service he owes God, he will do it in the presence of all his people, not to draw attention to himself, but to show that he is not ashamed to serve God and to encourage others to join him. He will pay his vows in the courts of the tabernacle, where many Israelites were gathered, in the middle of Jerusalem, so that devotion might be held in higher honor.