Then I called upon the name of the LORD:\n\"O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!\" (v.4)
Psalm 116 is a prophetic hymn of praise about the death and resurrection of the Messiah. This verse, then I called upon the name of the LORD, shows a desperate plea for deliverance from certain doom. It is a personal cry, O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!, capturing the immediate need for salvation. For believers in Christ, these words anticipate Jesus’s own prayerful moments of distress, such as in the Garden of Gethsemane when He asked the Father to remove the cup of suffering if possible (Matthew 26:39). In that scene, Jesus willingly submitted Himself to the Father’s will, much as the psalmist here humbly places his trust in God for help. The Psalm’s theme of divine rescue echoes throughout the New Testament, where calling upon the name of the Lord ensures salvation for those who trust in Him (Romans 10:13).When the psalmist exclaims, save my life!, we also see a connection to the Hebrew word for “salvation,” yesh-oo’-aw (Yeshua), which is the Hebrew name for Jesus (Psalm 116:13). This further reveals a deeper Messianic significance within the psalm. It prophetically foreshadows how Jesus would ultimately defeat death and bring eternal redemption to those who place their faith in Him (1 Corinthians 15:57). The psalm highlights the gravity of mortal peril—“The cords of death encompassed me, and the terrors of Sheol came upon me” (Psalm 116:3)—which underscores the miraculous nature of deliverance from God. God’s gracious response to our pleas underscores His faithfulness.Like the psalmist, who in his alarm cried out, “All men are liars” (Psalm 116:11), Jesus also experienced abandonment from those closest to Him as the Messiah (Matthew 26:56), despite the disciples’ promises otherwise. And in the same way the psalmist is rescued from imminent peril, Christ’s resurrection demonstrates how God answered the Messiah’s call and “rescued [His] soul from death” (Psalm 116:8). This verse (v.4) is a concise, profound appeal to God for salvation—a plea that we too can echo.
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Psalms 116:4 meaning
Then I called upon the name of the LORD:\n\"O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!\" (v.4)
Psalm 116 is a prophetic hymn of praise about the death and resurrection of the Messiah. This verse, then I called upon the name of the LORD, shows a desperate plea for deliverance from certain doom. It is a personal cry, O LORD, I beseech You, save my life!, capturing the immediate need for salvation. For believers in Christ, these words anticipate Jesus’s own prayerful moments of distress, such as in the Garden of Gethsemane when He asked the Father to remove the cup of suffering if possible (Matthew 26:39). In that scene, Jesus willingly submitted Himself to the Father’s will, much as the psalmist here humbly places his trust in God for help. The Psalm’s theme of divine rescue echoes throughout the New Testament, where calling upon the name of the Lord ensures salvation for those who trust in Him (Romans 10:13).When the psalmist exclaims, save my life!, we also see a connection to the Hebrew word for “salvation,” yesh-oo’-aw (Yeshua), which is the Hebrew name for Jesus (Psalm 116:13). This further reveals a deeper Messianic significance within the psalm. It prophetically foreshadows how Jesus would ultimately defeat death and bring eternal redemption to those who place their faith in Him (1 Corinthians 15:57). The psalm highlights the gravity of mortal peril—“The cords of death encompassed me, and the terrors of Sheol came upon me” (Psalm 116:3)—which underscores the miraculous nature of deliverance from God. God’s gracious response to our pleas underscores His faithfulness.Like the psalmist, who in his alarm cried out, “All men are liars” (Psalm 116:11), Jesus also experienced abandonment from those closest to Him as the Messiah (Matthew 26:56), despite the disciples’ promises otherwise. And in the same way the psalmist is rescued from imminent peril, Christ’s resurrection demonstrates how God answered the Messiah’s call and “rescued [His] soul from death” (Psalm 116:8). This verse (v.4) is a concise, profound appeal to God for salvation—a plea that we too can echo.