What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? (Psalm 116:12 ESV)

 What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? (Psalm 116:12 ESV)

Would you agree with me that this is a critical question? If God has indeed blessed our lives, what should be our response to Him? Is it acceptable that we, being enriched by Him in so many ways, just accept it and take it for granted and go on as though God did not exist? “What shall I render?” An important question indeed!

We are not just to make up our own ideas or rules about how we should respond to our gracious God. This psalm gives an answer in the following verses: “Lift up the cup of salvation.” “Call on the name of the Lord.” “Pay your vows to the Lord.”

Let’s take these in order. What does it mean to lift up the cup of salvation? Well, first we realize that unless God had filled our cup, it would be empty. We cannot save ourselves. But also, we are amazed and such grace that has saved us in such a terrible and wonderful way: God sacrificing His Son that through His death we might have life. It is both amazing and humbling, caught in Newton’s words, “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.”

So in the morning we lift up this cup of salvation, and in the evening. We remember and recall that, apart from Him we are lost, now and forever. But with Him and what He has given, we are found, now and forever. We take the time to clear our minds and we give thanks to Him for His indescribable gift.

Secondly, we respond to God as though He exists. We call on the name of the Lord. Let’s be honest: those who do not talk to God treat God as though He does not exist. But He does, because if He did not, neither would you. And we do live, by His goodness and grace. And this grace has brought with it the privilege and responsibility to talk with Him, to call upon Him, including to praise and to pour out our hearts. If we are not doing this, then we have failed to properly consider and answer the critical question, “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me?”

The text says, “pay your vows.” Remember that our relationship with God is covenantal. God graciously enters into covenant with us, but He also places demands upon us. These demands are not the foundation of the relationship. That’s the atonement. No, the demands are that we live as the Father’s children, walking with Jesus, keeping in step with the Spirit. Simply put, we obey. We study to know what to do, and then we do it, with dispatch; with thoroughness; and with thanksgiving.