First: The Background and Spirit of the Two Psalms
The two psalms “I Loved” and “I Believed” are originally one psalm (116), from the psalms of praise and thanksgiving that were said in the Passover feast. The Lord Christ chanted them with His disciples before going out to the Mount of Olives as mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew. Therefore, they have a special depth, as they carry the spirit of thanksgiving for salvation and crossing from bondage to freedom.
Second: Love Built on the Experience of Salvation
The psalm begins with the phrase: “I loved because the Lord heard the voice of my supplication.” Here love is not a blind emotion, but a response to God’s work and experience. The soul loves because it experienced the answer to prayer and saw the Lord’s salvation in its life. Love is the fruit of practical knowledge of God, not merely a theoretical commandment.
Third: God Who Inclines His Ear to the Weak
The saying “Because He inclined His ear to me” expresses God’s compassion and care for the weak human being. The soul confesses its weakness, and God in His fatherhood bends down to hear its whispers. This is a beautiful image of a personal relationship full of mercy, which makes a person cling to prayer all his days.
Fourth: Remembering Goodness Produces Thanksgiving and Steadfastness
The spiritual teaching here points to the importance of remembering God’s previous answers. Many times we forget the prayers that the Lord answered, and our love grows cold. But when we review God’s goodness and salvation in the past, a life of love and thanksgiving is renewed within us, and we grow in confidence in His care.
Fifth: Distress as an Entrance to Salvation
“The pains of death surrounded me, and the sorrows of Hades came upon me.” Whether historically in the crossing from the land of bondage, or spiritually in the bondage of sin, when a person is surrounded by distress from outside and sorrow from inside, he cries to the Lord. The sincere cry leads him to experience salvation and deliverance.
Sixth: From the Bondage of Sin to the Freedom of Love
As the Lord delivered His people from the yoke of bondage, so He delivers the soul from the yoke of sin. Salvation is not merely rescue from an external danger, but resurrection from the death of sin to a new life in love. Therefore, the relationship with God is transformed from a relationship of fear or law into a living relationship of love and continual thanksgiving.
The Spiritual Message of the Psalm
The spiritual essence of the two psalms is that the experience of God’s answer and salvation generates steadfast love and continual thanksgiving in the heart, and makes prayer a way of life. The soul that remembers the Lord’s goodness and realizes its weakness before Him enters into a deep relationship of love with Him and truly repeats: “I loved… and I believed.”
For better translation support, please contact the center.
Meditations on the Last Two Psalms of the Ninth Hour Prayer: I Loved and I Believed – Part 1
First: The Background and Spirit of the Two Psalms
The two psalms “I Loved” and “I Believed” are originally one psalm (116), from the psalms of praise and thanksgiving that were said in the Passover feast. The Lord Christ chanted them with His disciples before going out to the Mount of Olives as mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew. Therefore, they have a special depth, as they carry the spirit of thanksgiving for salvation and crossing from bondage to freedom.
Second: Love Built on the Experience of Salvation
The psalm begins with the phrase: “I loved because the Lord heard the voice of my supplication.” Here love is not a blind emotion, but a response to God’s work and experience. The soul loves because it experienced the answer to prayer and saw the Lord’s salvation in its life. Love is the fruit of practical knowledge of God, not merely a theoretical commandment.
Third: God Who Inclines His Ear to the Weak
The saying “Because He inclined His ear to me” expresses God’s compassion and care for the weak human being. The soul confesses its weakness, and God in His fatherhood bends down to hear its whispers. This is a beautiful image of a personal relationship full of mercy, which makes a person cling to prayer all his days.
Fourth: Remembering Goodness Produces Thanksgiving and Steadfastness
The spiritual teaching here points to the importance of remembering God’s previous answers. Many times we forget the prayers that the Lord answered, and our love grows cold. But when we review God’s goodness and salvation in the past, a life of love and thanksgiving is renewed within us, and we grow in confidence in His care.
Fifth: Distress as an Entrance to Salvation
“The pains of death surrounded me, and the sorrows of Hades came upon me.” Whether historically in the crossing from the land of bondage, or spiritually in the bondage of sin, when a person is surrounded by distress from outside and sorrow from inside, he cries to the Lord. The sincere cry leads him to experience salvation and deliverance.
Sixth: From the Bondage of Sin to the Freedom of Love
As the Lord delivered His people from the yoke of bondage, so He delivers the soul from the yoke of sin. Salvation is not merely rescue from an external danger, but resurrection from the death of sin to a new life in love. Therefore, the relationship with God is transformed from a relationship of fear or law into a living relationship of love and continual thanksgiving.
The Spiritual Message of the Psalm
The spiritual essence of the two psalms is that the experience of God’s answer and salvation generates steadfast love and continual thanksgiving in the heart, and makes prayer a way of life. The soul that remembers the Lord’s goodness and realizes its weakness before Him enters into a deep relationship of love with Him and truly repeats: “I loved… and I believed.”
For better translation support, please contact the center.