Redeemer Church of Waterford

From the time he was old enough to speak, David would have begun each morning reciting the Shema from Deuteronomy 6: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” No reason is given – just a command that we love the Lord. Psalm 116 is the Anti-Shema: In the Shema, we are hearing (“Hear, O Israel”); In Psalm 116, God is hearing (“The Lord has heard me”); In the Shema, we are compelled to love God; In Psalm 116, our love for God is not constrained by legalistic duty, but rather is a joyful response to God’s grace and mercy.

In our time, man is the center and the end of all things. He is the “captain of his fate and master of his soul.” In the 90th Psalm, Moses demonstrates the utter folly of assuming we are anything without God. In the transient nature of life, the everlasting God is our dwelling place.