Now we come to the third part of this Psalm where the psalmist expresses his gratitude to God and his vow to praise God forever. It is so important to remember that in this psalm the psalmist made it very clear that although he had experienced a very severe circumstance his only answer was his God. Then he described how God had delivered him from his severe circumstance and that he would not forget how God had helped him as long as he lived. Verse 12 says: “What shall I render to the Lord, for all his benefits toward me?” While it is true that God does not expect us to ‘Pay Him’ for what He has done in our lives, it is important out of our love and thankfulness we choose to live a life that is pleasing to Him. I am reminded of my 53 years of marriage to Barbara as I reflect on those years I am in awe of the way Barbara went out of her way to do things for our marriage without any thought of being rewarded for what she had done. It just made me love her more and more as the years passed by. Because the Psalmist appreciated what the Lord and Saviour had done for him he wanted to do something from the bottom of his heart which said to the Lord “I am so thankful”. While the Lord knows our thoughts that we have it is important for our sake to do something that reinforces our love for our Lord. It is also important that every day acknowledge that we are being kept by the hand of God whether we are aware of it or not. Verse 13 says: “I will take up the cup of Salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord “. This verse highlights an area of our lives in which we can become complacent. We must never forget what it cost Jesus so that our sins can be forgiven. I will never forget the night that I was born again even though it is almost 70 years ago, that life-changing experience of saying yes to His Salvation has given me a lifetime of living with Jesus. These years have been so good and satisfying and while there have been a few times when I allowed myself to be sidetracked I am thankful that they have been few and only for a short period. This is why I feel so blessed to be able to write these blogs at this stage of my life. The Psalmist said that he would call upon the name of the Lord. Proverbs 18:10 says: “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe “. We must never forget the power of the name of Jesus and live a life where He is foremost in our thinking. It is a good habit to develop remembering the greatness of our Salvation and the power there is in the name of Jesus. Philippians 2: 10&11 says: “That at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, of those in heaven, and those on the earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, tot he glory of God the Father “. The Psalmist knew a secret he would not forget – the greatness of his Saviour and would declare it at every opportunity that he had to do so. May we join with the Psalmist and continually declare the greatness of our Saviour.