Respond with Thanks and Praise

I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. (Psalm 116:13)

How can we repay God for the grace given to us in salvation? How can we repay God for sacrificing His Son Jesus for us? How can we repay Jesus for laying down His body to take our sins, our diseases, our infirmities? How can we repay Jesus for shedding His blood for the forgiveness of our sins?

Of course we cannot. We cannot begin to repay any of the grace given us. We cannot in any way begin to repay the salvation freely offered and given us in the name of Jesus.

So what is our response to be?

The Holy Word of God says in Psalm 116:13 (NIV),

I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

After accepting God’s fantastic cup of salvation, our response is to call upon the name of the Lord.

How do we call upon His name?

Other translations interpret these words as:
pray in His name
thank Him
pray to the Lord
invoke the name of the Lord
proclaim the name
praise the name
thank Him and worship Him
praise him extravagantly
call out the name of the Eternal

So what are we to do after receiving salvation? We are to pray thanks and praise to our Lord for this cup of salvation.

How are we to lift the cup of salvation?

Other translations interpret these words as:
lift up the cup
pour out an offering
take the cup
raise the cup
celebrate
bring an offering of wine
give Him a drink offering

The Message translation says it this way, perhaps the best of all:

What can I give back to God for the blessings he’s poured out on me? I’ll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God! I’ll pray in the name of God; (Psalm 116:13)

The image of lifting the cup and pouring out an offering was first done by Jacob after God had spoken to him at Bethel (“house of God”), reaffirmed His promise to make Abraham a great nation, and given Jacob the new name of Israel (Genesis 35:14). The drink offering later became part of the Law of Moses, with a Temple priest raising a cup with an offering of thanks.

And of course we can connect lifting our cup of salvation with our remembrance of Jesus through communion. Although Psalm 116 was written long before Jesus asked us to remember him through bread and wine, lifting the cup of salvation and giving thanks and praise to our Lord is indeed the very Spirit of communion. Here’s what Jesus did and said:

Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you. (Luke 22:17-20)

Thank you, Lord Jesus, for offering this cup of salvation to us.

Amen.