Psalm 119:146 | “I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies.”

Here we see what the psalmist prayed for. He cries out to the Lord for salvation. He asks God to save him from real dangers. From enemies who intend to harm him. From temptations meant to pull him down. And ultimately for deliverance from his own sin, which apart from God’s intervention would leave him separated from his Creator eternally. The psalmist understands that if God does not step in, rescue is impossible. Left to ourselves, sin leads only to death. Rescue requires divine action. God alone can save, deliver, and preserve. The psalmist places his hope fully in the Lord, calling out in dependence and faith. Notice the purpose of his prayer. He does not ask to be saved so that life will be easier, but so that he might obey. Salvation and obedience are inseparably linked. Grace does not free the believer from obedience, but frees the believer for obedience. Spurgeon captures this well when he writes, “This was his great object in desiring salvation, that he might be able to continue in a blameless life of obedience to God, that he might be able to believe the witness of God, and also to become himself a witness for God.” The cry for salvation is also a commitment to submission. When God saves, he does more than just  rescue his people from the penalty of sin. He commits himself to continually freeing them from its power and, one day, its presence.