Verse 3 describes a crisis in the psalmists' life:
The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
But in verse 4, he does the only thing he can do:
Then I called on the name of the LORD; "O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!"
The rest of the psalm...17 verses... is praise for that deliverance.
I dug out the lexicons and found that 'deliver my soul' is the primary translation, although 'save my life' (which is how the NASB translates it) is also valid, based on other shades of meanings.
'Deliver my soul' just seems so...deep.
Because what threatens a soul is so much more elusive and destructive. Life can be, to all appearances, just the bee's knees, going well, and then...boom, Something in the individual breaks in spite of all the success and comfort, leaving folks wondering what happened.
O, LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!
Mental, spiritual, emotional anguish that doesn't show...or that is tamped down and hidden until it can't be any more.
People look to lots of solutions for that kind of torment. Few truly trust it to God.
The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you. (vs 6-7)
Look at what God did: delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living. (vs 8 - 9)
I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people. (v. 14 and v. 18).
And the summation is in the first two verses, before he even begins:
I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call upon him as long as I live.
I think I am going to be pondering one line, though, from this psalm... 'Return, o my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.'
That is a good thing to ponder in the evening.
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