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We trace this religious gratitude —

I. In a PROFOUND IMPRESSION of God's relative kindness. His relative kindness is shown in two ways.

1. In delivering from distress. The distress seemed to have consisted(1) In bodily suffering.

(2) In mental sorrow.

2. In delivering from great distress in answer to prayer.

II. In an EARNEST CONFESSION of God's relative kindness.

1. His general kindness (ver. 5).

2. His personal kindness (ver. 6).

III. In a DETERMINATION TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE IN CONSEQUENCE of God's relative kindness. Here is a determination —

1. To rest in God (ver. 7).

(1) The soul wants rest. Like Noah's dove it has forsaken its home, and is fluttering in the storms of external circumstances.

(2) Its only rest is God. It is so constituted that it can only rest where it can find unbounded faith for its intellect, and supreme love for its heart. And who but God, the supremely good and supremely true, can supply these conditions?

(3) To this rest it must return by its own effort. "Return unto thy rest, O my soul." The soul cannot be carried to this rest. As you steer the sea-tossed bark into harbour, so it must go itself into the spheres of serenity and peace.

(4) A sense of God's relative kindness tends to stimulate this effort. "The Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." "The goodness of God shall lead to repentance."

2. To walk before God. "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." "I will set the Lord always before me." Whoever else I may lose sight of, ignore, or forget, His presence shall always be before my eye.

IV. In a PUBLIC ACKNOWLEDGMENT of God's relative kindness.

(Homilist.)

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KJV: I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

WEB: I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy.