The part I memorized and most clung to was this (verse 6b-7):
I was brought low, and He saved me.
Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
While I was clinging to this, I was going through the darkest phase of a frightening and very humiliating ordeal. I had no idea how, when, or really even whether He was going to rescue me. I claimed this passage long before He drew me into a much deeper relationship with Himself (He finally did this about two years into the ordeal). I wonder today: did He credit it to me as faith when I proclaimed, "Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you" years before I knew what it was to rest in Him, years before I had begun to see His reply? Did my "terrified assurance" of His goodness toward me call to His heart?
This is what I pledged to Him (the psalmist repeats it, so I'll repeat it [verses 12-14, 17-19]):
What shall I render to the Lord
For all His benefits toward me?
I shall lift up the cup of salvation
And call upon the name of the Lord.
I shall pay my vows to the Lord,
Oh may it be in the presence of all His people.
...
To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And call upon the name of the Lord.
I shall pay my vows to the Lord,
Oh may it be in the presence of all His people,
In the courts of the Lord’s house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
So, once again today, Lord, in the presence of all Your people, I call upon Your glorious name -- lifting up the cup of Your salvation and offering to You a sacrifice of deepest thanksgiving.
Thank You for hearing me even in my confusion and fear. Reach down to others who are in pain and clinging to Your word for sustenance. Let their "terrified assurance" be to You as a sweet balm of faith, calling to Your heart and causing You to race to them to teach them of Your loveliness.
Praise You, Lord!