Psalms 107
I was drawn this week to Psalm 107. Great psalm. We don’t know when it was written or why, but it speaks to the heart of those of us who need God to come to their rescue. It starts with this beautiful exhortation.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever. Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others He has redeemed you from your enemies.”
In the context of the psalm, the “enemies” would be those who are constantly attacking Israel, but for us, Jesus is good and faithful to rescue us from our enemies as well, make no mistake about that. This psalm divides into four scenarios where we witness God overcoming our hardships for no reason other than His love for us.
Scenario 1, verse 4. “Some wandered in the wilderness, lost and homeless. Hungry and thirsty they nearly died.” Ever been there? Sin will put us smack dab in the middle of a wilderness. When we fall out of fellowship, stop praying, stop reading our Bibles everyday this is the reality we face…a wilderness imposed on us by us! What to do? The psalmist tells us that in our trouble we are to cry out, “LORD, help!”
That cry is the solution put forward in each of the four scenarios the psalmist will share. What’s the result of that cry for help? He rescues those lost from their distress…leads them straight to safety…to a place where they can live. And then we’re told to give praise to God for His rescue. Another point that’s repeated in all four scenarios.
Let’s look at this for just a sec. We cry out for help from God and things fall into place but not magically and certainly not always instantaneously. Although grace washes the stain of sin away, there may still be earthly consequences that need to be faced. Jesus helps us to endure those consequences. In the wilderness, we are blessed with a wonderful opportunity to come to know Jesus better and trust Him more.
Scenario two. “Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom, imprisoned in iron chains of misery. They rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the most high.” I find myself almost daily sitting across from brothers and sisters who are rooted in deep gloom and misery and refuse the counsel Jesus offers them.
This happens for a variety of reasons but here’s something to know about what happens when we reject God’s counsel. He will humble us. We’ll start to feel every ounce of the burden that is our sin. You think you know gloom? Wait until you come to a place where God gets your attention His way. It can be uncomfortable to say the least. But the only reason for that is so that we will at last cry, “LORD help!”.
Do that and the psalmist tells us that God will break the chains of misery and set us free from that prison. We’ll gain some clarity and see the many ways He blesses us. We’ll see that just waking up is a precious gift and again we may find ourselves moved to trust in Jesus just a little bit more.
Scenario three. I come to see that I am a fool, I’ve lived in ongoing rebellion to God and am now suffering for my sins. Sounds a little like rock bottom for those of us who have ever found ourselves there. But again, cry out for His help. When we do, He saves us from our distress. This is big because distress is the thing that can easily push us over the edge from temptation to sin. But our cry for help makes a way for God to bless us through His Word. He heals the foolish – that would be you and me – and “snatches them from the door of death.” That’s a premise that the One Step Ministry is built on.
Scenario four speaks to a problem we don’t deal with much. What happens when we become indifferent or complacent towards God? Here we have the captain of a ship at sea. When you’re the one steering the boat metaphorically it’s hard to imagine anyone outranking you, right? You are large and in charge. Then suddenly the seas rise against you, and you come to see just how outmatched you are by the power of God’s creation and His control, His sovereignty. So, when that storm rises and once again, we cry out for His help, “He calms the storm to a whisper and stills the waves. He blesses us with stillness and takes us safely into harbor.” And again, the trip to that harbor may be long and choppy at times, but the promise is that you will be delivered there safely.
And as always, these storms are meant to do one thing. Draw us deeper into faith so that rather than being crushed by the darkness of the world around us, we’re instead in the eternal embrace of Jesus’ righteous light.