Written by Rev. Rebecca D. Reeder, Associate Pastor, Sewickley Presbyterian Church
Daily 414, 2020-9-18
PSALM 107
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.
For he has gathered the exiles from many lands,
from east and west,
from north and south.
Some wandered in the wilderness,
lost and homeless.
Hungry and thirsty,
they nearly died.
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he rescued them from their distress.
He led them straight to safety,
to a city where they could live.
Let them praise the Lord for his great love
and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
For he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.
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.
That is why he broke them with hard labor;
they fell, and no one was there to help them.
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom;
he snapped their chains. Let them praise the Lord for his great love
and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
For he broke down their prison gates of bronze;
he cut apart their bars of iron.
Some were fools;
they rebelled and suffered for their sins.
They couldn’t stand the thought of food,
and they were knocking on death’s door.
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He sent out his word and healed them,
snatching them from the door of death.
Let them praise the Lord for his great love
and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and sing joyfully about his glorious acts.
Some went off to sea in ships,
plying the trade routes of the world.
They, too, observed the Lord’s power in action,
his impressive works on the deepest seas.
He spoke, and the winds rose,
stirring up the waves.
Their ships were tossed to the heavens and plunged again to the depths;
the sailors cringed in terror.
They reeled and staggered like drunkards
and were at their wits’ end.
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he saved them from their distress.
He calmed the storm to a whisper
and stilled the waves.
What a blessing was that stillness
as he brought them safely into harbor!
Let them praise the Lord for his great love
and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
Let them exalt him publicly before the congregation
and before the leaders of the nation.
He changes rivers into deserts,
and springs of water into dry, thirsty land.
He turns the fruitful land into salty wastelands,
because of the wickedness of those who live there.
BUT GOD also turns deserts into pools of water,
the dry land into springs of water.
He brings the hungry to settle there
and to build their cities.
They sow their fields, plant their vineyards,
and harvest their bumper crops.
How he blesses them!
They raise large families there, and their herds of livestock increase.
When they decrease in number and become impoverished
through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,
the Lord pours contempt on their princes,
causing them to wander in trackless wastelands.
BUT GOD rescues the poor from trouble
and increases their families like flocks of sheep.
The godly will see these things and be glad,
while the wicked are struck silent.
Those who are wise will take all this to heart;
they will see in our history the faithful love of the Lord.
At first this looks like a daunting psalm; 43 verses, longer than average, and imagery that doesn’t seem immediately connected with our own experience. But after reading through it a few times, I love how you start to see patterns emerge and hear a cadence in the words. Like a song, there seems to be a clear refrain that the psalmist goes back to:
“Lord, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.
…
Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
These verses are repeated four times in the psalm. With each “verse” as it were, there’s a pattern of:
1. Introducing a problem “some” have had
2. Crying out to the Lord
3. God helps
4. Exhortation to praise the Lord
5. Reiteration of God’s faithfulness (verses 1-2) or the need to praise God (verses 3-4)
Then the pattern shifts, almost like the bridge of a song. There are two of these “bridges”; in each the psalmist remarks on God’s ability to both tear down and build up – God is indeed all-powerful and sovereign. However, what seems most significant to me is the transition between the two themes. After two verses of tearing down, the psalmist says, “BUT GOD…”
It reminds me that some people have remarked that the whole Gospel could be summed up in one word: BUT. God created the world and created us in God’s image, and it was very good, BUT we chose to be our own gods and gained broken relationships with God, one another, our selves, and the Creation. We were stuck and dead in sin, BUT Jesus came to inaugurate his Kingdom and save us from eternal damnation. Jesus was the first fruit of the final resurrection, so that we see glimpses of his Kingdom now, already, in the present – BUT Jesus will come again to finish the work he started and make all things new.
I also love the fact that in both of these “bridge” sections there are more verses about God’s building up, God’s faithfulness, and God’s love for this broken world, than there are verses of judgment. Yes, God is a just judge, and cannot have sin near to the holiness of God. BUT God is loving – more loving that we could ever imagine. Just as Paul says, there is nothing that can ever separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:38).
To frame these verses and bridges, the psalmist starts with a question and concludes with a definitive answer. “Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies…” for “…Those who are wise will take all this to heart; they will see in our history that faithful love of the Lord.”
So, my question to you is the same: how has the Lord redeemed you from your enemies? How has God redeemed you from feeling lost or alone, listless, without direction? Or from the depths of depression, anxiety, or grief? Has God redeemed you from a foolish past – a time of decisions that might have put at the door of death? Or maybe God has redeemed you from the trivial pursuit of worldly fame and success? Maybe God is even now redeeming you from one of these scenarios or something else entirely. Whatever it is, I invite you to take some time to reflect, maybe write your story down, share it with a friend or loved one! Look on your history or present and see the faithful love of the Lord, who draws you in and redeems you from all kinds of enemies. And then, speak up! The world is a rough place, especially now, and we need to be reminded of the faithful love of God that endures forever. May it be so.
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