Psalm 107

Psalm 107

Read Psalm 107 and meditate on it's meaning for you.

This comes at a great time, after a recent blog about God’s judgment and our responsibility. Two points are filled in well with this psalm. First, four times in the psalm we have this refrain, “Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.” (Verses 6, 13,19, 28) There are stories of four groups of people in distress. Sometimes they are in rebellion, sometimes not. But when they cry to God, whatever their situation God hears their cry and delivers them. And no mention is made of their being Israelites or not. One story is about being saved at sea. Israelites were almost never seamen. In our distress as a country let us cry out to the LORD right now.

Then soon after this refrain there is a second repeated verse: “Let them give thanks to the LORD for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men.” (verses 8, 15, 21, 31) After our deliverance it is wise to give God thanks. It is appropriate and necessary, for our own sakes to love and extol our God and remember his loving faithfulness when we ask. We need to look back and remember when he has done good things for us.

Secondly this psalm ends with a parable like admonition. Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things. And consider God’s lovingkindness (hesed). The commentator asks the question “In what practical ways are you gladly dependent on the Lord?” This is such a timely personal question for me. I know my dependence on God. But I am not glad about it. Yet I know God wants me to be glad. To put it in these stark words is helpful for me. I can see the problem more clearly. If I cannot gladly be dependent on God then I have not really understood his lovingkindness and faithfulness. And I have not understood in my heart his power and his presence to me. His nature is such that I can gladly be dependent and find that a good thing.

So where are you gladly dependent on God? Yes God wants us to be responsible. Responsibility is a good thing. But none of us is an island unto himself. We can fantasize that it is possible but in our heart of hearts we know it is not true. (I can see with a horror that my children have taken on my fantasy.) We need others and we need God. Do we chafe about it?

The thing is the only one who is entirely faithful is God. God is only one able to be entirely faithful. People cannot be even if they always wanted to be. They have other issues that do not include you. They cannot be always present as God can.

Without using those words I was asking God to help me with a situation last night. Will I trust God in a situation that I have no control over? I asked God to help me in a place of unbelief. This psalm helps me to see the nature of the problem. It boils down to will I trust God gladly. We all have places where we are not in control. Looking for a job after being laid off is like that. Lots of people are afraid they will soon lose their job and they sense a lack of control. Can we take it to God in our distress and gladly depend on God?

I think we should. Perhaps that has been a question for you. Psalm 107 gives four examples. In them we see God saying we should depend on him in all situations, no matter how bad they look. Call on God and give him the sacrifice of praise gladly when he delivers. So: I will cry out to God in my distress.