THANKFUL (Psalm107)

This fog sits above the valley where I live, just below hills full of orchards 

(shown in fall). Often in life, we're trying to find our way through the 

fog of trials and disappointments, but God is still above it all--

and still in control.

(A series on the 48 psalms recommended for study during times of depression by pastor- counselor David Seamands, author of Healing of Damaged Emotions)

Studying Psalm 107 is something like working at an archeological site. The deeper you dig, the more treasures you find. In this case, instead of broken relics, you discover timeless truths of how thanksgiving heals broken spirits. It starts out with this unapologetic truth:

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Then, after each of the four pictures of desperation, it repeats a similar phrase of gratitude (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31):

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

Scholars believe this psalm reflects the experiences of the Jews after 70 years of Babylonian captivity ended. Their descendants trudged hundreds of wilderness miles to return to their ancestral homeland. But there was no warm welcome home. Jerusalem was in ruins. Disheartening! Yet this psalm’s repeated message is give thanks!

I’m reminded of a saying from the 1970s, “Praise the Lord, anyhow,” which I suspected was just a disguised way of saying, “I don’t like this but I’ll do a token thank-you to God.” The core message of Psalm 107 is so different. In the worst of times, in the most desperate of situations, they chose better over bitter. The psalm provides five pictures of God’s power and mercy in the worst of times.

*The wandering (vv. 4-9). Imagine being released from a long jail sentence. Exchanging prison garb for "regular" clothes, you walk to freedom, the prison gates clanging shut behind. But nobody’s there to take you home, wherever home is. You trudge down the road, no water or food.That’s a picture of facing discouraging circumstances, such as a major disappointment, divorce, crushing debt, or death of someone we cherished. We become refugees in the land of disillusionment, taking one difficult step at a time in hope of finding wholeness. Yet, God is there (v. 9). 

*The prisoners (vv. 10-16). They’re described as sitting “in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains” (v. 10). These miserable people had rejected God’s commands, and ended up shut away behind bars. Could those bars be bitterness, blaming, anger, prejudice and pettiness--any of which can imprison people for miserable, extended periods of time? Here’s the secret for release: “They cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.  He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains” (v. 14). 

*The sick (vv. 17-22). When we’re well, we should praise and thank God. But here’s the reality: good people get sick and die and bad people get sick and die. If God permits healing for the time being, we need to follow up with Vitamin P—“praise.” Still, sickness reminds us of the brevity of life and that we all someday die to face God for judgment.  

*The storm-tossed (vv. 23-30). The Jews weren’t sea-faring people, so this section’s description of a horrific storm at sea shares their utter fear of being in a primitive vessel at the mercy of mountainous waves. A memorable application of these verses occurred in 1748 with a man known for his mean, blasphemous ways. Facing death on a storm-tossed ship, John Newton remembered his mother’s prayers and Bible lessons when he was a lad. Cold salt water drenching him, he experienced God’s amazing grace for a complete change in his life. He left the sailing world and became a pastor. And yes, he wrote that hymn, “Amazing Grace.” If God can do that for a renegade like Newton, He can do it for anyone who cries “out to the Lord in their trouble” (v. 28).  He can calm the storm and guide them to a desired haven (vv. 29-30).

GOD’S PROVIDENCE

The psalm’s final verses describe the providence of God—that is, His dealings with this world according to His wisdom. Some are lifted up, others brought down. Some blessed, others suffering. But no matter what happens, He is there. If He chooses to let us go through a difficult experience, He’s on the other side of it offering two alternatives. One is to complain and grow bitter.  The other is to trust Him, and grow better.

The Rx for discouragement? The last verse:

Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD. (v. 43)

Sent God-mail lately?

Early in my writing career, before the internet, old-fashioned mail connected me to the publishing industry. Yes, I once put manuscripts to editors in a box like this, flipped up the flag, and waited.  If they returned as “rejected,” I also hoped they wouldn’t have coffee stains, meaning tedious retyping. A common writer’s joke concerned how many cobwebs would adorn a mailbox before an overworked editor responded.  Now, my computer translates keystrokes to words, corrects my spelling, and zips a submission in seconds to a publishing house. What a world!

Recently, picking up the usual bills and flyers, I realized how busy my local spiders had been. A what-if occurred to me. What if, instead of receiving this type of mail, I was charged with sending love notes to God? What would I say? Right away, this phrase came to mind: “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.”  I found it at the beginning of Psalm 107, and behold: it’s a chorus that threads throughout the psalm.

This psalm opens “Book V” of the Psalms, and it’s believed to include those collected after the Jews returned to their land.  Bible scholars say this psalm specifically mentions hurting and at-risk populations: refugees (4-7), prisoners (10-16), the sick (19-22), and victims (seamen, 23-32). These people didn’t have the soft life of a roof over their heads, a grocery store down the road, and decent medical care. Life for them was tough. Yet when they cried out to God, He heard them.

The last image, of seamen in a horrific storm (vv. 23-30) is terrifying, something like a Moby Dick drama or worst. Yet, when life crashes in around us, there couldn’t be a better metaphor.  I have several friends on the wild waves of serious illness.  They’re waiting for that time when they’ll be guided to a haven (v. 30), when they can “give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.”

 The key here is “his unfailing love.” No matter what trial assaults us, God’s unfailing love is there. Who of us hasn’t felt tossed around violently by life’s cruel storms? Yet, through it all is God’s unfailing love.

What does this have to do with a cobwebbed mailbox?  Maybe that there ought to be “thank you” notes to God going out regularly-- a box full of praises for God’s unfailibng love, headed to heaven via journaling, prayer, or public testimony.  I know I could improve on that area of my spiritual life! “Whoever is wise,” ends the psalm (v. 43), “let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.”

Speaking of thanksgivings....

Oh, the awe of holding a newborn!  James, my son’s third son and our fourth grandchild, made his entrance a week ago.  Yes, it’s now “my three sons” at their household—bringing a smile to us “oldies” who remember the popular sit-com (1960-72) by that name featuring a fictional widower (starring Fred MacMurray) and three sons.  I always liked the perky housekeeper hired to keep things going! So, James, welcome as you grow up with brothers just 2 ½ and 4 years older.  I pray that as you grow up, you will embrace your heritage of faith.  “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom” (James 3:13 NIV).

Making 'Psense' of Psalms--Psalm 107: Redeemed

"Redemption" is often described as a bridge over the
gulf separating a sinful man and a holy God. The
"bridge" is Christ's death on the cross for our sins.

Part of a continuing series on selected psalms.

A doctor’s mistake blinded her in infancy, but Fanny Crosby grew up determined to live well in spite of her disability. Besides being a teacher to the blind, she distinguished herself as a poet and lyricist. From her spiritual depth and a phenomenal memory came nearly a thousand hymn lyrics, many still sung today. One was “Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it!” It beings:

Redeemed, how I love to proclaim it! Redeemed by the blood of the Lamb;
Redeemed through his infinite mercy, His child, and forever, I am.
This hymn’s key word, “redeemed,” brings to mind the key verses of Psalm 107:
Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe…. (vv. 1-2a)
Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men. (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31)

Reading Psalm 107 as “Lessons for the Redeemed” helps open up its lessons. It was probably written after a Jewish remnant returned to Jerusalem after 70 years in captivity, about 400 years before the birth of Christ. They were “redeemed” from humiliating exile (“the hand of the foe,” v. 2), with some returning to their homeland. This psalm consists of four pictures of people experiencing loss (home, freedom, health, courage), all followed by a reminder to praise God. A fifth picture exalts God’s power through nature to bless or discipline.

PICTURE #1: WANDERERS (vv. 4-9)

Think of the changes seventy years can bring. For us, that would go back to 1944 and World War 2. Then put yourself in ancient times, well over a thousand miles from your homeland, your feet and maybe a donkey your only transportation through desert wastelands. Would you be able to find your way back? Would you have the strength to make it? This section pictures the refugees on a long, arduous journey from Babylon to their former “Promised Land” near the Mediterranean, seeking to regain their identity as God’s people. The section also portrays people today who’ve turned their backs on God, and suffered the consequences of their decisions. Think of those addicted to alcohol or drugs, success, possessions, entertainment excesses (TV, movies, internet, music, books), illicit sexual pleasure, and anything else that takes first place ahead of God. The psalm’s “refugees” cried out to God (v. 6), and He delivered them. He does the same for us, sometimes allowing us to wander in the deserts until we’re parched for more of Him. The stanza ends: “For he satisfied the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (v. 9). That verse has an echo in the final stanza of the old hymn, “Come, thou fount of every blessing”:
Prone to wander, Lord I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’s my heart; Lord, take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above.

PICTURE #2: PRISONERS (VV. 10-16)
When carted off to Babylon, the Jews lost the freedoms they’d enjoyed in their homeland. The “prison” of exile left them suffering, subjected to bitter labor (v. 12) and helpless. Today, “spiritual prisoners” walk around with feet shackled by poor choices, bitter spirits, fears, and the heaviest chain of all: separation from God. One who keenly felt that imprisoned “spirit” was Charles Wesley. Born into a minister’s home, he still needed to make his own decision to follow Christ. He gave us a memorable picture of salvation in his 1738 hymn, “And Can It Be,” whose third vcrse describes spiritual chains coming off:
Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eyes diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light:
My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee!
Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me!
 

PICTURE #3: THE AFFLICTED (VV. 17-22)

“Rebellious ways” led to serious illness for those mentioned in this stanza. Food had no appeal to them, and they nearly died. In our times, it could match the severely depressed, drug addicts and anorectics, who eat poorly, if at all. It could also embrace the “sin-sickness” (unbelief, hatred, rebellion) that keeps the afflicted from seeking the healing forgiveness of Christ. We need to remember that Christ’s ministry on earth included healing the diseased and the sin-sick souls: “He Himself took on our infirmities and bore our sicknesses” (Matt. 8:17). He still stands ready to heal the spirits of those who turn from their rebellion and seek Him.

PICTURE #4: THE STORM-TOSSED (VV. 23-32)

The Jews were not known as sea-faring people, yet the Bible includes many stories of great sea storms. Jonah (tossed overboard to the throat of a whale) was one. The apostle Paul’s shipwreck in the Mediterranean was another. The Gospels tell of two storms involving Christ in the Sea of Galilee. In one, Jesus was asleep in the disciples’ boat when a squall blew up. Another time, He walked on water to His disciples’ boat as they battled a furious storm. Psalm 107 describes a storm so horrific that even seasoned sailors thought they wouldn’t survive. They cried out to God and “He stilled the storm to a whisper” (Psalm 107:28)—just as Christ did in the Gospels. Then, God “guided them to their desired haven.” This section is for those who have lost their hope—as verse 17 says, “at wit’s end.” It offers hope for those whose circumstances are so disastrous that they see no way through them. But God is still with them, ready to guide them to their “desired haven” (v. 30). Henry Gilmore took that image and turned it into a hymn published in 1890:
My soul in sad exile was out on life’s sea,
So burdened with sin and distressed,
Till I heard a sweet voice, saying, “Make Me your choice”;
And I entered the “Haven of Rest.”

PICTURE #5: GOD’S POWER AND WISDOM

Rather than describing the suffering, the psalm’s fifth picture is of God who is wise and powerful. He can allow sin to have its consequences: rivers turning to deserts, springs to dry ground, fruitful land to salt wastes. He can reverse that, too. Some say this stanza pictures the Millennium, when the wasted, wounded earth will enjoy fruitfulness and vigor under Christ’s perfect rule. It also pictures life now, when good people suffer. Because we live in a fallen world, we cannot expect perfect, carefree lives. But suffering can have a positive consequence by strengthening our spiritual character, if we allow those hard times to press us closer to God’s heart. The opposite is also true: those who turn their suffering into complaints and bitterness will distance themselves from God. Thus the psalm ends:
Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the LORD. (v. 43)
In His great wisdom, God can bring good out of all the calamities sketched with broad strokes in Psalm 107.  If you’ve lost your way, freedom, health, or courage, He waits to help—as your Redeemer.

Next: Psalm 116