107
Our culture today values self-sufficiency and dependency. As a result, we often think that we can solve any problem and accomplish any task through our wisdom, strength, and power. Life, however, has a way of proving such notions wrong as we face issues that we cannot solve on our own. As a result, our intense need can either drive us to despair or force us to focus back on the Lord. However, when we voice our needs and come to the Lord desperately seeking His grace, we will find Him ready to help us every time.
On Sunday, our focus will be on Psalm 107 as we continue to celebrate Thanksgiving during tough times. Psalm 107 focuses on the Lord's redemption of the nation from captivity in Babylon (vs. 2–3). While almost anyone could experience the circumstances described in the Psalm, they primarily apply to what the nation of Israel had to endure while in captivity. Often in the book of Isaiah, the word "redeemed" is used to represent this great deliverance. As you read through Psalm 107, please take note of the words describing their situation: adversity (v. 2), trouble and distress (vs. 6, 13, 19, 28), misery (vs. 10, 26, 39), labor (v. 12), affliction (vs. 17, 41), destruction (v. 20), oppression (v. 39), and sorrow (v. 39). The psalmist begins by urging the nation to thank the Lord for His goodness and mercy (lovingkindness), and he closes by urging Israel to be wise and learn from other people's mistakes.
The individuals in this Psalm needed God's help, either because of their own choices or circumstances beyond their control. Four different times they called upon the Lord. Each time the psalmist says that the people "cried out to the Lord," and the Lord "rescued them" (vs. 6-7,13-14,19-20,28-30). Each time the result was the same; they cried. He delivered. As a result, the Deliverer should receive praise for such displays of his "faithful love" (vs. 8,15,21,31).
So what is the connection point? How does this Psalm relate to our culture today? Friends, when you are wandering around in your day-to-day schedule, do you call upon the Lord? When your actions and circumstances trap you, do you call upon the Lord? As you are snuggling amid a storm, do you stop and provide a word of Thanksgiving to the Lord? Verse 22 reminds the nation and ourselves today that we are called not merely to voice Thanksgiving but to demonstrate it with "thanksgiving sacrifices," a communal offering involving great "songs of joy." We are to sing! We are to be Thankful! This historical Psalm provides a framework that we can read, learn and apply today.
As part of your routine for Worship on Sunday, take time to pray a prayer of Thanksgiving. Thank God for displaying His steadfast love for us through the cross of Christ. Pray that we would be mindful of our desperate sinful condition before Him and that we would cry out to Him for mercy as we become more aware of the sin in our lives. Finally, pray that God would help us repent from the pride that is keeping us from a deeper relationship with Him and cultivate, in our hearts, more humble and dependent faith in Him.