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Remember these are only notes so don't expect perfect grammar or even UK spelling!
Psalm 107 Summons to give thanks.
Ps 107:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
Why should we give thanks? Ps 107:2 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble The redeemed! Call
We gather here Sunday by Sunday not just because we feel like it, or because it helps us, (I hope that it does), but because God's Word summons us to come and give thanks.
A friend in the ministry told me this true story: Lady in his cong. ¨ Church member but careless about attendance. ¨ Slipped disc. ¨ Lying on a board. ¨ He visited her. ¨ She confessed: `I have been careless about coming to Church. Sat night late. Sunday can't get up'. ¨ But that is wrong.
My friend prayed for her and left her house. (Tuesday).
A week later he heard she was in hospital. ¨ Visited her in hosp. ¨ Why are you know in hosp? ¨ Ans: After you prayed: I was healed! ¨ I knew Sunday Church. But late. ¨ Missed Church. ¨ Monday, my disc slipped again. ¨ Far worse. Hospital. Traction here for many weeks ahead.
My friend prayed again and left. On the Sunday, there - to his amazement - she was in Church with her husband - healed again! (expected to be many weeks in hospital)
Ps 107:1-2 1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble
We all need redemption. All have sinned. Christ is our redemption.
This Psalm gives 4 vivid pictures of our human condition. Each of them ends with the refrain: a) They cried to the Lord in their trouble. b) He delivered them. c) Let them give thanks to the Lord.
In these pictures man is described as: Wanderer, Prisoner, Foolish Sufferer, and Voyager.
1. Wanderer.
4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; 5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. 6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. 8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.
Cain, after killing Abel was banished from spiritual home.
Gen 14 Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
Later (in history of Israel). God's judgement will be expressed to the Jews in terms of being lost from their land and become fugitives and wanderers on earth. Deut 28: 64 “And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known. 65 And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.
Picture of whole of humanity. Aimless. ¨ Flitting from this to that looking for happiness, still hungering and thirsting for what they cannot find. ¨ Pascal’s labourers. The first was unhappy because he used to be a prince. He had lost something. The second was not unhappy. He had never been a prince. He had not lost anything. Humans are like the first. In our collective memory we realise we have lost something. We were children of God. Now we are unhappy.
¨ We don't know where we have come from. ¨ Origin of Life? Still in 2006 not even a theory. Quest for elsewhere. Comets. Astrobiology. Search for life on other planets have so far found nothing. ¨ Ancestry, Roots. ¨ Space program. ¨ Restless quest to find out what we are and what is the universe. ¨ Superstitions and astrology and spiritualists.
¨ Others research world religions - the `Quest.' ¨ All very interesting, but all signs we are lost. Ř But what is the one thing we so easily miss in our quest? ¨ The last thing we want to do is to actually find God. ¨ Call on God and admit we are in trouble. ¨ We need Him personally. ¨ Only way to find ourselves is to find God.
Ps 107:6-7 6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
Simple way to come to find meaning and purpose. 7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.
Psalm 107: 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
Deut 30:3-4 3 then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you.
History of Israel. The whole human condition. Physical or spiritual? Both.
Creation of matter – good. Resurrection of the body - Christ. New Heaven and Earth- trees, rivers and a city.
But all incomplete without the Spirit.
Is this spiritual or physical? Both!
Straight way. ¨ Straight way that leads to life i.e. honest, clear, sincere. ¨ Are you a wanderer? ¨ This Psalm tells you the way home. ================================= Second picture of human condition is: Prisoner because of disobedience.
10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help. 13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. 15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.
Human race are not just wanderers going astray. ¨ We have been rebellious in disobedience. ¨ Broken commandments of God and as a result have dug a pit for ourselves. ¨ Bottomless pit. ¨ Can't escape. Obvious chains of drugs, and alcohol. Others less obvious but nevertheless real.
So what should we do? Ps 107:13-14 13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.
================================= Third picture of human condition: Foolish Sufferer. (Not that all suffering is for the foolish) 17 Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction; 18 they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. 19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. 21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men! 22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!
We humans inflict so much suffering on ourselves.
¨ Foolishness and madness of Bosnia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Middle East ¨ The enormous suffering of children in this country due to the foolish behaviour of the adult world. ¨ So much disease is unnecessary.
May be some of us have been foolish and caused suffering:
`I was really stupid and it has caused me and others real long term problems'
What must we do? 19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
Word became flesh. ¨ Woman caught in adultery: `Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more. ¨ To the paralytic: `Son Thy Sins are forgiven' Entered our suffering and bore it all in His body ======================================= Fourth Picture: Man is a voyager.
Ps 107:23-31 23 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters; 24 they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep. 25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. 26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight; 27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits' end. 28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. 31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men!
¨ At first the journey of life goes well. ¨ Then come the sudden storms. For each of us: Known good and calm times.
These verses emphasise our littleness in the raging ocean.
Again what must we do?
Ps 107:28 28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
So we have a clear picture of our condition.
Wanderer, Imprisoned by our disobedience, suffering because or our foolishness, and Voyager meeting sudden storms.
Next verses speak of God who turns things round.
Ps 107:33 33 He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground, (NIV) (Judgement) Can you think of a miracle of judgement of Jesus? Fig Tree. Jerusalem. (Physical Israel or whole human race? Both!)
Ps 107:35 35 He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. (Mercy).
Vs. 36: hungry to fertile land and a city.
Mary's song: 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.
The whole purpose of Christ is to put into reverse the course of human history. `As in Adam … '
1. Just as wanderer goes into far country, so Jesus came from heaven to earth to seek and save the lost. Foxes have ….
2 Just as rebel went into dungeon of his own sin, so Jesus, carrying our sins, suffered, died and was buried entering into the worst hell of human existence.
3 Just as the foolish brought suffering on themselves, so in the wisdom of God, Jesus `took our infirmities and carried our sorrows.
He reversed death to life to take us to heaven - the New Jerusalem - eternal city of God where we all belong.
He is then
4 the voyager who has gone before us. Author and finisher of faith.
Cry to God in your trouble. (Heb 12) Fix our eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
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