They Cried to the Lord
"Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord."
So ends the 107th psalm in the Old Testament Bible. Let's be wise and pay attention to and reflect on this wonderful psalm.
Psalm 107 begins with an instruction to "give thanks to the Lord." Why should we give thanks? Because our Lord is "good," and His "love endures forever." According to the psalmist, the goodness of God and the fact that He shows eternal love for His creation are things for which we should be thankful. I absolutely agree!
God is good and His faithfulness is to all generations. When God’s children call out, He hears and He answers.
To make the point more potent, the psalmist uses the rest of Psalm 107 to give an account of our Lord's goodness and love. The examples given in the song are as follows:
Some wandered in a desert wasteland. There was nowhere to settle, nowhere to call home. The wanderers were dying. They cried to the Lord, and He delivered them from their hunger and thirst. He made a "straight way" for them. He gave them a resting place, a city to settle. God gives the wanderer a place to call home.
Some were prisoners held in darkness, bound by iron chains. Their imprisonment was of their own cause. They "rebelled against God's commands" and "despised the plans of the Most High." They were subjected to slavery, and no powers on earth could help them. They cried to the Lord. God brought them out of "utter darkness" and broke the chains that bound them. With unfailing love, Almighty God broke open the door that imprisoned them and broke the iron bars that enslaved them. Even when our own rebellion imprisons us, our God sets the captive free!
Some, in rebellion, became foolish and suffered the results of their sinful behaviors. In illness, they would not even eat to the point of death. They cried to the Lord. He healed them and "rescued them from the grave." Even when our sinful acts cause great personal affliction, our loving Heavenly Father removes our disease. He keeps us in the land of the living.
Some sailed the seas as merchants. These people saw the works of God and the mighty forces at work in the world's oceans. They witnessed the great storms. They rode the peaks of the high waves and descended to the depths in the waves' troughs. The strength of the sea brought them to "their wit's end." They cried to the Lord. The Creator quieted the storm and "hushed" the waves of the sea. He even guided them to a safe haven. Our Lord is worthy of praise and honor for His unfailing love. God stills storms and delivers the troubled to safety.
The psalm also tells us that God "turns rivers into deserts, flowing springs into thirsty ground and fruitful land into salt waste." Why would a loving God do such a thing? How does this show forth His goodness? The Lord even shows forth love in judgment. When the wickedness of people requires discipline, our God will act. He will move mountains so that His most precious creation, we humans, do not wander into destruction. The Almighty will make the "desert into pools of water" and "parched ground into flowing springs" if it will save us, the focus of His love. God will "pour contempt on nobles" and lift the "needy out of their affliction" to redeem His loved ones. There is nothing He will not do to save us. When it comes to our eternal welfare, nothing is too much for our God to do.
Our Lord left His throne in heaven, took on flesh, and lived in the world we humans had corrupted. He fulfilled His mission by showing us the Kingdom of God, submitting Himself to unjust punishment, carrying a criminal's cross, and sacrificing His own sinless blood to secure the salvation of all those who believe. He rose in victory over sin and the grave and ascended into heaven to once again take His throne. There is nothing God will not do for us. His love is truly everlasting.
So, as the psalmist admonishes, "Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story." I am redeemed from the hand of the foe. My Lord Jesus has saved me from my own sin and brought me into the family of God! I praise Him for His goodness and His ever-enduring love!
If you are not among the redeemed and cannot say that Jesus Christ is your savior, there is a way. God still gives the wanderer a home. He continues to free those enslaved in their own sin. The Lord still heals those afflicted by their own iniquity. Today, He quiets storms and gives troubled people a safe place to harbor their wayward souls. The only requirement is to cry out to God. Like all those described in the psalm, call to the Heavenly Father in your trouble; He will hear and deliver.