Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Ps 107:1-2 and following. Indeed, the 5th book of Psalms prophetically considers the redeemed of Israel (Judah and the ten tribes) gathered in their millennial “dawn of the day” land (Ps 108:1-6). They remind Ps 107 of the distresses encountered on the way home, their cries of anguish to the Lord, His deliverances, and finally the praise that now belongs to Him. Generally speaking, these four tables: verses 4 to 9; 10-16; 17-22; 107:23-32 illustrate different ways of God’s action for the salvation of a soul. She may have long wandered aimlessly and restlessly in the arid wilderness of this world (Gen 21:9-14). Under the feeling of her destitution, she cried out to God who then satiated her, satisfied her and led her to divine rest. For the soul may have groaned under the slavery of Satan the oppressor, in the darkness and shackles of sin… But God heard his cries for help. He took her out and broke her ties. She was able to experience despair, touched by illness or accident at the gates of death, the culmination of man’s ways. Until God sends His word and heals it. Can each of us say where and how the Lord found and saved His soul?
Many people think of God only at the time of trials. Should they be surprised if He sends them some? Like these sailors caught in the storm, men are sometimes placed in desperate situations (Luke 8:22-25). God wants them to realize their total helplessness and the nothingness of all their wisdom (Ps 108:13-14). What for? To get them to cry out to Him. He is just waiting for that to intervene. In his voice, the waves calm down. And at the same time the mind of man calms down when he consents to entrust the rudder to the Lord to let himself be led to the desired port! These ways of God for the salvation of a soul have their equivalent in the life of the believer. The earthly springs he drank from can dry up (1 Kings 17:1-7). But at the same time, the Lord will make him find living water where He was not looking for it (Exodus 15:22-27). What seemed arid and bitter will become precisely for the soul a source of joy and strength. “Whoever is wise will take care of these things and understand the goodness of the Lord” Yes, let’s be certain, all our circumstances, those that are painful as well as those that are pleasant, are dispensed by “His goodness which is forever.”
Psalms 103 to 107 form a small whole: They beautifully celebrate the power of God in resurrection, the grace that forgives and restores. Psalm 103 celebrates this grace and power in the very person of the psalmist. He reminds us that all his sins have been forgiven, and that he is led into the kingdom by the sure and tender hand of his heavenly Father. Psalm 104 considers Creation in the same light. God’s providence is above all else, already now. But in the end, creation will experience the effect of His power in resurrection, and thus will again, as before, be the object of divine delights. And if now she sighs and is in labor, then she will be freed. Psalms 105, 106 and 107 celebrate the same thing with regard to Israel. Psalm 105 considers Israel, the object of God’s blessing, until it is brought to Canaan, and then placed under the law; Psalm 106 notes the bankruptcy of all this, Israel bringing ruin and death upon itself; and then Psalm 107 presents the grace and power of God in resurrection, bringing Israel out of its state of death to show it its mercy and make this people, dead but returned to life, lost but regained, a monument of its goodness.
Psalm 106 ends with a reminder of the cry so often uttered by the people of Israel in the days of their distress, throughout the book of Judges. It’s the same cry that the psalmist then raises because of Israel’s current distress. Then, anticipating divine clemency and deliverance, he blessed the God of Israel. Psalm 107 is God’s response, fulfilling these expectations of faith. This short collection of psalms thus constitutes a harmonious continuation of Psalm 102, where the cry of the One who, begging to be saved from death, was answered, sounded, he whose deliverance, that is to say his resurrection, is the glorious pledge of the resurrection for all those of whom he is the Head. For “in Christ all shall be made alive.” The members of his mystical body –the Church – will be transformed into the conformity of the body of his glory, Israel and the nations will live again on earth, and Creation itself will be freed from the bondage of corruption.
The Resurrection – or redemption – (for, in principle, they are one) is God’s great purpose from the beginning. Without faith in the resurrection, the “power of God” is not known (Matt. 22:29), and God Himself remains ignored (1 Cor 15:34). Creation only leads to the knowledge of God, it is only the antechamber. It took place with a view to redemption; and redemption is not a thought after creation. For according to God’s counsel before the foundation of the world, everything was to be on the ground of redemption. This is shown to us by the ordinance of the Jubilee (Lev. 25). And this is what the man of God, the forgiven and approved sinner, celebrates in this magnificent series of psalms; as we have said, he rejoices in the deployment towards him, towards creation and towards Israel, of this power in redemption or resurrection – admiring him everywhere in the glorious scene that his soul contemplates.
Having thus considered these psalms as a whole, we leave them to the study of the saints; we believe, however, that a careful examination of everyone would confirm this general impression. It is a precious subject of meditation that they offer to the renewed understanding. For in Psalm 103, a poor sinner stands in spirit before the golden altar (that is, in the full assurance of salvation), presenting the incense of praise; and from this blessed place, he passes again and anticipates in turn the past and future acts of the same Lord who, in all His works and ways, has thus blessed him, either in creation itself or in the midst of His people. And in fact, what alone can give us the ability to enter into the intelligence of the divine ways is to know their power in our soul, as is the case here. For the believer is a “kind of firstfruit” (Jac 1). He is already reconciled, as all things will soon be (Col 1). God acts in grace, or resurrection, and the sinner who enjoys forgiveness is therefore the only one who is fully God’s prophet -the only one who can fully enjoy Him or proclaim who He is. “Know God, if you want to taste His works.”
It is worth repeating that part of Psalms 105 and 106 was sung when the ark was brought to Zion, in 1 Ch 16: this beautiful hymn borrows its words from several psalms including Psalm 96; for this occasion represented in type the time of Israel’s future joy; and these psalms are songs of praise well suited to this time. The resurrection -the glorious light that illuminates God’s ways and counsel, and eternal witness to His love and power -thus being the theme of this collection, we can say, “Whoever is wise will take heal of these things and understand the goodness of Jehovah.”
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Celebrate the Liberating Lord:
· Thanksgiving, orderly
1 Ch 16:8 Praise the Lord, call upon His name! Make known among the people his great deeds! Eph 5:20 continually give thanks for all things to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Col 3:17 And whatever you do, in word or in work, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanksgiving to God the Father. 1 Tim 4:4 So they find it strange that you do not rush with them into the same overflow of debauchery, and they slander you.
· Return from captivity
Isa 11:11 At the same time, the Lord will extend His hand a second time, To redeem the rest of His people, Scattered in Assyria and Egypt, in Pathros and Ethiopia, in Elam, in Schinar and Hamath, and in the islands of the sea. Jer 16:15 But it will be said: The Lord is alive, He who brought the children of Israel up from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had cast them out! I will bring them back to their country, which I had given to their fathers. Zep 3:20 At that time, I will bring you back; At that time, I will gather you; For I will make you a subject of glory and praise Among all the peoples of the earth, When I bring your captives before your eyes, says the Lord. Zec 10:10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt, and I will gather them from Assyria; I will bring them to the land of Galaad and Lebanon, and space will not be enough for them.
· Wind subject to
Ps 148:8 Fire and hail, snow and fog, Impetuous winds, who carry out his orders, Pr 30:4 Who ascended to heaven, and who came down from them? Who collected the wind in his hands? Who squeezed the waters in his garment? Who made the ends of the earth appear? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Do you know? Mk 4:39 Having woken up, he threatened the wind, and said to the sea: Silence! shut up! And the wind stopped, and there was a great calm.
· Promised posterity
Gen 15:5 And after leading him outside, he said, Look to the sky, and count the stars, if you can count them. And he said to her: Such will be your posterity. Gen 26:24 Jehovah appeared to him in the night, and said, I am the God of Abraham, your father; fear not, for I am with you; I will bless you, and I will multiply your seed, because of Abraham, my servant. Dt 7:13 He will love you, bless you and multiply you; He will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your soil, your wheat, your must and your oil, the litters of your fat and small cattle, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you. Rom 4:18 Hoping against all hope, he believed, so that he would become the father of many nations, according to what he had been told: Such will be your posterity.
From all of the above, we note that Ps. 107 is a kind of introduction to all of the following: It celebrates the goodness of God “who dwells forever,” the blessed formula of faith in jehovah’s unchanging mercy in all ages, from the manifestation of grace to the time of David. It is especially up to restored Israel to sing this mercy. The Psalm celebrates the two parts of deliverance in which God’s goodness has been manifested to those who have been the object of it: They are redeemed from the hand of the oppressor; they are gathered from the lands of the Levant and the sunset, the north and the sea. This is the dual character of Israel’s restoration: its deliverance in the country and its coming together among nations on all sides. But the proper subject of the Psalm is the goodness of the Lord. He contemplates the deliverances granted, in the most unfortunate circumstances in which man’s folly has placed him, in response to his cry of distress, with the desire that those who have made such experiences celebrate Jehovah for his goodness and wonders towards the sons of men. In Israel is the complete manifestation of this. The Psalm then passes to the punishment that afflicts the Jews in the land, after their return, but it follows it with the complete ruin of the pride of men as the last result. The Lord pours contempt on the nobles and lifts the poor from affliction, giving families as if in flocks. The great result of God’s government is then signaled: upright men rejoice, all iniquity has their mouths closed. Then quiconque is wise and takes care of these ways of God, will understand the goodness of Jehovah. It is worth noting how God’s goodness, recalled here, is manifested exclusively in temporal things; it is nevertheless his goodness, which is of great gentleness, but this fact shows us very clearly what is the ground on which these teachings place us. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” the faithful praise the Lord who delivered him from death.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.