“But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus…” 2 Cor 7:6
Notice with me first that God’s people can and do become downcast. The Apostle Paul is the author of this verse, and here we find him speaking of being in need of comfort. Paul was a Spirit-filled man who was being mightily used of God, yet he knew what it was to be downcast and discouraged. The Psalmist also knew this discouragement of soul, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” (Ps. 42:5) Believers great and small know this downcastness of the soul. Secondly, notice the great compassion and condescension of God in the words,“God, who comforts the downcast.” Kings, people in power, and individuals of influence don’t ordinarily like to be bothered and disturbed by those who are downcast. They don’t want the negativity or unhappiness to upset their “happy” world. But this is not true of our glorious God! “He is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” (Ps 34:18) He comforts the downcast. Lastly, we notice that often times God comforts his downcast people through the presence and encouragement of our fellow brothers and sisters. “But God…comforted us by the coming of Titus.” Titus was God’s instrument of comfort to the Apostle. We are reminded once again that we need one another, and that God uses us as answers to prayer in the care and comfort of those in need. If you are cast down today, hope in God. He sees and hears and knows and“comforts the downcast.” Notice the blessing of God to you through others. And, let us be ready, by our presence and encouragement, to be God’s instrument of comfort to brothers and sisters in need. Sunday we began a brief study in the book of Psalms. So, this morning in view of preparing, I read a sermon by Pastor Mark Dever entitled, “The Message of Psalms: Wisdom For Spiritual People.” I enjoyed it so much that I wanted to pass a little of it on to you.
In the sermon Dever seeks to show that the Psalms give us a full-orbed picture of what true, biblical spirituality is. In doing so, he presents 7 characteristics from the Psalms of biblical spirituality. I will simply present those characteristics along with a Psalm reference and a quote for each one: #1: Praise-Giving–(Ps 145)–“Fundamental to any biblical spirituality is a real joy in God and in who he has revealed himself to be. Biblical spirituality is never centered on people… Rather, biblical spirituality is always focused on God… It’s enraptured with God… and rejoices in him.” #2: Honesty–(Ps 10)–“Sometimes we think it is more spiritual not to feel pain, and if we do, not to acknowledge it…But according to the Psalms, the truly spiritual person knows suffering, difficulties, distress,… A truly spiritual person… knows the real anguish of crying out to [God].” #3: Remembering–(Ps 136)–“If we want to follow the model of spirituality given to us in the Psalms, we… need to be a people of memory. God’s promises will bring us hope of future goodness, especially when watered by the memories of past goodnesses.” #4: Morality–(Ps 1)–“Right belief or words without right behavior has a simple name in the Bible: hypocrisy. Anyone who presents himself as a spiritual or good person and yet lives contrary to God’s revealed Word is deluded and deluding… Christian lives are different.” #5: Changing–(Ps 32)–“Wrongdoing alienates us from God and from others. When we become aware of our wrong, we need to observe the psalmist’s practice of changing…we need to repent…A Christian faith that does not bring change is a false faith, even if it is surrounded by much emotion.” #6: Trusting–(Ps 62)–“The psalmist calls us to release everything else in which we might place our trust and to trust in God alone. Nothing else will hold us!…At the end of the day, living the Christian life requires us to deeply and profoundly give up on ourselves and trust God and his Word. We cannot do it any other way. The truly spiritual life is marked by relying on one greater than ourselves.” #7: Thanksgiving–(Ps 100)–“When we read these Psalms, we should be challenged by how quickly God hears us, and by how quickly we forget.” “Let’s agree that we cannot out-give God! Let’s even agree that we are not able to thank him for every individual gift that he gives us. But can we a least thank him more than we do, both as individuals and as a church?” So, are we spiritual people? Do our lives reflect these characteristics? Let us fix our eyes on Jesus in whose light and from whose life we see the perfect portrait of a truly spiritual person. May God grant us grace to experience and live out true spirituality. (Quotes came from “The Message Of The Old Testament” by Mark Dever and published by Crossway, 2006) If I were a betting man (which I’m not), I would bet not too many of us would list Ezekiel in the top 5 of our favorite Bible books. Its length and strangeness may even have kept many of us from reading it all the way through. But, as it is the Word of God, there is wealth to be mined from it. Especially, when we recall Luke 24:27, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Ezekiel, then, is a book about the Lord Jesus.
As I read the first six chapters, what stood out to me was that through Ezekiel himself, we can see glimpses of Jesus. In chapter 3, Ezekiel is told to take the scroll (God’s Word) and to eat it. He was to “feed [his] belly with the scroll…and fill [his] stomach with it.” The strength of his prophetic mission would come from the ingestion of the very words of God. Jesus overcame the devil’s temptation because He knew that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt 4:4). Jesus, the Prophet of God, lived and ministered in the power of the Word of God. We can say more: Jesus actually was the very Word of God! That is His identity not merely His calling. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:1, 14). Jesus was the Word of God enfleshed; the living, breathing, speaking, touching, walking, loving Word! In the Biblical narrative, Ezekiel points us forward to the Word Prophet. Ezekiel was not only called to proclaim the Word of God, but he also was called to dramatize and symbolize it. Through these divinely inspired (and sometimes odd) dramas, the prophet, to some degree, identified with and experienced the sorry state of the rebellious people. As one commentator put it, “he suffered in his body the consequences of representing God before the nation and of representing the nation under God’s judgement.” Ezekiel’s identification with the people was only partial, and it wasn’t salvific. But it did serve to prepare for the Prophet whose identification with His people would be total and saving. At birth, through life, and in death, Jesus fully identified with and represented His people in order to redeem them. The Scriptures say, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us…” (Gal 3:13); “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21); “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree….by his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Pet 2:24); and, “When Christ came into the world, he said….’Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'” (Heb 10:5,7). Breathtakingly, the incarnate Word willingly submitted himself to the inscripturated Word and thereby achieved salvation for all and any who repent of their sins and trust wholly in Him. May God give us eyes to see the beauties of Jesus in all the Scriptures. God’s Word to our church on Sunday was about the benefit of community life taught in Galatians 6:1-10. To help us to continue to think about the privilege of Christian community, I have recorded five quotes from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together for our reflection.
1. “God has put this Word [of Jesus Christ] into the mouth of men in order that it may be communicated to other men. When one person is struck by the Word, he speaks it to others. God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged… He needs his brother…as a… proclaimer of the divine word of salvation… his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure.” (pp. 22-23) 2. “… a Christian comes to others only through Jesus Christ. Among men there is strife. ‘He is our peace,’ says Paul of Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:14)… Without Christ we should not know God… .But without Christ we also would not know our brother, nor could we come to him. The way is blocked by our own ego. Christ opened up the way to God and to our brother.” (p. 23) 3. “Not what a man is in himself as a Christian, his spirituality and piety, constitutes the basis of our community. What determines our brotherhood is what that man is by reason of Christ. Our community with one another consists solely in what Christ has done to both of us.” (p. 25) 4. “Christian brotherhood is not an ideal, but a divine reality.” (p. 26) 5. “Innumerable times a whole Christian community has broken down because it had sprung from a wish dream… By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world… Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community and must be banished if genuine community is to survive. He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” (pp. 26-27) Bonhoeffer reminds us of the basis, benefits, and even dangerous blindness of community life. The basis of our fellowship is the work and Word of Jesus Christ applied by the Spirit of God. The benefits of this Christ-bought, Spirit-wrought fellowship are the edification and encouragement that come from the shared Word of Christ. And the blindness to be avoided comes from the glare of our shimmering ideals of what church life should be over and against a love for the church itself. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7 (Quotations taken from Life Together, written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and published by Harper & Row, 1954) Recently, with my youngest daughter, I read Mark’s account of the feeding of the 4000 recorded in chapter 8. It has stayed with me. I am reminded that Jesus cared about feeding the gathered multitude. They were far from home, hungry, and going to “faint on the way” unless they were fed and nourished. So, Jesus took a whopping seven loaves of bread and a few small fish and sufficiently fed the whole crowd! There were even left-overs! Presumably in the strength of the supplied meal, they made it safely to their homes.
And think about the diverse make-up of the crowd that day. Men and women, married and single, employed and unemployed, smart and… not so smart, the elderly and the young; “And they ate and were satisfied.” (Mk 8:8) All of them. Even the children were included in the Master’s meal plan. This encourages my heart, for each week we who are far from home and hungry gather together. We must be fed or we will faint on the way. But the Good Shepherd is there and He wants to, even will, feed us. He will take the seemingly paltry loaves and fishes of a pastor’s sermon to sufficiently nourish His own sheep. All of them; even the children! Jesus loves to feed His own. So let us come hungry so that we may leave full. “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.” Psalm 23:1-3a. In Jeremiah 32 the prophet finds himself in undesirable, even discouraging circumstances. Jerusalem is under siege by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, and Jeremiah is being held captive in the palace by his own king Zedekiah. And the king is not happy with him. Jeremiah had faithfully delivered the hard word of the Lord that Judah was going into exile and that Zedekiah would not succeed in battle against Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah was imprisoned for his faithfulness to the word of God.
Not only was the Lord’s word hard for Jeremiah to deliver and the result discouraging, but then the Lord commanded Jeremiah to do something odd, almost contradictory to the message he had proclaimed. God told Jeremiah to buy a field in the land of Benjamin. “What! You want me to buy a field in a land that You are sending us out of? I’m telling people to get ready to leave and to settle down in Babylon (Jer 29:1-9), but you want me to invest my money in a land we won’t be in? Doesn’t that seem a little foolish? What will the king think now?” Even though Jeremiah readily obeyed the Lord’s word (he bought the field; Jer 32:6-15), he still struggled with the Lord’s way (Jer 32:24-25). He didn’t understand what the Lord was up to. God’s way just wasn’t making sense to him. So, he turns to God in prayer (Jer 32:16-25). And the prayer is good. He adores God for who He is and what He has done. He praises God for the gospel of redemption experienced in Egypt. He confesses God’s faithfulness to His word and the sins of the people. He even declares, “Nothing is too hard for you.” (v. 17) But, he still doesn’t understand why God has commanded him to buy the forsaken field. In a display of condescending kindness, God replies to Jeremiah. And notice what God asks him: “Is anything too hard for me?” (v. 27) Now, why did God pose that question to Jeremiah? Jeremiah had just said, “Nothing is too hard for you.” So why did God turn around and ask him, “Is anything too hard for me?” Well, I think it was because Jeremiah was a lot like us. It is so easy to pray the right words. It’s easy to confess the right truths. Words, even words that we mean, can roll off of our lips so easy. But, if we are honest, sometimes it’s hard to believe and cherish those words we confess. Jeremiah had it in his head, but he also needed it in his heart. And the only One who could get it into his heart was the Almighty God. That’s why God responded to his discouraged and confused prophet. Aren’t you joyfully thankful that God understands us. He hears our words, sees our hearts, and responds in just the way we need to strengthen our faith. To get us to not just say but to see and savor that “nothing is to hard for the Lord.” The Lord who delivered Israel out of Egypt, could certainly deliver Judah out of exile. The land investment wasn’t a waste of purchase but a word of promise. God would bring them back (Jer 32:36-44). We need to hear this message and trust the word and way of the Lord. Nothing is to hard for the God of our redemption. Nothing. Not a prodigal child. Not a difficult marriage. Not a challenging vocation. Not a seemingly impossible situation. Not even our own sanctification and perseverance in the faith. Nothing! “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Rom 8:32 It is so easy to be distracted from a regular diet of the Word of God. Like Martha in Luke chapter 10, we can become preoccupied with all manner of things and fail to sit at the feet of Jesus like Mary. Today, I simply want to share with you two sources that have encouraged and reminded me to look to the Book.
The first comes from the 19th century Church of England pastor Charles Bridges. In his book “The Christian Ministry,” (published by Banner of Truth) Bridges writes (and I quote at length): “The book of God is indeed the living voice of the Spirit….The attentive study of the Scriptures has a sort of constraining power. It fills the mind with the most splendid form of heavenly truth, which it teaches with purity, solidity, certainty, and without the least mixture of error. It soothes the mind with an inexpressible sweetness; it satisfies the sacred hunger and thirst for knowledge with flowing rivers of honey and butter; it penetrates into the innermost heart with irresistible influence; it imprints its own testimony so firmly upon the mind, that the believing soul rests upon it with the same security, as if it had been carried up into the third heaven, and heard it from God’s own mouth; it touches all the affections, and breathes the sweetest fragrance of holiness upon the pious [worshipful] reader, even though he may not perhaps comprehend the full extent of his reading.” (pp 58, 59) We may not “comprehend the full extent of [our] reading,” but we can know that we are sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing the “living voice of the Spirit,” and feasting on the bread of God. The Word will do its work! The second source of encouragement to look to the Book comes from Psalm 119. I agree with pastor and author Kevin DeYoung that Psalm 119 is the psalmist’s “love poem” for the Word of God. When we feel our hearts cooling down or drifting from the Bible, we would be helped by plunging into the fiery passions and joyful delights of Psalm 119. Let me share just 8 verses to wet your appetite: “Deal bountifully with your servant, that I may live and keep your word. Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. I am a sojourner on the earth; hide not your comandments from me! My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times. You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones who wander from your commandments. Take away from me scorn and contempt, for I have kept your testimonies. Even though princes sit plotting against me, your servant will meditate on your statutes. Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors.” Psalm 119:17-24 I hope you are encouraged and stirred again and again to look to the Book! I have been reading a tremendous book by Joe Rigney entitled, “The Things of Earth: Treasuring God by Enjoying His Gifts.” As the title suggests, Rigney is concerned with helping us to glorify and delight in God by enjoying the gifts He gives because He is the Creator of the good gifts and because something of God is reflected in and can be experienced by those very gifts.
Let me give you just a little flavor of the book: “What, then, can we say about creation? Creation is a communication from the triune God. God loved his Trinitarian fullness so much that he created a world to communicate that fullness ad extra, outside himself. And not just any world–a world full of fish tacos, tickle fights, afternoon naps, Cajun seafood, back rubs, wool house shoes, and church softball. “The infinite and eternal God created something that is not God but nevertheless really and truly reflects and reveals God…. “As a result, creation is glorious, created shafts of divine glory. As the light of the sun is refracted by water droplets into a rainbow, so creation refracts the glory of God, allowing the full spectrum of his beauty to be displayed for the knowledge and enjoyment of his people. Created glory mediates diving glory so that when we chase the pleasures up the beam to the source, we arrive at the joy of joys, the river of delights, the person of persons, the living God and Father of Jesus Christ.” (p. 74) As we go about our days seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, moving, and relating let us not only give thanks, but observe and truly enjoy the gifts so that we may enjoy, experience, and know the Giver all the more! “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good!” Ps. 34:8 (italics mine) Grace! What a wonderful word. God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. We never deserve it but ever need it. We never outgrow the need for grace.
Some days our sins and weaknesses feel like that snowball tumbling down the hill gaining size and speed. With regret, we look back over words spoken, emotions felt, attitudes displayed, and actions performed that remind us we are woefully fallen. We are not yet fully perfected. What do we need on days like this? A scolding?: “You know better!” A moralistic pep talk?: “Come on. You can do better than that!” Sympathy?: “It’s OK. You are just human.” No. These are not the answers to our sins and guilt. What we need is grace! God’s redeeming, forgiving grace. We need another drink from the river of life. We need to wash afresh at the fountain of cleansing. We need to keep believing the gospel of our Lord Jesus. What we need, God freely and liberally gives to those who humble themselves. He is no miser with the riches of His grace and forgiveness. The psalmist revealed in this truth, “Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!…If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O LORD, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared…with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.” (Ps. 130:1, 3-4, 7) If the weight of your sin, guilt, and regret is burdening you today, then God’s grace is still for you! Let us daily confess our sin; He will forgive. Let us humbly acknowledge our guilt; He will abundantly pardon. Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision, our God ever yearns His resources to share; Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing; The Father both thee and thy load will upbear. His love has no limits, his grace has no measure, His power no boundary known unto men; For out of His infinite riches in Jesus He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again. — Annie J. Flint In coming to our last look at Psalm 107 I would like us to consider 2 truths found in verses 33-42 which nicely summarize the Psalmist’s teaching on the steadfast love of the Lord.
The first truth (v 33-38) is that the Sovereign Lord of steadfast love can and will do whatever it takes to save and sanctify His people. Current conditions are no problem to Almighty God. If His people are in sin and need awakening and repentance then He will “turn rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground…” If His people are in great need and cry out to Him then He will turn a “desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.” Whatever the wisdom of God deems necessary for the progress and preservation of His people, He will do. God will have a holy, humble, and happy people for Himself. The second truth (v 39-42) is that the Sovereign Lord of steadfast love opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. “He pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes; but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks” (v 40-41). “All wickedness shuts it mouth” as it rejects and resents the steadfast love of the Lord; while all the upright receive it and rejoice in it (v 42). Therefore, let us “humble [ourselves] under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:6-7) As we reflect on these two truths in Psalm 107, we see the glory of the gospel. For, in and through Jesus we see that the Lord went to the furthest extent to save and sanctify a people for Himself. “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Rom 8:32) And, in the light of such incomparable glory and unimaginable grace there is no room for pride. We will either bow in faith and humility and be saved, or we will resist in pride and be eternally banished from the loving presence of God. “Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.” (Ps 107:43) “The LORD will fulfil his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.” (Ps 138:8) Today brings us to our penultimate reflection of Psalm 107 found in verses 23-31. Here we read of the fourth and final group of people who experience the Lord’s steadfast love in a time of great crises.
Though no sinful actions are specifically referred to (where ESV uses “their evil plight” in v 26, NASB uses “their misery”; NKJV uses “trouble”), we might be safe in thinking that this group was guilty of pride and presumption; two sins we are all too familiar with. It seems that they were making their trip on the sea without any deliberate regard to God. “No need to seek His help or guidance. We’ve got this!” Maybe they had some of that presumptuous pride which James warns about, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’ — yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life?… Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” (James 4:13-16) We’ve all been there; going on with our lives as if we are in control. Making our trips and plans as though we determine our destiny. What we need in those times is to be humbled. That’s what this fourth group needed, and that’s exactly what they got. “They saw the deeds of the LORD, his wondrous works in the deep” (v 24). The Lord sent a powerful storm, a shaking of the waters, to remind them of how small and impotent they actually were. “Their courage melted…they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end” (v 26-27). God put them in a situation where they did not know what to do. They had come to the end of themselves. That’s when they looked up and away from themselves and unto God. “They cried to the LORD… and he delivered them….” (v 28). Once they humbled themselves before God, He responded in great power and mercy. He stilled the storm, hushed the sea, and brought them safely to harbor. Even though we often forget it, this whole dramatic scene reminds us of how small, feeble, and not in control we really are. And, thankfully, it reminds us of how in control Almighty God is. He, by power and prerogative, can stir up or calm down the seas. He rules and overrules according to His own will. What overwhelms us is subject to the commanding word of the Lord. Therefore, we ought always to humbly acknowledge Him in all our ways. The disciples learned this when they too were suddenly caught up on a raging sea. Jesus was asleep and they were afraid. In a panic, they cried out to Him. The Lord awoke and commanded, “Peace! Be still!” “And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm” (Mark 4:39). Small wonder then that they were “filled with great fear and said….,’Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?'” (Mark 4:40) I have a sneaking suspicion that Psalm 107:29 was coming into view, and they were realizing that Jesus was not merely a man but the God-Man. They were in the presence of the Sovereign Lord! Like the fourth group of Psalm 107 or the disciples in Mark 4, when we are at our wit’s end let us cry out to the Lord. In His steadfast love, He will command, “Peace! Be still.” Well, I don’t know if you are still hanging in there with Psalm 107 or not, but I would like to continue considering it. So far, we have considered two of the four groups of people that experienced the disciplining steadfast love of the Lord to humble them and bring them to Himself.
The first group are those whose lives were marked by aimless wandering and insatiable hungering. But in their desperation, they cried to the Lord, and He satisfied their need. God alone is the soul’s satisfaction. The second group are those who were helplessly imprisoned because of their rebellion against God. But in their just incarceration, they cried to the Lord, and He delivered them from their bondage. God alone is the captive’s Liberator. The third group for us to consider is found in verses 17-22. The psalmist calls them “fools through their sinful ways.” They were foolish sinners, and because of their foolishness they “suffered affliction.” The affliction that the psalmist seems to allude to is physical infirmity. They had no appetite and were staring at death (v 18). In other words, they were deathly sick. Because of their personal iniquities, God gave them over to physical infirmity. Now, we have to be careful here, lest we think that every sickness is a result of personal sin. It certainly is not. But, to be faithful to the Word and helpful to each other, we must say that sometimes physical infirmity is caused by personal iniquity. James seems to make this connection in the 5th chapter of his letter: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed” (v 14-16). Clearly, both the psalmist and James understood that sometimes God uses sickness to get our attention. He may afflict us in order to heal us. That’s exactly what He did for the group in Psalm 107. Out of their affliction they cried to the Lord, and “he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them…” (v 19-20). And, the healing they received was both physical and spiritual. Their health was restored unto life. Their hearts were restored unto God. In times of physical affliction, it would seem wise to search our hearts, for it is possible that our foolish sins are the source. If so, let us humbly confess our sins as the Bible directs and receive the healing power of the Lord’s steadfast love, remembering that the Lord Jesus “took our illnesses and bore our diseases” (Matt 8:17) all the way to the cross. In Psalm 107, the second group of people in need of the steadfast love of the Lord is found in vv 10-16. With dramatic depiction the psalmist describes their deplorable condition. They are sitting in “darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons…” (v 10). Their experience is one of darkness, danger, and bondage from which they have no hope for escape.
Also, they are physically worn down from “hard labor” (v 12). They are being used for someone else’s benefit, rather than enjoying the fruit of their own labors. They toil and struggle only to reap shame instead of satisfaction. They are basically imprisoned slaves. And they know it. So, their hearts are “bowed down,” and they see no one there to help. What’s more, is that they are in this condition not merely because of ruthless, violent, and greedy men but because of their own actions. “For they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High” (v 11). They are imprisoned slaves because of their rebellion and disobedience. Sin always enslaves. Sin is always a shameful and cruel taskmaster. And, sadly, there are times that we find ourselves bound to its unbreakable irons and bowed down by its unrelenting demands. We know it’s our fault. We know it’s due to our spurning of the Word of God, but we can’t get out. Yet, it is exactly at this point that we are now in a position for a mighty deliverance. “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” Oh, the glory of God’s steadfast love; the power of His delivering grace! We lack the ability to be free. We don’t possess the power to get out. We don’t have the authority to demand release. But God does! Listen with fresh wonder to the dramatic language of the psalmist, “He… burst their bonds apart…. he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron” (v 14b, 16). The guilt is ours; the grace is His. We deserve the bondage, but He delights to set the captive free. As our Substitute, the Lord Jesus was delivered over to shameful bondage because of our rebellion and contempt of God. He was scourged and condemned to be crucified. And as He carried the cross, He fell, bowed beneath the weight of our sins. On the cross He entered the dreadful darkness of the wrath of God which we deserved, and then, He gave up His life. He was placed in a tomb, sealed behind the iron doors of death. But, on the third day, He burst the the bonds and shattered the doors of sin and death, thus securing and declaring “liberty to the captives” (Lk 4:18). Are we in bondage? Does some persistent sin still haunt us? Is our tongue or temper controlled by a wicked taskmaster? Does lust seem to demand our decisions? In the trouble of our own making, let us cry out to the Lord. For, in His steadfast love, He will deliver! He breaks the power of cancelled sin, He sets the prisoner free; His blood can make the foulest clean, His blood availed for me. — Charles Wesley We are learning from Psalm 107 that the Lord’s steadfast love is expressed through His loving discipline. And mercifully so. For if the Lord does not discipline His people, then they would continue dangerously in sin away from Him. But God is too committed to His loved ones to allow them to do that. He will sovereignly act in their lives to bring them to see their desperate need and, therefore, turn to Him for help.
As I mentioned yesterday, the psalmist uses four different life experiences to illustrate God’s covenant faithfulness. Today, let’s briefly consider the first which is found in verses 4-9. Verse 4 describes this group as “wander[ing] in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty their soul fainted within them.” Their lives were being threatened by the heat of the desert sun and the barrenness of the desert terrain. They had no city walls to protect from ruthless marauders and no community to support their need. They were hungry with no food in sight and thirsty with no water to seek. Thus, “their soul fainted within them.” (It’s amazing how much our inner man (soul) is affected by physical need. The Stoics and Christian Science folks deny reality.) These individuals were in desperate straits, and that’s exactly where God wanted them to be. Why? Verse 6 gives the answer: “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress.” God designed the desperation of their need unto the fainting of their soul to be the means to draw them to Himself. For, He was their greatest need. More than shade, shelter, and security they needed God. More than food and water they needed God. Once they realized this, they turned to Him and in faith cried out and the Lord heard and responded! He “delivered them from distress” and “led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.” The lesson they learned is found in v. 9, “For, he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” What about us? First, the Lord still uses our physical needs to keep us humbly dependent upon Him as our faithful Provider. Jesus, taught the disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We are not self-sustaining, and when we begin to think we are, God will act to remind us that we depend on Him. Secondly, the physical need reminds us of a deeper spiritual need. Without God, we are living aimlessly and futilely. Life feels lonely and empty, and our souls faint within. We desperately long to be satisfied. Psalm 107 reminds us that only God can satisfy. As Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless, until they find their rest in Thee.” So, are you in need today? Then humbly cry out to the Lord in your trouble. Turn to Him, for in His steadfast love He has turned toward you. Psalm 107 is all about the steadfast love of the Lord; His covenant faithfulness to those He has redeemed. It begins with a call to thankfulness and declaration on account of the Lord’s steadfast love and ends with a call to attend to and consider the steadfast love of the Lord. In between, the psalmist shows four life experiences of how the Lord manifests His steadfast love to His people. And, each one reveals that God’s covenant faithfulness is known through loving discipline.
Because of redemption through Christ Jesus, God is not only our Judge, but He has become our Father (Rom 8:14-17; Gal 4:4-7; 1 John 3:1-3). As our Father, He lovingly and faithfully disciplines for our good and not our harm. God’s discipline results in righteousness and peace. By it our Lord faithfully conforms us to Christ and keeps us in His love. Hebrews 12:5-7, 10-11 says: And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons… he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. So today, as we are just beginning to reflect upon Psalm 107 let us be filled (heart and mouth) with thankfulness because of the disciplining steadfast love of the Lord. O love that will not let me go, I rest myself in Thee. |
AuthorChuck Cook is the pastor of Grace Bible Church - Rolla. Archives
April 2020
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