Psalm 107: Let the Wise Attend to These Things

Today’s reading is Psalm 107.

The Wise Must Pay Attention

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.
-Psalm 107:43 (ESV)

What an odd way to end this psalm. The wise need to pay attention. The wise need to meditate on what this psalm says. The wise need to mull it over.

Certainly, this may just be a contrast with the fool of Psalm 107:17. Maybe the psalmist simply wants to make a contrast and say the fool gets into trouble, but the wise cry out to the Lord in their distress.

Maybe that’s all there is too it. Maybe at this point we’ve wisely figured out the simple meaning of this psalm.

However, I can’t help but think the psalmist is calling us to think about it again. And again. And again. I can’t help but think the psalmist is trying to get the wise to perceive something that may not be seen at first glance.

An Undercurrent of Wisdom

At the risk of bordering on arrogance, I’d like to take a stab at the deeper message. The surface message is obvious. When you’re in trouble, call on the Lord. He’s the only Redeemer. When He redeems give thanks.

As I read the psalm again and again, I start to notice something. God the Redeemer does some really great stuff. He redeems (vs. 2). He gathers (vs. 3). He leads in straight ways until the wanderers reach the city (vs. 7). He satisfies the soul and fills the hungry with good things (vs. 9). He brings them out of darkness and bursts their bonds (vs. 14). He shatters the door of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron (vs. 16). He sends out His Word and heals them. He delivers them from destruction (vs. 20). He calms the storm and quiets the sea. He brings the people to their desired haven (vss. 29-30). He turns deserts into pools and makes a parched land into a spring of water (vs. 35). He blesses people and livestock with multiplication (vs. 38). He raises the needy up out of affliction (vs. 41). All of that is fantastic, isn’t it? Don’t you just love that about God?

However, that’s not all He does in this psalm. It’s true he brings the prisoners out of their affliction, but did you notice He is actually the one who causes their affliction? It doesn’t say a foreign nation or a prison guard does it. It says, “So *he* bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help” (vs. 12). He does quiet the storm and calm the waves and wind. But He actually causes them as well. “For *he* commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea” (vs. 25). Yes, He turns deserts into pools and parched lands into springs of water, but only after He turns rivers into deserts and fruitful lands into salty wastes (vss. 33-34). He does multiply fruit and offspring, but He also diminishes and brings low (vs. 39). In vs. 4, we hear about folks wandering in desert wastes, but no reason is given. Can we miss in vs. 40 it says, “he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes”? (ESV). Hmmm.

The Lord does those negative things in response to sin and folly. Sure. But don’t miss the point. When do the people cry out to the Lord? When they are in trouble. Not simply when they are in trouble. They cry out when they are in so much obvious trouble they can’t miss it. Very often, we tell people don’t treat prayer as a last resort. Don’t wait until the last thing to cry out to the Lord. The problem is it’s very often only when people reach their wits’ end they finally realize the only way to look is up. It’s very often only when people reach the end of the rope they realize they need what only God can provide.

Yes, the Lord will redeem us when we cry out to Him. Any fool can recognize that. It takes a wise person to realize the Lord will often raise the storm because we already need redemption but don’t know it. We need the trouble, the affliction, the distress to realize how much we really need the Lord. And that distress is as much part of the Lord redeeming His people as the redemption from the distress.

Fools look at the distress and decide there is no God. The wise look at the distress and realize not only is there a God, but we need Him. Don’t be a fool. Be wise. Cry out to the Lord. He is there. He is waiting to hear from you.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 107.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 107 prompt or improve your hope in God?

Psalm 93: Mightier than the Waves

Today’s reading is Psalm 93.

Smack in the middle of this profound praise of God, the Sovereign King of the Universe, we find this declaration of His might:

The floods have lifted up, O LORD,
the floods have lifted up their voice;
the floods lift up their roaring.
Mightier than the thunders of many waters,
mightier than the waves of the sea,
the LORD on high is mighty!

Scholars, students, and commentators look backwards. I understand that. Those who read this when it was originally written would likely have done the same thing. They look back at creation. They look back at the flood. They look back at the Red Sea. They saw God’s power demonstrated there. They may have even looked around at the stories of neighboring nations who told tales of creation that involved their false gods defeating a sea goddess to create the world.

But I’m not a scholar. I’m just a plain old Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ. Therefore, I cannot help but simply look ahead. Because, the ultimate point of this psalm is not to bring to mind false creation stories of the surrounding cultures to teach Israelites that YHWH is stronger than Marduk or Baal (though I’m sure they learned these things). The ultimate point of this psalm is to come to mind when we hear the apostles ask, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:41; see also Matthew 8:27; Luke 8:25). Only one is mightier than the thunders of many waters and the waves of the sea: The LORD, YHWH. No matter how the waves pounded and the wind roared, Jesus spoke the words, “Peace! Be Still!” and the storm acquiesced before the authority and power of the Creator of the Universe who had established the earth and upholds it by the Word of His power. Who is this Jesus who commanded the wind and the waves? He is YHWH. He is the LORD.

Never forget. Our Lord reigns. Jesus is robed in majesty. Jesus has put on strength as a belt. Jesus’s testimonies are trustworthy. Jesus’s house is adorned with holiness. Jesus is from everlasting to everlasting.

That’s our King. Praise the Lord!

Will you confess Him?

Next week’s reading is Psalm 94.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

What do you want to share with others from Psalm 93?

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

Today’s reading is Matthew 8.

Can we hear Jesus rebuke the apostles’ “little faith” in the storm without remembering His commendation of the centurion’s faith? In fact, isn’t this a direct contrast? The centurion understood how authority worked. Jesus could tell His servants what to do, and they would obey. That is exactly what Jesus does. He tells His servants the winds and the sea to be calm, and they obey. That is how authority works.

This whole scenario, however, should call something to mind. For the casual Bible student, it likely brings to mind Jonah. No doubt, there are some great lessons from that connection. However, for those even more familiar with the Old Testament, it calls to mind Psalm 107. In this poem, the psalmist commands those whom the Lord has redeemed to proclaim the redemption. They need to give thanks to the Lord for His goodness. Then the psalmist gives some examples of redemption. There were those who had gotten lost in the wilderness, some holed up in prisons, some simply suffered affliction for their sins, and some, in Psalm 107:23-32, went down in ships to do business on the sea.

While these folks were on the sea, the Lord commanded the waves and storms to afflict the sailors. They were lost, and they knew it. There was no saving themselves. They cried out to the Yahweh, and He delivered them. The storm stilled, the waves calmed. These people, the psalmist says, need to give Yahweh thanks.

But all of this leads to the question the apostles asked, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” And that is the question isn’t it? They had called Him “Lord,” but they hadn’t fully understood what that meant. He wasn’t lower-case-l lord, He is upper-case-L Lord. He is Yahweh in the flesh. They have been redeemed by the Lord, and they need to say it.

Some will try to tell us Jesus never claimed to be God, Divine, Deity, Yahweh in the gospel accounts. Not so. Right here, He doesn’t claim it so much as He demonstrates it. When He commands the storm to be still and it does, He is saying, “Do I really have to tell you out loud who I am? You remember that redeemer, Yahweh, in Psalm 107, right? That’s Me. Go tell people you have been redeemed by Me, Yahweh.”

That’s our King! Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Matthew 8.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

Discuss the Following Questions with Your Family

1. What are your initial reactions to the chapter and the written devo above?
2. How would you have felt if you were in the boat in a storm, losing hope, with Jesus asleep?
3. Do you think Jesus’s rebuke of their little faith is fair? Why or why not?
4. If Jesus can tell the sea and the wind to calm down, who is He and what else can He do?
5. What do you think we should pray for and about in light of this chapter and today’s post?