“Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,”
~ Psalm 107:8
Hi James and Ellen,
How do you feel when you are sick? Do you feel happy when you are no longer sick? How do you feel when you are asked to do something that you do not want to do? Do you feel happy when you do something that you were asked to do that you did not want to do? Suppose that you have no choice but to wander around for forty years in a hot, barren desert with your dad and ma, how do you think that you would feel? Do think that you would feel happy when you are able to once again live in a land where there are trees and flowers? Suppose that you decide to go out to sea in a ship but while you were out on the water it got really stormy, how do you think that you would feel? Do you think that you would feel happy when you are back again on dry land? Suppose that the land that you owned grew good crops but then it stopped raining for a number of years and you can no longer grow good crops, how do you think that you would feel? Do you think that you would feel happy when it begins to rain again and the land that you own begins to grow good crops again? Suppose that you rebel against God, how do you think that you would feel? Do you think that you would feel happy after you have confessed your rebellion against God to God and He has shown His love to you by forgiving you? Do you know of a guy, gal or kid who has meandered a parched, arid desert, has sailed out to sea on a boat and the boat was caught in an angry tempest, has lived through times when it did not rain for a number of years and has rebelled against God? Israelite people group guys, gals and kids wandered for forty years in a blistering hot desert, went to sea in boats and got caught in scary gales, suffered through years of no rain falling in the land that God gave to them to always to have to live in as their very own land and rebelled against God. God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids were/are the Israelite people group’s guys, gals and kids.
A Psalmist song writer recounted times when God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids found themselves in untenable situations. The Psalm 107 song writer very possibly had just arrived in Jerusalem after having been an exile living in Babylonia. The psalm writer is obviously feeling very happy that God was allowing His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, to go back to the land that He had promised them that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . this psalm song author may have actually scribed a psalm songs trilogy – with this psalm song being the final psalm song of the three psalm songs. This psalm song author wrote in what is now verse 8 and in two other verses this same identical chorus to God, “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,” This psalm song author do not want God’s specially chosen guys and gals to ever forget how happy that they were after God saved them from being completely destroyed. This psalm song author also wrote his psalm song to help God’s specially chosen guys and gals celebrate God’s unfailing love towards them when He helped them to get through the crises that He had them experience. This psalm song’s author wrote his psalm song to be sung on special occasions to God to praise God for His saving grace during really difficult times. This psalm song is really a liturgical call to praise God for deliverance. What do you do after you have gone through a very difficult time? Would you pen God a psalm song to thank God for helping you make it through the very difficult time that you have just experienced? Would you sing to God a psalm song that you wrote to thank God for helping you to get through the very difficult time that you have just experienced?
If you have not already gone through a very difficult time and/or a crisis moment, your grandpaa knows that sooner or later that you will go through a very difficult time and/or crisis moment. Your grandpaa knows that you will go through a good many very difficult times and crisis moments in your lifetimes. Your grandpaa is very sure that you will remember the very difficult times and crisis moments that you will experience – just as the psalm song writers would remember the very difficult times that God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guys and gals, experienced. Your grandpaa really likes to fish. Your grandmaa, grandpaa and dad went fishing one day in a lake that is located close to where they lived in Agawam, Massachusetts. Your grandpaa decided to rent a rowboat. Your grandpaa first rowed the rowboat across the lake but after not catching anything on the other side of the lake, your grandpaa rowed the rowboat back to a small inlet area near where your grandpaa had parked his car. After your grandmaa, grandpaa and dad had fished for a short time near where your grandpaa had parked his car, it began to really pour down rain. Your grandpaa had seen the sky beginning to cloud up some but your grandpaa had not dreamed that it would begin to rain like it did. Your grandmaa, grandpaa and dad found themselves caught out in the open on a lake in a really bad rainstorm with a lot of lightning and thunder that had showed up out of nowhere. Your grandpaa was able to row the rowboat to the shore but . . . your grandmaa, grandpaa and dad by this time were soaked by the rain that was coming down in sheets. Because your grandpaa knew that it was not good to be out on a lake when there is a lot of lightning, your grandpaa decided to head for the place where he had rented the rowboat. Because it was raining so hard by this time and because it was lightening so much, your grandmaa, grandpaa and dad were feeling really scared of what might happen to them. When your grandmaa, grandpaa and dad were finally able to make it to your grandpaa’s car – even though they were all soaking wet, they were really happy to be in a safe place again. Your grandmaa, grandpaa and dad knew that God had taken care of them during a very scary time.
Psalm 107 (283)