Well, I was intending to do one post on Psalm 107, but I soon realized that if I did one post, it would be the size of a small book. So, I decided to do a mini/devotional series on Psalm 107 instead. Please read the Psalm before reading my thoughts on it, and feel free to message me if you would like to have some in depth, follow-up conversation on what I present in my posts in relation to the passage (plus YOUR thoughts on the text!).
Introductory Thoughts
Psalm 107: A musical memory of Israel's story- a tale that tells the broken reality of humanity and the enduring reality of God’s just, merciful, and restorative love; a song whose stanzas reflect the pattern of Israel’s rejection of God, of their struggles, and of His redemption of them.
As I study Psalm 107, the first thing that stands out to me is how the song is broken into five distinct stanzas. Stanzas one through four focus on four different aspects of Israel’s history and relationship with God with an emphasis on Israel’s experience as a wandering, adulterous people, all within the context of their relationship with a God that is both a holy judge and a loving father. The Psalm ends with a stanza that focuses on God and man with a primary emphasis on God’s perspective as holy judge and merciful father. The author of the Psalm travels through unique aspects of man’s morally compromised nature in the context of various chapters in Israel’s history, in a way that I think is piercingly relatable, both situationally and spiritually, to all of us as humans. Seeing the reality of God’s just judgment of sin depicted within the context of His merciful love, both from man’s perspective and from God’s perspective, in relation to His people and their sins, and in relation to the sins of their oppressors, is challenging, complex, and beautiful.
Thoughts on Structure and Themes
Throughout this Psalm we see a people aimlessly wandering, lost and starving (vs.4-5); we see a people whose rebellion against God leads them into bondage and captivity (vs.10-11); we see a people whose embracing of fleshy folly and lawlessness leads to sickness, suffering, and death (vs.17-18); and we see a people whose pursuit of wealth leads them into the storm of God’s judgment (vs.23-27). Most significantly, we see a God whose love for His people remains steadfast throughout the tumults of their history (vs.1, 6-7, 13-14, 19-20, 28-30,41-43). The author presents these themes in the following sequence, with a few slight variances:
1: Description of people in a predicament
2: What beliefs or actions got them into this predicament, and how God allowed them to experience the consequences of these beliefs and choices
4. Where their predicament is ultimately leading
5: people realizing the depths of their predicament, and then calling out to God for help
6: God’s response of healing and restoration
7: A call to praise and thanksgiving
In each of the following blog posts, I plan to explore the weightiness and hopefulness of what each scenario presented has to offer, starting with the Wanderers (vs. 4-9), a group of people who are lost, starving, and in desperate need of nourishment and shelter. Before moving into those verses, however, I want to leave you with the opening words of the song, because in them we learn that the people we will encounter in the coming verses are first and foremost the redeemed. We will read that they are lost, rebellious, foolish, sick, and proud, and we will read that most of them encounter a taste of the fullness of their sin, and of God’s justice, but throughout our reading we will see that what ultimately defines these people is that they are redeemed and restored through the steadfast love of Yahweh.
“Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,
for His steadfast love endures forever!
(2) Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
whom He has redeemed from trouble
(3) and gathered in from the lands,
from east and from west,
from north and from south.”
Psalm 107:1-3
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