How Did You Get Here?

Psalm 107

Consider The Steadfast Love Of The Lord

Transcript

Lord God, we thank you for the gift of your word, and we pray now for the
illuminating power of your spirit. And we pray that the intent of your word
would go deep into our hearts, that we would respond to it with faith, that we
would hear this psalm that was sung so long ago by your people and be able to
sing it as well. We pray for that in your name. Amen. Okay, we are in Psalm 107.
Psalm 107, I'll start in verse one. You can follow along on the screen or in
your Bible. This is Psalm 107. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for
his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he
has redeemed from trouble, and gathered in from the land, from the east and from
the west, from the north and from the south. Some wandered in desert wastes,
finding no way to a city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted
within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them
from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to
dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works
to the children of men, for he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul
he fills with good things. Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of
God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with
hard labor. They fell down with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in
their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of
darkness in the shadow of death and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the
Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men, for
he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts into the bars of iron. Some were fools
through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction.
They loathed at any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then
they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their
distress. He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their
destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous
works to the children of men, and let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and
tell of his deeds and songs of joy. Some went down to the sea and ships, doing
business on the great waters. They saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works
in the deep, for he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the
waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths, their
courage melted away in their evil plight. They reeled and staggered like drunken
men, and were at their wits end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the
waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his
steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of men, let them extol
him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the
elders. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a
fruitful land into a salty waste because of the evil of its inhabitants. He
turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water, and
there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in. They sow
fields and plant vineyards, and get a fruitful yield. By his blessing they
multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish. When they are
diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, 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. The upright
see it, and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth. Whoever is wise, let
him attend to these things. Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.
Amen. So this last month of the summer as a church, we are working through a
variety of Psalms and a variety of genres within the Psalms. Last week we heard
a Psalm of lament from Psalm chapter 12. This week is a different mood. It's a
Psalm of praise and thanksgiving. The Psalms contain a whole variety of genres,
from laments, to Psalms of praise and thanksgiving, like what we're hearing
today, to Psalms of confidence, to royal Psalms which celebrate the kingdom of
David and also anticipate the coming Messiah. There are Psalms of prayers
against the enemies of God's people, which are called imprecatory Psalms. Over
the month of August, we're going to work through these different types of
Psalms. But today, we're in this Psalm of praise and thanksgiving from Psalm
107. And to give you a little bit of a framework for what's going on, Psalm 107
is a congregational Psalm sung by Israelites who had returned from exile. Let me
just give you a quick overview of what that word exile means with a quick kind
of meta overview of the Old Testament to help you understand the significance of
what's happening in this Psalm. God calls Israel to be a people who are devoted
to Him and through whom He will bring blessing to the world. We see that in the
Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis. God delivers these people, His chosen people, out
of slavery, out of Egyptian slavery, into the promised land. He gives to them,
ultimately, David, the shepherd king. David has this desire to build a house of
worship for the Lord. And Solomon, his son, fulfills that and builds this
tremendous temple in Jerusalem. But Solomon falls into idolatry, his sons are
much worse, and the Kingdom of Israel becomes divided with northern Israel in
the north and Judah in the south. And in the eighth century, the northern
kingdom falls to the invading Assyrians, and in the sixth century BC, the
southern kingdom of Judah falls to the invading Babylonians. God's people are
taken into captivity and away from their homeland. That's what I mean when I say
exile. And in 538 BC, so sixth century BC, the exiles first begin to return to
Jerusalem and they start the rebuilding of the temple. There's a second and
third wave of returners in the fifth century BC. You can read about that in Ezra
and in Nehemiah. But the promised land was this place that God brought His
people to so that they might serve Him and glorify Him. And the people had been
removed from their land because of their idolatry, as a consequence of their
idolatry. And in the preceding Psalm, Psalm 106, the people had prayed from
their position of exile that they might be regathered into worship. If you look
at Psalm 106 47, the people pray, save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from
among the nations that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your
praise. The Psalms are divided, sometimes the structure of the Psalms is hard to
discern, but the Psalms are divided into five books. And that prayer, save us, O
Lord, regather us, is at the end of Book 4. Psalm 107 is at the beginning of
Book 5, and now that prayer is being answered. So Psalm 107, which we just read,
is what we read when the exiles have returned. So because of their past
unfaithfulness, the Israelites have been taken out of the promised land, and now
they have returned and are able to gather together in the Lord's house and
celebrate His faithfulness and sing His praises together. That's the context of
our Psalm. People who have been away from their homeland and away from the house
of God for a long time are regathering to worship Him. So this is a long Psalm,
we're going to go through it quickly. And as we read, this Psalm is meant to
prompt you and I to do a very simple thing. And it's this, consider the
steadfast love of the Lord. Consider the steadfast love of the Lord. There is a
sense in which we are not exiles in that sense, right? But the Psalms are
evergreen in that they speak to God's people across time and situation. And
although we are not physically exiles, we consider the steadfast love of the
Lord when we consider what it is that Christ has done for us, pulling us out of
spiritual alienation and uniting us to God the Father. So let's look at these
first three verses. This is the call to worship as God's people assemble. Verses
one through three. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His
steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has
redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east, from the
west, from the north, from the south. When we begin our worship services on a
Sunday morning at Community of Grace, we begin with a call to worship. An elder
from the church stands up and calls God's people to assemble. And we don't start
with announcements or ask everyone how they're doing or begin with like a warm
up song to put everyone in a good mood. Because the fundamental reason that
we've come together is to worship God. And you see in these first three verses,
here is a call to worship. And we are listing reasons why God should be praised.
For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. He's redeemed His people
from trouble. He's gathered them in from all different directions, north and
south, east and west. And it's good that we camp out here for a second because
in a church like ours where we have a structured worship service, it can be
pretty easy to forget why it is that we do what we do. A call to worship is
meant to call us into the praise of God. And it's also meant to specifically
tell us about who God is and why we praise Him. These are not just like vague
concepts. God has entered into the lives of His people in very specific ways.
And the first verse gives the theme of our worship. Give thanks to the Lord for
He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. The steadfast love of the
Lord is referred to about 200 times in the Old Testament. And 127 in the Psalms
alone. It's referring to God's enduring kindness and faithfulness. It's
referring to His covenant love to His people, despite their unfaithfulness,
despite their sin. So what we see in these first three verses is the whole
congregation is assembled together. They come from a variety of places and
backgrounds and experiences, north, south, east and west. But today they're in
God's house and they're praising Him together. And the people are referred to as
the redeemed. In other words, they are the ones who have been rescued from
distress and restored to their original purpose. That is to know God, to praise
Him, to glorify Him and to enjoy Him. Once God had redeemed a people out of
slavery and brought them to the promised land. That's the exodus. Then because
of their idolatry, people are removed and dragged off as their enemies came in
and took them away. So what we see here is almost like a second exodus, a
picture of restoration, as the people of God are regathered to sing God's
praises. And the text says, as we just said to the kids, let the redeemed of the
Lord say so. It's right that God's people praise Him when they gather together
and they give thanks to Him and remember what He's done. It's right that they
don't simply just feel it inside, but they express it verbally, both in songs of
praise and in testimony. I'm not going to make you do this right now. But let me
give you a thought experiment. What if you looked at the person who's next to
you, or if that's a family member, maybe the person across from you in the pew
and said to them, how did you get here? Well, we could probably all answer that
in a variety of ways. Most of us probably, if we said that, you'd take it
literally and be like, well, I live in Amherst or Williamsville or Tonawanda or
Grand Island or whatever, or Buffalo, so I just got in my car and came. Or maybe
we talk about like, oh, I took Sharon Drive. We'd say something like that. Or
maybe we would talk about maybe there's someone in the church who invited us or
someone that we knew. Well, what if then you said, no, I don't mean where you
live. I mean your story. How is it that you find yourself in the congregation
worshipping God this morning? And you might, it might not seem like strange or
spectacular or interesting to you, be like, why do you even care? Why is that a
big deal? I hope you realize there's like 125,000 people in Amherst. I know not
everyone hears from Amherst. It's not 125,000 people that are worshipping God
this morning. It's a number in the single digits. It's a number in the single
single digits percentile. And if we reflect and consider the steadfast love of
God, when someone says, how did you get here? The question or response would
really be. How much time do you have? How much time do you have to hear about
how the Lord has rescued me and showed patience to me and shown kindness and
mercy to me? So that I'm here on this day, August 9th, 2026, worshipping the
Lord. In this psalm, we see people from every direction, every situation that
have been redeemed and rescued and are coming together now to celebrate the
steadfast love of God. One of the distinctive features about the psalm is the
variety of people that it mentions. You will notice four different types of
people and four different types of trouble. You can see this through the
repetition of the word some. If you look at verse four, verse 10, verse 17,
verse 23. Some wandered in desert wastes. Verse 10. Some sat in darkness and in
the shadow of death for 17. Some were fools in their sinful ways. Verse 23, some
went down to the sea and ships. Therefore, the four different types of trouble.
And in each case, we also see the repetition. Each one of those groups, they
pray to God for deliverance at some point. And then each one of those people,
they were led to the point of prayer. And in each section, you'll hear the
phrase, then they cried to the Lord in their troubles and he delivered them from
their distress. That prayer is heard four different times in this psalm. So each
section has kind of a pattern formula. It begins with wandering from God. It
turns to prayer. And then that turns into Thanksgiving. That resolves in praise.
So I know this is a long psalm. We're going to look at each section briefly.
Verses four through nine, we start with the wanderers. Some wandered in desert
wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he
delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they
reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for
his wondrous works to the children of men, for he satisfies the longing soul and
the hungry soul he fills with good things. That idea of wandering, this is not
just like poetic language or symbolic language or just imagery. When their
enemies came to the promised land to invade, some of the Israelites escaped and
went out into the Sinai desert to wander. They were supposed to be home in the
promised land, but now they had no city to dwell in, nowhere really to live.
They faced physical hunger. They faced thirst. They faced discouragement. The
text says that their souls fainted within them. That's the despair that they
were in. Then they cried to the Lord and he delivered them. And they made it
back home to the city where they were meant to dwell in. These are the people
who, if they were in the assembly and you were to ask, how did you get here?
They would say, I was completely lost. I was totally wandering. I was aimless. I
didn't have a clue. But God heard my prayer and he rescued me. Some of us could
reflect on our lives like that. While we may not have wandered in literal
deserts, we could say I was lost. I was aimless. I had no real direction. I was
just wandering. Those people receive the steadfast love of the Lord and they
praise him. There's a second group among the exiles who have experienced
trouble. There were the wanderers and now there are the captives. Verse 10, some
sat in darkness. And in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in
irons, for they had rebelled against the word of God and spurned the council of
the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor. They fell down
with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered
them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness in the shadow of death
and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for
his wondrous works to the children of man, for he shatters the doors of bronze
and breaks into the bars of iron. When you ask these folks, how did you get
here? They would say. We were actually in chains. Some of the exiles were
dragged away from their homeland and turned into actual prisoners. They were put
to forced labor by their invading countries. They were made to be slaves. And as
miserable as that must have been, as brutal as that must have been, the text is
very clear. It was because of their sin. The text says they had spurned the
council of the Most High. They rebelled against God. The Israelites brought the
exile upon themselves and they knew it. All the curses that they had experienced
in the exile had already been described in the law when Moses gave it to them in
the Book of Deuteronomy. They knew the road that they were going down as they
pursued their idolatrous ways. And yet they continued in it. And yet, as much as
they deserved every single thing that happened to them. When they cried to the
Lord in their trouble. He heard them. It's the steadfast, enduring love and
patience of God that rescued them from what they rightfully deserved. He brought
them out of darkness. And the shadow of death and burst their bonds apart. And
you may not be able to reflect on your life in a time when you were literally
captive. So it's not necessarily a prisoner or enforced labor. But I'm sure we
can remember times when we were spiritually captive. You were enslaved.
Insnared. Enslaved by your own sinful desires. Every person who has ever
experienced that and found freedom has reason to praise the Lord for his
deliverance. The third group in the assembly are the sick and the sinful. Verse
20 or sorry for 17. Some were fools through their sinful ways. And because of
their iniquity suffered affliction. They loathed any kind of food. And they drew
near to the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble. And he
delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them and
delivered them from their destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast
love for his wondrous works to the children of man. And let them offer
sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his deeds and songs of joy. Some were
fools through their sinful ways. And sin is folly. And when we sin, when we
foolishly run away from God, we generally reap what we have sown. And the group
that's described is foolish. They persisted in their sin and they suffered for
it. In this description, the sinfulness progressed to the point where it says
they loathed any kind of food. Because of their iniquities, they suffered
affliction. They loathed any kind of food. It's the depression. When you have
tried everything and nothing even holds any appeal anymore. It got so bad, the
text says they drew near the gates of death. It's very interesting. They're not
looking for God. They just saw death coming and they got desperate. It might
have been actual physical deaths that they saw coming. Or it might have been
just this sense that you and I have probably had at different times. Just this
heightened sense that time is fleeting and is running down. Only then did they
cry to God. And still God heard them. And he healed them. And he delivered them.
This is the steadfast love of God. We do not meet him in the middle. It is not
like we begin some program of self-reflection and moral reform and start to move
towards God. We meet him at the bottom. We meet him at the bottom. The scripture
says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. It was not that they
were looking for God. It wasn't that they had turned over a new leaf. It was
despair. It was fear of death. It was basically selfishness. And yet this group
becomes a recipient of the steadfast love of God. Now there's a fourth group
that's singing God's praises. Verse 23. Some went down to the sea and ships,
doing business on the great waters. They saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous
works in the deep, for he commanded and raised the stormy wind which lifted up
the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven. They went down to the depths.
Their courage melted away in their evil plight. They reeled and staggered like
drunken men and were at their wits end. Then they cried to the Lord in their
trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were
quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for
his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. Let them
extol him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of
the elders. These people were sailors who had been caught in the storm. We don't
know if they were sailing, like sailing to try and get back home, or if they
were just fishermen trying to pay the bills. They were preoccupied, though, with
their business, with buying and selling, thinking about work, thinking about
career. They're out there making money, wheeling and dealing, thinking about the
next day's work, advancing their careers. And then one day, as these sailors are
going about their business, they nearly experience death on the sea. The text
says their courage melted in their evil plight. We would probably say it like
this, my life flashed before my eyes. Some of you have had this moment before.
You're going through your life preoccupied with money or with career or whatever
it is that's on the top of your agenda. And then, like these sailors, an event
comes that makes you realize how tenuous your life actually is. It could be a
diagnosis, it could be a kyrexing, it could be a tragedy, it could be something
that happens to someone else. And only then do you cry to the Lord. And once
again, in his steadfast love, the Lord rescues and delivers four groups of
people, four types of trouble, four different directions, north and south, east
and west. And now after rehearsing the troubles that the exiles had experienced
and praising him for his steadfast love, the congregation starts to reflect
together on the acts of God toward his people. Some of this is looking back into
their history in verses 33 through 41. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of
water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into salty waste because of the evil
of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into
springs of water. And there he lets the hungry dwell and they establish a city
to live in. They sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By his
blessing, they multiply greatly and he does not let their livestock diminish.
When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil and sorrow, 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. The
upright see it and are glad and all wickedness shuts its mouth. You see echoes
there of how the Lord has delivered them, his people and brought them to the
promised land. Kind of like Tolkien says in The Hobbit, they came there, now
they're back again. And here's the summary of this psalm of thanksgiving and
praise. Look at verse 43. Look at verse 43. Let them consider. So let me ask
you. When you reflect on your own life. Do you see the steadfast love of the
Lord? And do you consider it? Look at all these people groups, the wandering,
the lonely, the hungry, the thirsty, the depressed, those focused on career and
accomplishments. Only when they reach this state do they cry out to the Lord.
It's only in their trouble and distress that they cry out to the Lord. Some were
rebellious and they paid the consequences. Some were fools through their sinful
ways. Some saw their lives flash before their eyes. What this text tells us, now
that they have all regathered, is that wise people consider the steadfast love
of the Lord. Whoever is wise, let them consider these things. Most of us are
probably, I think most of us are very good at being able to say quickly what's
not working in our lives. What needs to improve? What needs to get better? What
about my circumstances could be better? How good at you are considering, how
good at you at considering the steadfast love of the Lord? The wise person, in
other words, the person who wants to live his life skillfully as God intended,
spends time giving thought to the steadfast love of the Lord. If you consider
your life, troubles that you went through, the sin that the Lord rescued you out
of, certain maybe pivotal points in your life or conversations that you had, the
wise person will reflect and see a certain thread running through. It's the
steadfast love of the Lord. The great hymn writer, William Cowper, said this, he
said, redeeming love has been my theme and shall be till I die. That is the
gospel lens through which we need to understand our lives if we are to be wise.
Some of you might be tempted to think, okay, I get it, I get it, I think I know
what you're saying, Matt. Maybe there are people, yeah, maybe there are people
in here who did some wild stuff back in the day. They had maybe a near-death
experience or brushes with drugs and with alcohol, made some really bad
decisions. I get it. But you think about yourself. It's not really crazy that
I'm here. I grew up going to church. I've been a good person. There's a reason I
live in Williamsville. The worst thing I've ever done is get a couple parking
tickets. If that's what you're thinking inside, let me just remind you of the
words of the Apostle Paul. What do you have that you did not receive? The fact
that you are here worshiping the Lord, standing among the redeemed, is for every
single one of us a testimony to the steadfast love of the Lord. Whether you have
been a straight arrow or whether you've been rescued from great distress,
whether you've always had direction or whether you are kind of a wanderer,
whether you've always had faith or whether you've had periods of great
rebellion, your life today and your presence here among God's people is a
testimony to the steadfast love of the Lord. So consider that. Consider it. The
other imperative in this text is that the redeemed of the Lord ought to say so.
And we do that in a variety of ways. Sometimes we do that in testimony.
Sometimes we do that in sharing our story personally. But we definitely do it
when we stand and we sing together. We praise God for the way He's redeemed us.
So I'm going to pray and then we're going to sing a song that is straight from
Psalm 107. . . .