Introduction
We need to be
grateful, practicing the habit of being grateful. Lack of gratitude is one of
the areas that inhibits becoming fully alive in Christ. Sometimes the trials
and pressures of life silence us (in terms of expressing thanks). But, this is
a worry, for a lack of gratitude leads to getting totally down on life, and
everyone else – where everything seems to be wrong!
We know very well
how tough some other people have it, but this, at times, doesn’t even stop us
from being ungrateful – when certain things we expect … don’t happen, or when
certain things we don’t want … do happen! On the other hand, being grateful
tends to give us good perspective, where our situation is properly viewed
within the big picture of everyone else’s lives.
Lacking gratitude
isolates, while being thankful fosters community. This is why Paul made the
bold and brassy statement, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thess. 5:18). I reckon Paul could make
this statement, as he experienced some circumstances that were far from ideal
himself!
Thankfulness
to God
The writer of
Psalm 107 speaks about gratefulness to God. The reason behind such thankfulness
is simply stated … “for he is good” (verse 1). We could conger up in our minds
why this statement is true – what we have personally experienced that would
allow us to agree with the conclusion … “God is good”. One of these is God’s
love that we have been talking about over the past few weeks. This “steadfast”
love of God has been shown to be active, welcoming, unconditional, sacrificial,
constant, unfailing and transformative.
In terms of God
being defined as “good”, we have the same words repeated in verses 8, 15, 21
[and also in verse 31 beyond what we have read]:
“Let them thank
the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind”.
So God’s goodness has been expressed through his engagement with humanity –
each of us.
The psalmist
addresses us in verse 2.
“Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so, those he redeemed from trouble” (verse 2).
Who should give
thanks to the Lord?? Who should speak of God’s love??
The “redeemed”!
Who are the
“redeemed”??
Those who have
been bought back from that which had previously enslaved them … sin,
self-serving behaviour, running from God, pursuing destructive goals, being
‘owned’ by other interests.
Why should the
“redeemed” be thankful??
TWO THINGS ARE
MENTIONED (vs.2-3).
(i)
Because
they have been “redeemed” from trouble!
Our biggest
“trouble” would have been a compromised future, where many things would have
happened that would be far from the best. This would be brought about by all
sorts of bad decisions … about what to do and where to be. This is avoided
because we have been set on a new path. Not all troubles will immediately
disappear, but we will certainly having new coping mechanisms. Indeed, we could
be most thankful that we were so important to God, that Jesus came and died a
torturous death so that we might have salvation – forgiveness that erases our
feelings of guilt and shame, and allows us to live effective and joyful lives.
(ii)
And
because they have been “gathered in”!!
We have been
gathered into relationship with God, where we have been forgiven and deemed
‘holy’ … meaning set apart for God’s purposes. We have also been gathered into
the community of God, the people of God, the children of God, and the ‘Body of
Christ’ represented in the church. Faith, redemption and salvation are never
simply individual matters – God acts with a community mindset … what happens in
an individual is designed to lead to a participation in community.
Redeemed and
rehoused
Various sources
of potential “trouble” are mentioned as this psalm unfolds – a sense of
homelessness (or lacking a home-base), a feeling of imprisonment, and also
sickness [and later danger].
It is this lack
of a feeling of being home, with all the hunger and thirst for connection that
goes with this, that is addressed in verses 4 to 9. In verse 7, we see
that God leads the person who feels lost via a straight route, until they
reached an inhabited town” i.e. where there is community, social
connection, relationship, a home. God actively seeks to lead a person out of
isolation and loneliness into environments of social support. And many come to
find a home within a caring, supportive and spiritually enriching church
community. This, the psalmist believes, is reason for thanksgiving – verse 8 …
“Let them thank the Lord …”!
Some of us may
have had that experience of life where we felt we were sitting in darkness and
gloom … “prisoners of misery” (verse 10). The psalmist put this down to
rebellion from the words of God (verse 11), or to the pressures of hard labour
… with no help (verse 12); though feelings of “misery” can come from many
sources – internally and externally to us. No matter whether one’s distress is
a result of sin (a problem of one’s own making), or as a result of other
people’s evil activity around us, God stands ready to hear and to deliver. God
works wonders amongst humankind, and part of this is bringing people out of
bondage and into freedom. Here is another occasion for gratefulness. Even in a
longer process toward becoming free, one can express thankfulness, based on
faith, that God is doing exactly what he said he would.
When it comes to
the “sickness” mentioned in verse 17, the writer directly relates this
to sin, as it always was in pre-scientific old testament times. We know that
sickness comes to us for a variety of reasons, including the fact that we live
in a world full of illness that can be contracted in various ways. Yet when we
come to God in search of healing, there are often other things happening in our
lives that we need to step aside from – these could be impacting our capacity
to recover.
God’s desire to
act in our best interests is expressed this way: “[God] sent out his word and
healed them, and delivered them from destruction” (verse 20). We have to
be ready to hear God’s word, whatever that is for us. I see many people, for
which God’s word has been well presented in terms of their particular need, but
it remains unheard! And it is humble confession, along with thankfulness, that
allows God’s great gifts of grace to come forward.
One of the great
blessings is that despite what sort of problems there have been in our past …
problems with parents or spouses or children or other relationships (e.g. where
friends have let us down or betrayed us) [Jesus knows about this one!] … God
can enter this space and re-parent us, love us, befriend us with intimate
companionship, and give us new insights, understandings and confidence to deal
with tricky family matters, and all other pending decisions we need to make.
Thanks be to God!
{We can thank God
today for our mothers, and where the mothering we have received has been less
than it should have been, we can appreciate the parenting of God and be
thankful for the way this has nurtured us afresh.}
A Word to Us
The Bible becomes
a great resource here – not so much finding a particular verse that
specifically answers a problem (although that may happen); more an overall study
… where we allow God to speak to us about a number of things and bring us a
whole lot of new perspectives … that build on each other – bringing us to a
place of greater understanding, where we are much better placed to speak, and
to act, in a reconciling and helpful way. Verse 20 says, “… He sent out
His word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction”. This was said
in the context of deliverance from sickness and sin, yet would cross easily as
a response to all areas of need.
I’m reminded of
that incident recorded in the Gospel of Luke (17:11-19), when ten lepers came
to Jesus asking for healing. Jesus was moved with compassion concerning their
suffering and the complexity of their situation, and healed them all. You would
think that all ten, once they realised they were healed of a condition which
had completely ostracised them socially, would come back and thank Jesus. But
only one of them did! Jesus was a bit taken aback about this lack of response
himself! For then, what Jesus was able to offer, to this one thankful former
leper, was complete salvation. This former leper’s thankfulness showed that he
was ready for a full experience of God in his life.
Conclusion
Being grateful is a good way
to develop our relationship with God (and others), much better than a relationship just based on complaining and
asking for stuff. Thankfulness gets our mind focussed on the positive. Thus it
could be a spirit of gratitude that helps to avoid us hitting bottom.
Thankfulness solidifies the idea that God loves us, has created us with
purpose, redeems us through Jesus, gathers us in, provides community, frees us
from misery, supplies our needs, heals us, offers us direction, has given us
gifts, abides with us daily, etc, etc, etc.
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