Redeemed of the Lord - Say So
Notes
Transcript
I love the singing portion of worship. It is of utmost importance that we spend time lifting our voices together in song. In the Old Testament times, there were songs that the people of God would sing together, and the book of Psalms was a hymnal of sorts. These poems were written to be used, and they often were used in worship opportunities. We have been spending time in these “hymns” of the Old Testament, if you will. Although we often think of David when we think of the Psalms, but that would be like just thinking of Charles Wesley when we think of hymns or Chris Tomlin when we think of praise choruses. David did write many of these great worship songs, but there were others that wrote as well.
This morning, we are going to look at Psalm 107 - this is a Psalm with a number of stanzas, much like the hymns of old, but we are going to focus mostly on the first stanza - let’s look at Psalm 107:1-9
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.
5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,
9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
This stanza talks to us about how even when we find ourselves wandering in the desert places, we find a good God who is able to take us through to the promised land. Stanzas like this help us to face the struggles we may face with confidence and hopefulness rather than complaints. People are prone to complaints, it seems, no matter what their life may be like. I came across this little story about a monk.
As per his oath of silence, he was only allowed to say two words every year.
After his first year, he comes before the head abbot to speak his two words: “Better food.”
The head abbot understands and obliges the monk, hiring a new chef and improving the food quality at the monastery.
A year later, the monk appears to speak his next two words: “Warmer blankets.”
The head abbot gets right on it and purchases new blankets for the monk.
The next year, the monk appears once again for his annual two words: “I quit.”
The head abbot replies, “Well, good! All you’ve done since you got here is complain.”
Complaining seems like a hobby for some people, but nobody really likes to spend much time with people who complain constantly. Psalm 107 is a song that deals with some of the things that people of that day complained about.
The people of Israel, after a little over 400 years in Egypt - many of which were years in slavery, were granted their freedom. You would think that freedom would be something to be thankful for after all of those years in slavery, but we find that not long after they were out of Egypt that the complaining began. But in the midst of that time, even in the midst of their complaints, they found that God showed them favor, and provided for them.
The Psalm begins with a call for people of God to give thanks and praise to God for His love that lasts forever, and an acknowledgement that He is GOOD! The focus of the Psalm is introduced here as well, as the Psalmist says, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” Those who have been drawn in to the kingdom of God from every direction - “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”
What does it mean to redeem? Literally, the term means to buy back. It also means to deliver out of distress. Sometimes we will use the English word redeem in such a way that we will speak of a situation having some “redeeming value” meaning that something may not be good, but there is this small aspect of it that makes it worth it. An interesting take I came across is that to redeem can mean to compensate for the faults or bad aspects of (something).
If God has redeemed you, the Psalmist says, we have a responsibility to say so - to give witness to that redemption - to let others know that God has done something good in our lives! The solution for complaining is to begin to praise God and to offer our thanks for all He has done for us! To offset our natural tendency to look at the negative things in life, the Psalmist tells us to focus on what God has done for us - “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” I’m redeemed, I’m redeemed, Praise the Lord!”
The rest of this Psalm, which continues on after the section we read this morning, is several stanzas that describe ways that God has redeemed His people. There are four pictures of God’s lovingkindness to His people.
“The first is that of travelers who had lost their way in the desert” - the desert is full of dangers, and it is not a place you want to just wander through. The people were at the point of losing their lives, but God provided for them. They were at the end of their resources and their lives were on the line and God stepped in. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!
The second stanza is found in the section following our reading for today, and focuses on people that were in exile, and their lives were full of misery and woe. The people of God had been captured and taken into exile as a result of their sin. They had turned their backs on God and had received the punishment of exile, and yet even in the time of Exile, God answered them when the cried out to Him and He broke the prison doors and set them free - He redeemed them from their prisons! And when we are freed from our prisons, many of which are of our own making - “Let the redeemd of the Lord say so!”
A third stanza is found in verses 17-22 and is a picture of God’s lovingkindness restoring people who had suffered disease and sickness as a result of their sins. Not every sickness or disease is the result of personal sin, but clearly sometimes disease can be the result of sinfulness. There have been countless millions of people, though, whose sinful choices have brought them to the very brink of death. Sin will take you farther than you want to go - and at times will result in despair. The Psalmist says that even those who have been fools, and as a result found themselves at deaths door can find God’s lovingkindness is able to redeem and release them from the sickness. When God graciously releases us from the sin and its consequences that would lead to death, the Psalmist says that those people should respond in this way:
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.
22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”
The fourth stanza of this song is found in verses 23-32, and speaks of sailors caught in a storm. We can picture storms that rise from the depths of the waters and the winds that can capsize a boat and kill everybody on board. Perhaps we think of the time when Jonah had turned away from God and as a result found himself in a huge storm. Sailors are used to dealing with storms, but sometimes the Psalmist says, the storm is so strong that they cannot really walk - they are barely coping and the ship is in danger of sinking - and as they cry out to God, He calms the sea. When we go through situations that could take our lives and God intervenes to bring us to safety when we cry out to Him, we should acknowledge that before God and before His people. “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”
He is God - and He is good - all the time! In His goodness, He steps in to deliver His people and to punish those that are against Him. And when He does, the Psalmist reminds us that we are to give Him the glory.
There is a new song by Toby Mac that attempts to capture this idea. I don’t know what you think of Toby Mac and his music, but let me read you some of the lyrics of his new song:
Through the good and the bad and the ugly (whoa)
I can still feel the sunshine above me (say it Blessing)
Lord, I love all the ways that You love me (yeah)
You're the good (yeah) You're the good (yeah) You're the goodness
You're the good (You are) You're the good (You are)
You're the good, You're the good, You're the goodness
Lord, You're the goodness
You're the good (You are), You're the good (You are)
You're the good, You're the good, You're the goodness
It’s hard to go back to complaining if you focus on that goodness of God - that lovingkindness of God that shines through even in the dark situations - even in the struggles that we face - even when we feel like the whole world is fighting against us. Remember His goodness - remember His lovingkindness - remember how He redeemed you from whatever sin would have destroyed you - and “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”
This is not just a matter of trying to have a better attitude or hoping beyond the circumstances. What the writer does in this Psalm is he looks at the reality of some of the ways that God had shown His goodness to His people and reminds them that even in the darkest of circumstances, God is good and worthy of all our praise.