Quickly now, how many more shopping days until Christmas? I am not sure either, but I am confident that by the end of this week the stores will be reminding us that we have only a limited amount of time to sacrifice at the Temple of Target or the Shrine of Sears. How many of you, this coming Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, with your bellies full of turkey and trimmings, will waddle into the canyons of consumer consumption known as shopping malls, and there cast your all upon the altar of sales?
Well, I will not be there. Don’t look for me. I do not participate in shop ‘til you drop. But I can’t exactly be self-righteous about that, because my wife and I do most of our Christmas shopping through catalogs, and, since every catalog you order from sells your name to a host of other catalogs, when we shop, it is the poor postman who drops!
It’s about time, isn’t it, to start the Christmas gift madness? But you know, I learned a long time ago that not every gift I give will be received with equal enthusiasm. Those to whom I give something will react in different ways – some are genuinely thrilled, some fake enthusiasm,, and others – well, when you read their faces, those faces say, “What made you think I’d want THAT?”. Not every gift is received with equal enthusiasm.
And sometimes that is not because the gift I give is a poor choice. Sometimes that is because the recipient does not yet have the maturity or the insight to appreciate the value of the gift. Sometimes gifts are not received, hearts are not thankful, because we do not recognize just how good a gift we have received.
Years ago, one Christmas, my brother, who is six years younger than I, crossed that delicate line from being a child to becoming a young man. In other words, folks gave him fewer toys and more practical stuff. I remember watching Bob open his gifts that year – a chemistry set – YAY!; a pair of skates – WOW!; a wristwatch – ALL RIGHT!; but then, a box of pajamas, socks, and underwear, which he tossed aside with a blecch look and the quick question, “What else is there?”. Our family laughed about that for years and at every Christmas wondered if Bob would ever become grateful for the unending line of pajamas, socks, and underwear that are the fate of young men! I don’t think he ever really managed to show much enthusiasm for pajamas, socks, and underwear. Would you?
But then, again, I submit to you that if we are not grateful for pajamas, socks, and underwear, but prefer the glitz and glamor stuff, that is because we do not have the maturity or the insight to know that what we have been given is valuable and useful. So many things doesn’t look all that glamorous; but they are well worth our thanks.
In just that way the gifts of God come. Our thanksgiving may be muted, simply because we lack the spiritual maturity, we don’t have the insight, to understand just how profoundly God has gifted us. Who of us gets up every morning and thanks God for a new day? Some do, but I suspect most of us do not. Who of us lies down at night and thanks the Lord for a day of blessing and victory? Some no doubt do, but I suspect many of us, if we reflect on the day at all, are full of recriminations about the mistakes we made or we are anxious about all the things we didn’t accomplish. Who of us thanks God for all the ordinary gifts He gives us? And if we do not, may it not be that the issue is that we do not have the maturity or the insight to appreciate them for what they are? Pajamas, socks, and underwear, ho-hum?
But the Psalmist will help us see and give thanks for everything that comes from the hand of God. The 107th Psalm is a wonderful study in the psychology of thanks-giving. In this Psalm, the Bible leads us to think about several aspects of life, and then it reminds us what God has done and urges us to give thanks. The 107th Psalm is a recital of the issues that we face in our lives and what God’s redeeming love does for us. It is very realistic. It forces us to remember that each of us has issues. Our lives are not together. But God has given us answers to those issues, answers that look sort of like pajamas, socks, and underwear – but answers that are worth a heart of gratitude. I ask you to walk with me through the 107th Psalm.
Psalm 107:1-3 – and repeat with me verse 2, “Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he redeemed from trouble.” Let the redeemed say so. What has God done to redeem us and earn our praise and thanks?
I
First, consider the most fundamental issue. Consider what it is that plagues us most and keeps us all off balance. What problem is there that is common to all people – ALL people, everywhere? Sin. Lostness. Sin that separates us from God. We Christians speak of those who are saved and those who are lost. I know that language is a bit out of fashion these days, but I submit to you that there is such a thing as being lost, and that it is the most basic human condition. When the Bible says that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God”, it does not omit anybody. All. Lost.
And so listen to what the Psalmist says about what it is to be lost and about what God is doing for us. Psalm 107:4-9 – wandering in desert wastes, hungry and thirsty, souls fainting. Oh, brothers and sisters, let’s not forget what it is to be in spiritual distress. Maybe you have been a Christian so long you have forgotten; maybe you are like a friend of mine who says that she was carried to Sunday School in a basket when she was two weeks old and has hardly missed a Sunday since! Nonetheless, there was a time, wasn’t there, when you felt lost? There was a time, wasn’t there, when you felt separated from your Creator, a time when life seemed a waste, a time when you knew you needed more than you had but hardly even knew what it was? Do you remember? Do you remember what it is to be out of touch with the living God? Wandering in desert wastes, hungry and thirsty, souls fainting.
But then the day came when you saw. Then the day arrived when you understood, when you were able to cry out to the Lord, and what did He do for you? The Psalmist says it, “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; he led them by a straight way ...”. Let me change that a little. “Then YOU cried to the Lord ... and He delivered YOU, He led YOU.” Oh, do you remember? Do you remember how suddenly the story you had learned about one who left His home in glory to live our mundane existence came alive to you? Do you recall how in a glorious moment of insight you knew that when He went to Calvary’s cross, it was for the sins of all, yes, but in a very personal way, it was for YOU? Do you remember? And so if today you have lost the wonder of that moment, and it all now seems so ordinary, so pajamas, socks, and underwear, let us today remember that we have been given the gift of salvation. We who were lost have been found, we who were wandering have been put on a straight way, we who were separated have been brought near. There is only one response to that, and that is to thank Him who is our Savior. “Let the redeemed say so” whom He has satisfied with good things. It may seem ho-hum, but it is not. Once we were lost but now we are found. “Let the redeemed say so.”
II
But, you know, sometimes, even though we know we once were lost but now are found, still our feelings get the better of us, and we get gloomy and depressed. Sometimes – and although I do not know many of you or know you well, I know this to be true – sometimes deep dark despondency takes over, and we go into seasons of distress and grief, from which our souls must seek relief.
Do you sometimes feel this? Psalm 107:10. Sitting in darkness and gloom, in cruel chains. And if you feel that, do you wonder why it happens? Where does this darkness and gloom come from? For some, it’s just a temporary disappointment that goes away easily. For others, it’s a chemical imbalance that needs to be treated medically. But for most of us, when we get depressed, just go to the rest of these verses and take in the truth of what they say. Listen; it’s not pleasant, but it is true: Psalm 107:11-12. It’s about rebellion against God’s word, it’s about failing to trust His promises. It’s about not having faith enough to see that God has more He wants to do in us. If you and I see only yesterday’s failures and today’s disappointments, and cannot see tomorrow’s possibilities, we get depressed. But when we understand that God is going to do a great thing, a liberating thing in us, then we have something to be thankful for.
What will our God do for those in the prison of depression and the misery of unhappiness? Here it is: “Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress; he brought them out of darkness and gloom, and broke their bonds asunder.” Our God is a liberating God who breaks bonds; our Jesus is a liberating Savior, who said His goal was to set at liberty those who were captive. Isn’t that something for which we can give thanks? Let the redeemed say so! He sets the captives free!
I have been working for some time with a man who has been in and out of the prison system. Every time we think he is moving along the right path, he commits a parole violation and goes right back into the system. The last time it was that he had no shoes that were serviceable for his job in a restaurant, so my wife spent all of a Saturday evening running to pick up some of our son-in-law’s extra shoes, but my friend didn’t show up to get them, and so lost his job. Little things, but each violation puts him back into trouble, and thus farther into despair. But he is slowly seeing that God is doing a work of liberation in him. Our God is able to deliver even this friend from both of his prisons, both of them, the one operated by the DC government and the one in his own mind. And when that day comes, he will be in front of somebody’s church, giving thanks to God, because, when you are down and out, our God will free you. When you are down so far you cannot even see, God goes to work in you. And when you come out of that, well, you cannot help but give thanks. “Let the redeemed say so”.
If you’ve ever been depressed and gloomy, but now you feel, well, normal – pajamas, socks, and underwear – then God be thanked. “Let the redeemed say so,”
III
But now I can almost hear you saying, Preacher, I don’t identify with any of that. I am not anybody’s victim, I haven’t been in prison, I don’t get down and depressed. Preacher, the only thing that’s bothering me is that I’m getting older. I’m slower than I used to be, and can’t do everything I used to do. I have a few aches and pains, but it’s all right. So why should I get all worked up about giving thanks? Preacher, life is as good as it’s going to get, and there’s nothing to get excited about, is there?
Let’s see if the Psalmist has you in his scope too. Check out Psalm 107:17-22. Some were sick ... and drew near to death. Did you hear it? Some were sick ... and because of their sinful ways. Oh, that Bible! It insists on associating sickness and death with sin! You see, we all are a part of fallen human nature, and so it is not whether you or I did something wrong that makes us sick. It is that as human beings we participate in brokenness. We live in the fallenness. We are all residents of a broken world, and so for all of us death is that awesome reality that is always just around the corner. The poet Tennyson says of us that we think we were not made to die; but of course we are. That is a part of our reality. I look at my little grandchildren and cannot bring myself to tell them that one day I shall leave them, that one day their parents will leave them too, or most of all that indeed one day they too will cross that bar. I cannot bear to tell them that, but it is all too true.
Yet when the time comes for me to tell them that, I will also be able to tell them something more. I will be able to tell them that our God gives us the incredible gift of life in abundance. I will be able to tell them that our God so numbers our days that we may apply our hearts to wisdom. Most of all, I will be able to tell them that in Jesus Christ God has won the victory over death and disease, decay and destruction. I will be able to tell them what the Psalmist proclaimed: “He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from destruction.”
I told this congregation several months ago when I first came here to preach that I had just been diagnosed with cancer, but that I knew that the hand of God was already on me, because of the timely way in which an aggressive cancer had been caught. You said “Amen”. Then I said to you on another occasion, knowing that you had been praying for me, that my treatment had gone well and that all indications were that the cancer was reduced, and you responded with joy. Well, it seems that the Lord has a way of putting me in this pulpit at just the right moment, because today I can stand before you and tell you that the checkup I had this week showed a complete absence of cancer, all systems go! So let the redeemed say so, whom He has healed and delivered from death. Yes, I know that one day I must die; but until then let me give thanks for every day, for every ordinary day, for every pajamas and socks and underwear day, because each day is a witness to our life-giving God! “Let the redeemed say so”.
IV
Ah, but I hear you yet again. I hear you saying, Preacher, you still don’t have me. In the first place, you said I should be grateful because once I was lost but now I am found; but I really don’t know that I was all that lost. I’ve been a believer as long as I can remember. So nothing special with that. And, preacher, I don’t get depressed or down and out, so I don’t have anything to thank God for on that count. And the thing about getting sick or old or dying ... come on, now, I have plenty of years to live. I’ve never worried about that. So, really, preacher, what is there to be wound up about? What has the Lord done for me this year?
To you also the Psalmist speaks, for in the last part of the Psalm he addresses the ordinary guy who goes about his ordinary business, day after day after blessed day, just doing what he is supposed to do, not much going on. But the Psalmist will remind you too, Mr or Mrs Boring Normal, that God has done and is doing something for you: Psalm 107:23-32
Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the mighty waters ... some just went about doing the day’s business, so ordinary, so bland, so nothing. Just taking care of the job, paying the bills, trying to be a decent citizen, maybe giving the church a little time and leadership. But I tell you, what we do not see is that God has stilled the storms and made it possible for you to sail your little boat in quiet. God has suppressed the climate of fear and has made it possible for us to step on the streets and not worry about a dictatorial government arresting us. God has taken the ordinary workday world and has given it power and meaning, so that as you work or as you study or as you give your time to Kingdom things, plain vanilla as it all seems to be, our God is able to take it all and blend it into something beautiful for Him.
And you have meaning. You do have meaning. Your life is not just a speck of dust in a vast unfeeling universe. Your life is an integral part of the plan of God, and it matters. You matter. You are precious in His sight. Nobody can do what you are intended to do, and what you can give to the Kingdom is unique. Some go down to do business, just pajamas, socks, and underwear, and not many will notice. But somebody will be affected. Somebody will be shaped by who you are.
And so give thanks. Give thanks for the quiet, ordinary things. Give thanks for the God who comes as one infant among many, to an out-of-the-way village in a third-rate corner of the world, and transforms that ordinary human life into the Word Made Flesh. Give thanks.
And let the redeemed of the Lord jump up and down, let the redeemed of the Lord shout for joy, let the redeemed of the Lord lift voices in song. Look closely; God has given you something wonderful. Let the redeemed say so. Even when it looks like just pajamas, socks, and underwear!
