The Many Storms Of Life Series

Psalm 107:1-43

“The Many Storms of Life”

In our journey with Jesus we will find ourselves in all sorts of situations.

The ups and downs.

The times of distance and distraction, and times of closeness and being firmly anchored to the Lord.

The storms and the calm.

As we face this journey this is the encouragement which comes from Psalm 107:1-3

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.

Right from the beginning we know the attitude we are to have as we read through the Psalm. It is an attitude of thankfulness that arises because of God’s character.

God is a good God.

Not vindictive. Not unjust. Not indifferent.

He is a good God who brought His people out of Egypt.

The Good God who returned the people from Exile in Babylon.

The Good God who is at work for our good, even when it may not feel like it.

God’s love endures forever.

Not fleeting. Not conditional. Not temporary.

God’s love continues to reveal itself in His acts of grace and mercy and forgiveness. The ultimate expression of that love being the giving of His One and only Son that we may not perish but have eternal life.

A visual outworking of God being good and loving is that He is a God who redeems and gathers.

He calls His people.

He builds His kingdom.

He gathers His church.

God keeps bringing His people into His family. And each one of these people has a story to tell of the way God works. This Psalm is part of that story. It is the story of those who have experienced repentance and renewal. It is the story of those who know they have a place in God’s family.

It is the story of a very varied spiritual journey.

Some make their way through that journey as Wanderers. We read about them in Psalm 107:4-9

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.

Wanderers are those who have stopped following the path.

When I was in grade 12 a group of us got lost on an overnight walk.

There was a path. We had maps and a compass. We knew where we needed to go. We were excited for the challenge.

BUT … there was a group of us who ended up just chatting to each other.

We weren’t really paying attention to where we were going. Then at some point we realised – we weren’t on the path anymore.

Thankfully we did have the map and compass. Once we were focussed we found our way back to the group … who didn’t even realise a group of us had disappeared.

Wanderers are not those who deliberately disobey God. Nor are they intentionally setting out to stop following God.

Wanderers are in the wasteland because they have become distracted.

Maybe distracted by a new opportunity.

Maybe distracted by the need to pay bills and make ends meet.

There are many distractions that can make us wander. But soon, the distraction gives way to a realisation. We are in a wasteland and we feel insecure because we have moved off the path.

And we continue to be wanderers, until we cry out to the LORD who promises to give as complete spiritual security.

In the Old Testament the promise is described in this way:-

1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;

and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”

Isaiah 55:1

In a similar way:- 35 Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty.”

John 6:35

No matter what era … OT … NT … today … the promise is the same.

It is not literal food and drink. But a promise of being given all that we need spiritually as we recover from the spiritual hunger and thirst which arise when we have wandered from the path. A promise of spiritual security.

Wandering. It can be part of our spiritual journey.