Wanderer.rebel.fool. Part 2 Series

“Wanderer. Rebel. Fool. Everyday People”

2015 Summer Series: A Study of Psalm 107 Part 2

All Scripture References from The New Living Translation. Tyndale House Publishers Inc.

We are in our new summer series called: “Wanderer. Rebel. Fool. Everyday People.”

I love that, as a church, we realize that we are a group of everyday people on mission with an extraordinary God to reach out to and love other everyday people.

In this series we are journeying through Psalm 107 together, turn there, - it is a Psalm celebrating the very, very real truth that God is good…all the time…and all the time God is good.

God is good in His nature, essence and for all eternity He will never not be good.

There are lots of other things that are not good.

Finding a used band-aid in your salad is not good.

Biting into an apple and finding a worm is not good.

Biting into an apple and finding half a worm is even more not good.

Truth be told, cancer, brokenness, emptiness, pain, disease, lostness, abuse, abandonment, addiction,…none of these are good either.

But some of these things and things like these are in our lives - and that certainly can’t be good.

A young white man shooting 9 people because they were black…that’s not good.

A young black man shooting 4 people, weeks earlier, because they were white…thats not good.

Listen to what the bible says about our goodness:

Reading from Romans 3:9-18:

“Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. 10As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. 11No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12All have turned away;

all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” 13“Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies. Snake venom drips from their lips. 14Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. 15They rush to commit murder. 16Destruction and misery always follow them. 17They don’t know where to find peace. 18They have no fear of God at all.”

The depravity of the human heart is beyond our comprehension with seemingly no redeeming qualities.

So how do we reconcile a God good with a not so good world and a not so good people?

How does our experience with God affirm that He is indeed a Good God when things are so evidently bad? PRAY

Last week I said the first three verses in Psalm 107 gives us a Declaration, an Examination and then an Invitation.

We only got to the Declaration, “He is Good, His faithful love endures forever.”

And for some that is all we need…Some of us take that at face value and live life with that perspective.

Whatever happens, triumph or tragedy, God is still good and He’ll work it all out for our good.

Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”

At Pine Cove Family Camp, in one of the adult sessions we had a very good apologetic session on doubt: Is it OK to doubt? What do you do if you have doubts? How do you answer those with doubt.

The speaker presented very compelling insight and a sound apologetic approach to doubt.

But for some it was completely unnecessary because they never struggle with doubt.

It wasn’t in their experience and it wasn’t their hang up - but for others they really had a chance to address the doubt that at times hung them up.

And for some this morning - you're just not prepared to accept, at face value, the declaration ‘that God is good and His faithful love endures forever.’

You’re really struggling with your perception and your experiences lining up with this and you need more evidence, explanation, extrapolation before you’re in…or at least so that you can explain it to your friend who is struggling with this.

That’s how some of us approached the doubt question…you see I have this friend who doubts…

We see part of the answer for the evidences of God’s goodness in the opening words of Psalm 107:

Psalm 107:1-3: “Give thanks to the lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Has the lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies. For he has gathered the exiles from many lands, from east and west, from north and south.”

An Investigation - “Has the Lord redeemed you?”

Redemption is one of the strongest evidences of the Goodness of God.