Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for his Word and ask for ears to hear, hearts to believe, and the Spirit's work as we read.
Read
Scripture Passage
Psalm 107
Thanksgiving to the Lord For His Great Works of Deliverance
1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way;
They found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Bound in affliction and irons—
11 Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And despised the counsel of the Most High,
12 Therefore He brought down their heart with labor;
They fell down, and there was none to help.
13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
And broke their chains in pieces.
15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For He has broken the gates of bronze,
And cut the bars of iron in two.
17 Fools, because of their transgression,
And because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food,
And they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
20 He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And declare His works with rejoicing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
24 They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
26 They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
Their soul melts because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
29 He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
31 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,
And praise Him in the company of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness,
And the watersprings into dry ground;
34 A fruitful land into barrenness,
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35 He turns a wilderness into pools of water,
And dry land into watersprings.
36 There He makes the hungry dwell,
That they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
37 And sow fields and plant vineyards,
That they may yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
And He does not let their cattle decrease.
39 When they are diminished and brought low
Through oppression, affliction and sorrow,
40 He pours contempt on princes,
And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
41 Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,
And makes their families like a flock.
42 The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all iniquity stops its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 107.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Across wilderness, imprisonment, sickness, storms, and sin, distressed people cry to the Lord and he delivers them; therefore the redeemed should thank him for enduring mercy and wonderful works.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Psalm 107:8
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
oh that men would give thanks to the lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men
Bryan leaves the Best Verse choice to viewers. This recurring refrain is distilled because it follows each cycle of distress, prayer, and deliverance and states the psalm's repeated response.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do
Cry out to God in trouble, trust and follow him through darkness, thank him for deliverance and mercy, and stand in awe that he remains sovereign in affliction.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
welcome to god's word for you a ministry of sharon rp church in morningsun iowa check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org we pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the lord will use it to transform your faith and your life [Music] well good morning and welcome to coffee and devotions it is wednesday morning thanks so much for joining me today this where every day we get together we get into god's word and we grow in our love for the lord together and this year 2021 we will make it through all of the wisdom literature and we are trucking along ourselves along through here so it is psalm 107 today did you know that the book of psalms is traditionally in the hebrew scriptures broken up into five different books so 150 psalms broken up into five different books and congratulations you have made it to the final book book five of the psalter so psalm 107 why don't we go ahead and have some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into god's word let's pray father we thank you we thank you for your word we pray that we might have ears to hear we pray that we might have hearts to believe we pray that your spirit would be working in us as we read your word in jesus name amen all right here we go psalm 107 let's turn over there to our psalm book oh real quick you know i don't ask you this very often this is helpful to you hit that like button let the algorithms of the internet know that this is helpful content to you all right here we go psalm 107 i'll give thanks to the lord for he is good for his mercy endures forever let the redeemed of the lord say so whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and they gathered out of their lands from the east and from the left from the west from the north and from the south they wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way they found no city to dwell in hungry and thirsty their soul fainted in them then they cried out to the lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distress he and he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place oh that men would give thanks to the lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death bound in affliction and irons because they rebelled against the words of god and despised the counsel of the most high therefore he brought down their heart with labor they fell down and there was no help then they cried out to the lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distress he brought them out of darkness in the shadow of death and broke their chains and pieces oh that men would give thanks to the lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men for he has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron in two fools because of their transgression and because of their iniquities were afflicted their soul abhorred all manner of food and they drew near to the gates of death then they cried out to the lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distress he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions oh that men would give thanks to the lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing those who go down to the sea in ships who do business on great waters they see the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep for he commands and raises the windy storm which lifts up the waves of the scene they mount up the heavens they mount up to the heavens and they go down again to the depths their souls melt because of trouble they reel to and fro and stagger like drunken men and are at their wit's end then they cry out to the lord in their trouble and he brings them out of their distress he calms the storm so the waves are still then they are glad because they are quiet so he guides them to their desired haven oh that men would give thanks to the lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works of the children of men let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people and praise him in the company of the elders he turns rivers into the wilderness and the water springs into dry ground a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of those who dwell in it he turns a wilderness into pools of water and dried land into water springs there he makes the hungry dwell that they may establish a city for a dwelling place a sow and sow fields and plant vineyards that they may yield a fruitful harvest he has he also blesses them and they multiply greatly and he does not let their cattle decrease when they are diminished and brought low through oppression affliction and sorrow he pours contempt on princes and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way yet he sets the poor on high far from affliction and makes their families like a flock the righteous see it and rejoice and all iniquity stops its mouth whoever is wise will observe these things and they will understand the lovingkindness of the lord well that's a long passage for us today let's quickly ask ourselves a what is this about b what's the best verse to summarize this and see what are we called to do in response to this like normal i'm going to leave the b to you let me know what you think is the best first to summarize this passage down in the comments let me know that but let's go ahead and look here what is he talking about in this passage well give thanks the lord for he is good for his mercies and doors forever and then we go through a series of trial and tribulation distress and hardship iniquity and sin followed by god's deliverance peace and mercy and we see this in a few different times don't we we see this in the wilderness this is what it says in verses 4 through 16. this is this is the wilderness experience that god is talking about here in those passages and then he talks about in verses 17 uh to 22. fools because of their transgressions and because of their iniquities were afflicted their soul of poor is all matter of food and he talks about people who are in their sin let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing do you see it's this this pattern here of of darkness and gloom sin and something wrong trial and and something in in flux followed by deliverance followed by praise followed by trusting on the lord we find that in verse 23 down through verse 32. by the way this is one of my favorite parts of the entire psalms i'm a sailor right i lived for four years on a boat i loved it i would have spent 20 years if the lord hadn't called me to study his word and do this with people but uh it's talking about god with the sailors they go to the ships and as they're fraught with trouble as the seas go up lifting them up into the heavens and then straight down into the depths have you ever seen this have you ever watched a show like the alaskan crab fishing shows on discovery channel these little boats were lifted high up into the air and go straight down into the bottom of the swells it's amazed that they stay afloat in the danger that they find themselves in i love the messianic picture that we have here in this passage too when the disciples got in that boat and they were going across the lake of galilee and as they were going and a mega storm came upon them and the ship was being swamped and they wake up jesus waking him up you know don't you care about us we're going to die and jesus gets up and he rebukes the wind and the waves and he says be still and there's a mega calm a great calm and the disciples with open mouths gasp what sort of man is this that even the waves in the wind obey him notice here notice here verse 28 then they cry out to the lord in their trouble and he brings them out of their distress he calms the storm so his waves are still this is the work that god does this is the work that jesus did it goes on still for another half a dozen verses or so right he turns rivers into wilderness and well spring water springs into dry ground he also blesses them and they great and they multiply greatly and he does not let their cattle decrease you see he's the one who brings calamity but he also brings wellsprings he's the one who shows mercy upon mercy when they are diminished and brought lower through oppression through oppression and affliction and sorrow verse 39 he pours contempt on princes and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way he sets the poor on high from affliction and makes their families like a flock the righteous see it and rejoice and all iniquity stops its mouth this is the messianic trajectory that god gives this is what the lord does he loves to do this he he turns the world on its head he takes the lowly things of the world and he exalts them he takes the small things and makes them great he takes affliction and he turns it into blessing i don't i don't think we need to look further than the story of joseph or the story of jesus to see that i think that's what we can rest in that god's grace is sufficient for us that we rest in who he is knowing that this is the way he does things the world doesn't like it the world doesn't understand it but we who trust in god stand in awe knowing that he's got it all under control let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we pray that we would trust you that we would follow you that we would know that in the deepest of darkness that the light shines the brightest give us hope let us know in our affliction that you are god in jesus name amen may lord bless you today may he fill you with peace and i'll see you tomorrow bye [Music] thanks for listening to this week's message from god's word for you a ministry of sharon rp church in rural southeast iowa we pray that the message would be used by god to transform your faith in your life this week if you'd like to get more information about us feel free to go to the website sharonrpc.org we'd love to invite you to worship with us our worship time is 10 a.m every sunday at 25 204 160th avenue morning sun iowa 526-40 may god richly bless you this week