107:1-2 We praise God because He is good. We experience His goodness throughout our lives as He merciful. He redeems us; rescues and then restores us. He gathers us, provides for us, protects us, and teaches us along the way. All of it done out of love.
107:3 Our relationship with God is built on trust. On both sides. We dedicate our lives to His philosophy of righteousness and He dedicates Himself to us. East, west, north, south; up, down; sad, happy; strong, weak... not matter what place or position or countenance He finds us in, He comes for us. To share in our joy and to provide it. To strengthen our weakness, hone our self-discipline, to comfort, to teach. He fills every need.
107:4-9 Life without God is a desert. A desolate place. We depend on things that are not constant or necessarily good for us. We have hunger and thirst for soul-deep peace, so seemingly difficult to obtain. Wearied or distressed, He hears and answers to cry. Able and willing to change the circumstances that harm us. He leads us out of the desert and into His kingdom. A garden, a home, a place of spiritual provision. Rest for our bodies and minds. He is a leader, our Shepherd, and only to good and safe places does He lead.
Gratitude for His wonderful works is essential. Our soul longs for it, benefits from it, luxuriates in the space of worship. In many ways, it it our natural, spiritual state.
107:10-12 To walk away from God, from righteousness, is to walk directly into darkness; it is to surrender oneself as slave to the world, and to the greed and vulnerability and anxiety of the human condition. From that desperate place, realization came and the people cried out to God. They wanted to return, and luckily for us, God always welcomes us back.
107:13-14 Indeed they cried out to Him and He heard and cared. He saved. He drew them out of those dark places and broke the chains that bound them there.
107:15-16 Oh that humanity would live in gratitude to God, who has steadfastly broken the gates that trap us within places, relationships, habits, additions, emotions that have held us captive. The Lord the working miracles everyday in the hearts and minds and lives of His children.
107:13-14 Indeed they cried out to Him and He heard and cared. He saved. He drew them out of those dark places and broke the chains that bound them there.
107:15-16 Oh that humanity would live in gratitude to God, who has steadfastly broken the gates that trap us within places, relationships, habits, additions, emotions that have held us captive. The Lord the working miracles everyday in the hearts and minds and lives of His children.
107:17-22 Many people blame their affliction on a flippant or absent god; many in the Bible did the same. But their condition was created through their iniquities and transgressions. They made choices that opposed the word of God, and so it is no wonder that those choices yielded opposite results.
Despite His innocence, God chooses to save. Continually. Even though He is frequently, wrongly blamed, He rushes in to save people from their own mistakes. Therefore He deserves to be praised. We have cause to rejoice and live with gratitude. His wonderful works change and reform and heal our lives.
Despite His innocence, God chooses to save. Continually. Even though He is frequently, wrongly blamed, He rushes in to save people from their own mistakes. Therefore He deserves to be praised. We have cause to rejoice and live with gratitude. His wonderful works change and reform and heal our lives.
107:23-32 God disciplines His children with tough love sometimes. He stirs stormy winds that grow our character and strengthen our faith. We feel off-kilter for a little while, less so if we listen to and trust Him, and then He plants us firmly in peace. We cry out to Him that we have heard and He hears us. The waves still. It's quiet like never before; His guidance is more prominent than ever. Oh, that we would praise Him for His instruction, His discipline, His love. Exalt and praise the Lord precipitates the conditions within which we are made new, wiser, stronger, kinder.
107:33-34 God has ordered the world such that an evil lifestyle starves and thirsts itself out of life.
107:35-38 A righteous lifestyle drinks and eats and yields new life.
107:35-38 A righteous lifestyle drinks and eats and yields new life.
107:39-42 Evil meets destruction. God ensures it. He takes their desert place and removes them from it. He turns the desert into a garden and moves the righteous in. The land yields all His blessings.
107:43 The beginning of wisdom is the fear/reverence of the Lord, Proverbs 9:10. The Lord is understood by the righteous.
