My chains are gone, my debt is paid, praise Him!

Going to work might feel like it has nothing to do with God's grand and epic purposes for your life and for the ultimate unveiling of His glorious Kingdom approaching earth in fuller measures, BUT what you feel and what is true don't always match up.  Today God is doing what only God can do--and that is a great work through you, because you have this hidden treasure in you like jars of clay full of miraculous water turning into wine!  Psalm 107 is the prayer on my mind and in my heart today as you and I go to work, study, or rest today.

"Others went to sea in ships,
(going to work)
conducting trade on the vast waters.
(Doing work)

They saw the Lord’s works,
(being mindful)
His wonderful works in the deep.
(Admiring God)

He spoke and raised a tempest
that stirred up the waves of the sea.
Rising up to the sky,
sinking down to the depths,
(GOD's initiative)

their courage melting away in anguish,
(our initial reaction)

they reeled and staggered like drunken men,
and all their skill was useless.
(Our reality)

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
(our desperate response)
and He brought them out of their distress.
(GOD's control)
He stilled the storm to a murmur,
(God's plan)
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
(God's power)
They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet.
(Our resulting praise)

Then He guided them
to the harbor they longed for.
(God's care)
Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works
for all humanity.
(Right relationship)

--
Again:

He turns rivers into desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.

(...because? There is no reason for God to do the good things He does, but everything points to a reason for Him to turn away from us because we are always dishonoring His Holiness, and relating to Him wrongly as if praise need not be constantly rising from our lips to Him.  Yet see how His goodness continually shows up!)

Let whoever is wise
pay attention to these things
and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭107:23-31, 33-35, 43‬ ‭

Consider your way of relating to God today.  Do you relate to Him on the basis of His faithfulness and Your dependence on Him or do you relate to Him based on your feelings and His dependence on what you want.

The right way of relating to God is when He is God and we are His created ones made for worship.

“Give thanks to the Lord,
for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim
that He has redeemed them
from the hand of the foe
and has gathered them from the lands —
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.

Example 1:
Some wandered in the desolate wilderness,
finding no way to a city where they could live.
(Feeling restless or without a home)

They were hungry and thirsty;
their spirits failed within them.
(Losing energy and hope)

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He rescued them from their distress.
He led them by the right path
to go to a city where they could live.
(God's action)

Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works for all humanity.
For He has satisfied the thirsty
and filled the hungry with good things.
(God's good and perfect plan!)

Example 2:
Others sat in darkness and gloom —
prisoners in cruel chains —
because they rebelled
against God’s commands
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
(Our disobedience)

He broke their spirits with hard labor;
they stumbled,
and there was no one to help.
(GOD's control)

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them from their distress.
He brought them out of darkness and gloom
and broke their chains apart.
(God's action)

Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His faithful love and His wonderful works
for all humanity.
For He has broken down the bronze gates
and cut through the iron bars.
(God's good and perfect plan!)

Example 3:
Fools suffered affliction
because of their rebellious ways
and their sins.
(Our foolishness)

They loathed all food
and came near the gates of death.
(Our situation)

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them from their distress.
He sent His word and healed them;
He rescued them from the Pit.
(God's action)

Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His faithful love and
His wonderful works for all humanity.
Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and announce His works with shouts of joy.
(God's good and perfect plan!)

But He lifts the needy out of their suffering
and makes their families multiply like flocks.

The upright see it and rejoice,
and all injustice shuts its mouth.

Let whoever is wise pay attention
to these things
and consider
the Lord’s acts of faithful love.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭107:1-43‬ ‭

This psalm shows a sequence played out in different ways.  It doesn't matter who started the oppression--whether external or internal--what matters is that God saves and we give Him praise.

Whatever your situation is, whether the cause is you or something outside of your control, it doesn't matter.  What matters is that we look to the Lord for all our needs-both ones we have control over and ones we don't.  His rescue is not contingent on our obedience but on our cry for help.  The resulting response of this kind of cry is always thankfulness.

This is the repeated sequence of Psalm 107:

1. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress.

2. Let them give thanks to the Lord
       for His faithful love and
       His wonderful works for all humanity.

Consider not what started the distress but who takes care of it. God is in control.
His part is control,
Our part is praise.

I find myself mostly in acts of disobedience and rebellion toward God, and this psalm is the freedom that I seek.  It's not who I am that compels God to rescue me, but it is who He is that compels Him to rescue me.

Thank You Lord for Your faithful love in the midst of my unfaithful love, and for Your wonderful works for all humanity,
Jmegrey