3, 2, 1, 0. From the studios of WORQ in Wisconsin, this is the Stand Up For The Truth Podcast. Today's issues, overlooked headlines and biblical observations equipping the remnant around the globe. Got your sword handy? This is Stand Up For The Truth. Good morning, it is Crash Connell, it is Tuesday, November 25, 2025, just a month away from Christmas. And a reminder that on Thursday and Friday, it's just gonna be music on Q90.fm, so no stand up for the truth. It'll take a long weekend for the staff, Thanksgiving week, so no stand up for the truth podcast, no repeats, and nothing. Thursday and Friday it's just gonna be q90 music Mary great great and after all that turkey we'll be sleeping it off anyway so there you go doesn't that make you sleepy turkey is supposed to make you tired relax the ingredient in traffic oh yeah some ingredient foul yes welcome to stand up for the truth for that invent metal Welcome to Standard for the Truth for November 25th. Paul Scharf of Friends of Israel is back with us. It's been a while. Been since February, so we have a chance to catch up with him as we head into this holiday season. And we're going to offer some encouragement today based on Psalm 107. What a great psalm. And I've entitled this podcast, Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares. My scripture is Hebrews 11, 13 to 16. And this is from the Hall of Faith chapter. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, were assured of them, embracing them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly, if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had an opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is a heavenly country. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. Let's pray together this morning. Lord, your mercies are new every morning and your grace carries us through every season, every situation. The gift of faith that you have bestowed on us confirms that your word does a great work in us that increases our faith. We're so grateful for that work in our lives. We desire to lift up your name and your word high that those outside of belief would be drawn to you as their one true hope and that they might see Jesus in us. walk among us Lord guard our hearts and minds at all times and we lift up Paul and friends of Israel to you thank you for their steadfast witness to your faithfulness to Israel your faithfulness to the church we ask for continued open doors for them and for Paul and give him grace and refreshment in all things great and small in Jesus' name, amen. Paul Scharf is a church ministries representative for the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry based in Wisconsin. Serving in the Midwest, Paul speaks regularly about Israel, Bible prophecy, and many other topics in churches and at Bible conferences all across the Midwest. and around the country. And you can find his writings and sermons at such sites as sharperiron.org, raptureready.com, just saw one yesterday. He also has a page at sermonaudio.com. Friends of Israel is foi.org. Paul, welcome back to Standard for the Truth. Hey, Mary, it's great to be with you as we get ready for Thanksgiving. Yes, it is. It's great to talk to you again, Paul. I'm thinking that Friends of Israel is probably busier than ever. Our listeners might not know that the ministry was founded back in the late 1930s because of one event in particular called Kristallnacht, the anniversary of which we just observed earlier this month. We mentioned that on Standard for the Truth. And that was the inspiration for some God-fearing men to start a ministry defending the Jews. There was no regathered Israel yet. These men knew that Europe was changing rapidly and that the Jews were in the crosshairs. Talk to us about that because that to me is such a blessing to know that God put men in this position to defend the Jews before there was even a homeland, but they knew what was going on. Talk to us a little bit about the beginnings of Friends of Israel. Yes, Mary, that was Kristallnacht, was November 9 and 10 in 1938. A horrendous bloodbath of persecution by the Nazi regime against the Jewish people in Germany and beyond. 30,000 Jewish men taken off for the first time to concentration camps, Dachau, Buchenwald, and Sachsenhausen. And just incredible damage. horrific story. I was privileged to write a blog for the Friends of Israel about that for the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht two years ago and titled Walking Over Broken Glass and people can read that at foi.org and other sites if they're interested and get a lot more details but three weeks later as you mentioned on December 1st out of that broken glass, God put together a masterpiece, if you will, of the Friends of Israel Refugee Relief Committee, it was first called. And I've been to the beautiful, historic Witherspoon Building in downtown Philadelphia, where those people met. And the Friends of Israel was born out of that catastrophe as a response, as an immediate reply to the need for the Jewish people in Europe and around the world. And of course, the ministry has changed and grown through these many years. But as you said, those forefathers of the ministry had the foresight to name it, not the friends of the Jewish people, but the friends of Israel when there was no Israel. because they were sort of like pilgrims on the earth believing that God was going to fulfill his promises, his future plan to restore the nation of Israel. Yes, the Holy Spirit was definitely guiding them. Israel trips, Paul, have you been able to take any? Are there any specific ones through Friends of Israel? I think it's been a while since you were able to go over there. I have still not been to Israel. I have to say, uh, that's a long story. And I've, uh, I've, uh, missed several opportunities when they might have potentially gone, but, uh, I'm still waiting for that. But the friends of Israel, the good news is has resumed the regular educational tours in Israel. Um, and, um, there was one just in October, late October, early November. that I was hoping to go. I was providentially hindered from going again this time, but The trips have resumed, so people can go to FOI.org and find information about those tours going forward. Okay. Sounds good. We want to talk today about Psalm 107, and I really enjoyed reading through it in the last day or two. I saw some things I had never seen before, and we want to talk about that this morning. I think people will find this encouraging, so I'm just going to take about two minutes and lay some groundwork here before we jump into that psalm today. When the Bible refers to pilgrims, it's not talking about someone who makes a pilgrimage to a holy site, such as you would find in Islam. We hear that a lot about them making their pilgrimages, for instance. In Israel trips, sometimes they're called pilgrimages, but we don't venerate sites. We just walk where Jesus walked. But rather, those who have a mindset for the kingdom to come and live in hopeful expectation. That's what we're talking about here. because this world is not our permanent home. We're only here for a very short time and we're in eternity forever. And I found it very insightful about what Peter says about this because Christians also want to be effective in this world. We want to be salt and light. We want to find that balance. In 1 Peter 2, in the section about pilgrims and sojourners, He writes about submitting to temporal authorities, Peter does. He says, for this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men. So there's that balance, there's that salt and light, being in the world but not of it. And we have some, just a few examples I'm going to mention in the scriptures. Abraham, he was called by God to leave his home and journey to a new land. He is a prime example of a pilgrim, that's Genesis 12. Jacob, we read the phrase, the days of the years of my pilgrimage, he says, in reference to his life in the land of Canaan, Genesis 47. David, even as king, he described himself as a stranger and a sojourner with God, similar to a pilgrim. And finally, The people of Israel, the Israelites were often referred to as a pilgrim people who lived in tents during their exodus from Egypt, reflecting their temporary status in the wilderness as they journeyed towards the promised land. Paul, it's a mindset, isn't it? I think the church struggles with this notion of being pilgrims because we want to be able to be salt and light. to see the Lord work in our family and friends in our culture and all that. But I think the church struggles with this mindset of looking for the next life. Maybe just humans in general do that, Paul, because we are so into what we're doing here. But can the church do a better job of seeing that we are just passing through, I guess, is my question for you this morning. Oh sure, and that can be a hard lesson to learn, isn't it? Yes. Too many dangers, toils and snares. I think that's my life hymn verse that you quoted there. I suppose the opposite of being a pilgrim, and of course, being Thanksgiving week, let me just say, and we're going to talk a little bit about, I love the pilgrims, the pilgrim story. I've been preaching and teaching about the pilgrims for almost 30 years now, studying them. And I just love their history and the impact they made on our country and the examples they are as believers. And all of us should be pilgrims, as you mentioned. I suppose the opposite of that would be to be an earth dweller, which is mentioned numerous times in the book of Revelation. You know, those who dwell upon the earth, those whose roots go down, down, down into the soil and into the rocks, setting up their kingdom on this earth and not looking for the world and the life to come, as you mentioned. We want to be movable, flexible, usable in God's hands, open hands to the Lord and allow him to direct our paths, and he often times doesn't want us to be too comfortable, does he? He wants us to be like those pilgrims that we're going to talk about. especially the church, it should be pointing the way to the kingdom to come and the need for salvation because if we become like the world, we have lost our savor. We absolutely have and I think that has happened. I want to ask you about that phrase, so heavenly minded, you're no earthly good. You know, as I get older in the Lord and older in life, I think, Paul, I don't think that's even possible. If you are that heavenly minded, you will be of great earthly good, maybe not in the way the world says. What do you think of that phrase? Because I just don't like that phrase at all. Well, you know, maybe it's a mark of our culture. I haven't heard many people talking about that lately. Well, that's telling, isn't it? That's very telling. But I suppose there could be someone who is, you know, in sort of a clumsy way becomes quote-unquote, so heavenly-minded, you know, that they sort of have their head in the clouds, so to speak. Not very practical, not very aware, but that's what I think of maybe the value of that phrase could be. You're right. I don't know that that's our main problem in society and our culture today that we have too many people that are too heavenly minded to be of any earthly kind. You're right. I have not heard that in a long time. I don't even know why it came to mind, but people have said it in the past. Very interesting. Let's talk about the Pilgrim's Psalm. Psalm 107 is called the Pilgrim's Psalm, and it's not because they saw themselves. It referenced historically, oh look, there are the pilgrims in the Psalms. That's not it, and I want to make sure that people understand we are not saying that they are in that Psalm, but because they related to it personally on a level that perhaps we can try and understand because we are all pilgrims. But when they came ashore, let's talk about it historically, Paul. Governor William Bradford refers to this psalm in his remarks. Talk to us about that, chapter nine of Plymouth Plantation. I have not read it, but he does talk about that. Yeah, and for those for whom this is all new, let me just give a quick bit of context to that. Governor William Bradford, Bradford, along with Elder William Brewster, who was basically, Brewster basically adopted Bradford. Bradford is 12 years old when he begins to walk many miles to the Pilgrim Church in Scrooby, England. And Brewster and Bradford are with the Pilgrim Church all the way from England, through their 12 years in Holland, all the way to the New World. By the way, some people listening may not even know that the Pilgrim Church was a single local church congregation. that basically moved their facilities. They just moved them a lot farther than most churches do today. They went from Eastern England to 12 years in Holland and then over here to the New World. But Bradford and his story in itself is incredible. And then he became governor of the colony for 30 years and had the most amazing life in God's providence. And he wrote about all this in the book you mentioned of Plymouth Plantation, which is our major record of the pilgrim story. And in chapter nine, he wrote these words and he's referring to Psalm 107 in numerous ways here. Let me just read briefly. He says, let them therefore praise the Lord because He is good and His mercies endure forever. Yea, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord show how He has delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness and His wonderful works before the sons of men. And so as you said, Psalm 107, it's been called the Pilgrim Psalm. I don't believe, as you said, I don't believe it prophesied of the pilgrims, but it has some amazing parallels to their story. And they looked at it and said, wow, this looks like our situation and our need to return praise to the Lord God. And of course, that's above all probably what the pilgrims have become famous for, is of course, giving us our Thanksgiving celebration. Yes, they read from Psalm 107 upon their arrival, and they had a time of fasting and prayer because there were droughts. There was a very tough winter, Paul, right? I mean, a lot of them did not make it through that first winter because of food issues, drought, illness no doubt, a very stressful trip, illness and that sort of thing. But then some rain came, saved their harvest, and then Governor Bradford declared a public day of Thanksgiving. And that is what we celebrate on Thursday. And I love the deep dive here because we We look at our holidays, we kind of take them for granted. We say, well, I'm going to have this time off, or so-and-so will be deer hunting. You know what I mean? We kind of just touch it lightly and we take it for granted, but when you think about the real people that endured. That is something that I think we really do well to understand. I'm really grateful for your historical references in there. There's a repeated refrain in this psalm about thankfulness. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. And that is in four verses in this psalm. So that's a refrain. and they felt that this captured their call to give thanks for God's providence and deliverance. And we'll talk more about giving thanks, but let's look at Psalm 107, Paul, because the divisions are really wonderful. They really jump out at you. Different seasons in human beings' sojourns, if you will, in which it would be easy to despair, but God was already in those seasons, right, Paul? God was already there. So let's just start out. There are four sections. there's a wilderness wandering there's a section about imprisonment a section about affliction and sickness and storms at sea what I call soul melting storms it actually says that in the scripture so I'm just gonna start with the first few verses and I'm gonna say something about that Paul and then we're gonna jump into the first section it starts Psalm 107 starts with Oh give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endures forever let the redeemed of the Lord say so and whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy verse 3 and gathered out of the lands from the east and from the west from the north and from the south so Paul this psalm starts out with talking about God his character he is good he reveals himself to us throughout scripture we know that he's good Paul based on an observational level we know he's good because he's good to us so personal level experiential level and his faithfulness and we've got to be thankful for for his goodness and his faithfulness. And Paul, I'm thinking about God's, you know, the song, God shed his grace on thee, the general grace that God has on humans. And I think we don't think about that very often, but there's a general grace where we can say, you know, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. And oh, that the sons of men would do this sort of thing. So let's just talk about that introduction and how it lays the foundation for the rest of the psalm. He is good, isn't he, Paul? Yes, and people may notice if I can give a homework assignment to our listeners for Thanksgiving, I would encourage them to read Psalm 105, 106, and 107, and they will see the three Psalms start the same way. Now, they're not the same context. I believe God providentially brought these Psalms together in the Book of Psalms and unifies them. Actually, the first two of these, Psalm 105 and 106, go back earlier. Well, excuse me, 105 goes back to the time of David when he brought the Ark of the Covenant back into the tabernacle. And so that is described there. Psalm 105 is taken from parallel to 1 Chronicles 16, beginning in verse 8. And Psalm 105 really details the history of Israel and gives a sort of a bird's-eye view of the history of Israel based around God's faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant. And people will see that throughout that Psalm. And then Psalm 106 begins the same way as Psalm 105, but it refers to God's faithfulness in bringing his people back from captivity and back from exile. which is the same as Psalm 107, but Psalm 107, you'll notice, even though it's interesting, these Psalms are put together in the book of Psalms, but yet Psalm 107, people might see in their Bible above it that it actually begins the fifth book of the Psalms, book five. So there's differences, but similarity, and they're placed together here in the Psalter, I think on purpose, divinely. for us to make that connection there. And you'll also see Psalm 106, it ends with this prayer, even though the people are back from captivity, they pray for the ultimate restoration of Israel in the future. Verse 47, save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the people say, amen, praise the Lord. And then Psalm 107 begins, as you mentioned, and it talks again about praise for God, temporarily bringing his people back from exile and from captivity. And then beginning in verse four, it goes into these four different groups of people that we might see ourselves in, who each have a fourfold plan, a paradigm for what to do in their troubles given to them by God. Yes, and I want to read, if people don't have it in front of them, we're going to take each section. I'm just going to read the verses so people can, as you're listening, you'll get the most out of this. I'm talking to Paul Scharf today on Standing for the Truth, and we're talking about the Pilgrim Psalm 107. This is very interesting. So the first section could be labeled wandering or those who are wanting, they're poor, they're fainting. I'm just gonna read these verses. 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 distresses. And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. And here's our refrain. 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 and Paul we see here right away God is there in the difficult seasons and we go through wildernesses don't wildernesses don't we I mean if you live long enough before Christ after Christ there are very difficult seasons and so sometimes we wander aimlessly but you know what we always hunger and thirst for righteousness don't we Paul you know and then we call on Jesus and he delivers us but there's some dark seasons in life aren't there Paul There certainly are. This is not the section of the psalm that the pilgrims stand out from, but there is even some similarity here. They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way. They found no city to dwell in. They were hungry. They were thirsty. Their soul fainted. I call that the conundrum or the conflict. And then each of these four sections, it follows this pattern. Then there's a cry. They cried out to the Lord, he said. and he delivered them out of their distresses. They cried and he delivered. And then, but if he delivers us, then there's a command that follows. And I'm using that generally, it's not necessarily an imperative here, but there's direction for their life, isn't there? Verse seven. He led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. They're gonna start trusting him now for their guidance, you see. And then it ends with, well, excuse me, then we go on to verse eight, which is really the command to praise the Lord. As you said, oh, that man would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness. and for his wonderful works to the children of men. So verse six, we have this crying out in each of the four sections. And then we have the command to give praise and thanks to the Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works to the children of men. And then each section ends with a word of consecration. And it reminds us for he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. And so they can find their contentment, their rest, their direction in him. Yeah. Even in persecution, even in really, really difficult times. And each one of these sections, the beautiful part of it is you can meditate on just one section and you can walk away or you can come back and take the psalm as a whole. But I love that. So we have that very first one that fits that pattern. the conundrum or the conflict, the cry, the command, and the consecration. Now, we're going to take a break shortly, but I'm going to jump into this second part. I'm going to read the verses, Paul. We'll start to talk about them. If we have to take a break, so be it, but we'll come back with more. But the second section, Psalm 107, we can call it imprisonment. I think that's a good definition there. It starts with verse 10. 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. There was none to help. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke their chains in pieces. 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 into that's our second section here and Paul I'm thinking on a general level here we were slaves to sin we were bound by Satan's chains we all were and he broke those chains talk to us we got a minute or so here talk to us about these four conundrum cry the command the consecration Well, this is one that may apply to someone listening in a literal sense. Maybe we have someone listening who's in prison or who's been in prison or who's facing prison, literally, or even something related to that. That's a dark, difficult place, the shadow of death, the psalmist calls it, bound in affliction and irons. They need to cry out to the Lord today and seek his direction and allow him to work in their lives to bring them out of that darkness and break those chains in pieces. And then praise God and allow him to remake their lives out from these bars of iron. But we may have more listening. I think we could apply this section further to other situations by way of application. How about those who've been hospitalized or are facing some life-threatening illness or other tragedy? They're not in prison. They may not be the result of wrongdoing, but they certainly today might be sitting in a place of darkness in the shadow of death, bound in affliction. And I think they could, by extension, see themselves in this situation as well and cry out to the Lord and just ask him to bring them out of that darkness in the shadow of death and break those chains. And then they could give thanks to the Lord. So I think more people maybe could see themselves in that setting if we apply it in that way. Yeah. Well, I really like that because I think sometimes these things, it says he delivered them out of their distresses. And that's, that's a promise for all generations. That's a promise for all of us. And we're all bound in some way, whether it's sin, even creation since the fall. Creation is in bondage to this world. Creation groans and we groan. So there's always some element of distress and groaning that we are all personally going through. And so that, and we have a bit of a prison planet too. There's a lot of control coming. We see in prophecy that there will be a lot of control in the future via technology. So what a great psalm, what a great section. We've done two sections already. We have two more to go. And I'm talking to Paul Scharf today, friendsofisrael.org. And we're encouraging by way of Psalm 107. God's word never returns void, always an encouragement. So we're gonna be back in two minutes with more with Paul Scharf. We have two more sections to go with Psalm 107. We're gonna talk about gratitude and a few other things. So stay with us. Back in two. Our social media pages are shadowbanned. Thanks for your prayers and sharing our posts at StandUpWithTheTruth.com. Welcome back to Stand Up For The Truth. It is Tuesday, November the 25th during this Thanksgiving week and we are exploring Psalm 107 and it's not about gratitude per se but it is an encouragement about the things that people all through the centuries have gone through that have kind of melted their souls. I love that this is actually a verse in here in one of the sections, soul melting. We want to just encourage people because I know a lot of people are going through things that are difficult, illness, discouragement, grief. because of loss and this is a difficult world that we live in but we want to encourage you and so Psalm 107 also called the Pilgrim Psalm not simply because not because they saw themselves in it but because historically but because they were encouraged by it so we're in section 3 here and this section we could call affliction and I'm going to read the verses and then we're going to discuss fools because of their transgression and because of their say all are guilty we were born ruined there but anyway verse 18 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 distresses he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions here's our refrain oh that man would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and his wonderful works to the children of men let them sacrifice with sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing and as we said earlier Paul this was a very rough time for the pilgrims who left everything to seek religious freedom from persecution what do you want to tell us about this section Well, this section stands out to me because I think we can all find ourselves in this one. I don't think we have any trouble. When it begins with the word fools, we all sort of raise our hand or maybe both hands and say, yes, I've done something foolish since last Thanksgiving, more than once. In a fool in biblical wisdom literature, is not someone who gets an F on the test, necessarily. It's someone who's inept, but also corrupt. Really, wickedness is at the heart of foolishness and folly in the Bible, and all of us have folly within ourselves, and all of us do things that, because of our transgressions and our iniquities, we're afflicted. It's our own fault. We've done something, can we just say we've done something stupid? and we've paid the price. In fact, to the point that verse 18, their soul abhorred all manner of food and they drew near to the gates of death. I think of two great men in the Bible Moses and Elijah, who each prayed basically a prayer that we should never pray, and certainly no one should ever act on, and if they are tempted, they should reach out for help immediately. But that's the prayer like Elijah prayed, Lord, it's enough, take my life. It's just enough. And these people are at that point, but notice what happens to them. They make their cry, they cry it out to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. Notice verse 20, He sent His word and healed them. and delivered them from their destructions. That reminds me of Psalm 103, another wonderful psalm, verse four says, he redeems your life from destruction. And notice, he sent his word and healed them. They had a physical problem, but the word of God worked in them spiritually, and our bodies and souls and spirits are so closely knit together The problems of one affect all, and also the healing of one affects all. And God can use his word and heal us in our spirit, and it can have an effect even on our body. And he says, O that men, the refrain, as you mentioned, would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. And then the verse 22 of the passage ends with this word of consecration, let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving. and declare his works with rejoicing. That one really amazes me because that sounds kind of like the New Testament, more than the Old Testament, doesn't it? Hebrews 13, 15, by him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. And the psalmist here is sort of previewing a New Testament mentality, if you will. It's not the sacrifice that you're going to bring that pleases God physically nearly as much as it would be if you would sacrifice the sacrifice of thanksgiving from your heart with words and works of rejoicing. Thank you for that insight. goosebumps I really I really love that and people who haven't read the Bible they think they know what's in it they don't understand the humanity that's in the Bible when David reaches you know the bottom when people reach it can't go any lower than what they have gone and God's promises I I don't think people understand that if there's people all throughout from the epic fail of Adam and Eve to God's plan and the fail of Israel and the things that we do and the It just reflects the wonderful humanity that we all have and how God meets us where we are. And if people say, well, I've never had a dark night of the soul, well, there's a good chance you will. Something will come along in your life that reflects the fallen world that we live in, the default of death and separation. It happens to every human. And that's what's so beautiful about these psalms. Well, let's look at part four. I call it storms. And this, I think, is maybe the closest thing that the pilgrims could relate to. And verse 23 says, those who go down to the sea and ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord, his wonders in the deep. For he commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths, their soul melts. because of trouble. Wow. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and they are at their wits end. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble and he brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm so that its 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 to the children of men. Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people and praise him in the company of the elders. This is corporate Thanksgiving, isn't it? Absolutely. And as you mentioned, this is the part of the psalm that really gives us the name, the Pilgrim Psalm, where, excuse me, if people haven't read this psalm before, they may look at it and say, wow, That sounds like the pilgrims. And the pilgrims looked at this and, of course, could apply it to their own situation. Again, I don't believe it prophesied of the pilgrims. Some believe that the psalmist actually was talking about the prophet Jonah here, perhaps. We don't know that for sure. It is the longest of the four sections. It's the most unique of the four sections. And the author uses a little bit of different Hebrew terminology, I think, to emphasize and set it apart. compared with the parallel sections that we've gone through. But it's astounding, isn't it? The way it talks about going down to the sea and ships and the great waters and the stormy winds. And it reminds us of that pilgrim voyage that the fathers and mothers of our country took back in in 1620, 66 storm-tossed days with the Mayflower rolling side to side and pitching front to back. And Bradford of Plymouth Plantation, he called that trip an adventure almost worse than death. And really, humanly speaking, there's almost no reason they should have survived the voyage. In fact, There's some interesting anecdotes about that, that God led the pilgrims through to simply allow them to live and arrive here on these shores. And the pilgrims had a name for those situations that they endured when God brought them through. They didn't think everything that happened was a miracle. but they understood and used the term that we need to reclaim, that is providence, God's providence. He's our provider. And they in fact had a term when something happened that really was inexplicable, they called it God's unusual providence. Maybe there's someone listening who this year can say, yeah, I experienced God's unusual providence. I shouldn't even be here for Thanksgiving, but I've had God's unusual providence. Or maybe there's someone listening who says, I need God's unusual providence. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man. The pilgrims could relate to that. They're at their wits' end. The Mayflower was filled with A minority of the travelers, of course, were the pilgrims, but they had to combine from two ships down to one. Some may remember that part of the story and was totally cramped and overwhelmed and women and children would never be on a voyage like that to begin with. Everyone was sick to their stomach, if I can say it that way, and people can think about that if they want, but sick in every way for the entire 66-day journey, with no privacy and no facilities. I mean, imagine the horrendous situation. But they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storm so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet, so he guides them to their desired haven. Again, it's almost the language of the pilgrims, because the pilgrims use the language of the Bible. And it reminds us of their story. Interesting. Interesting. It's almost Job-like. And I see, especially when they say he commands and raises the stormy wind which lifts up the waves of the sea. There's something very Job-like about that. But also, verse 24. It says they see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. They were well aware that there was a power there that was much bigger than they were when you see that dark, dark ocean and they knew. They knew what it was. I'm thinking here while you're talking, Paul, Thanksgiving is the biggest travel day of the year. Okay, so we hear that all the time and people talk about, oh, I'm going to miss my flight or it's going to snow and it might be a little slippery. Just read Psalm 107 verses 23 to 32 for a little attitude adjustment about, oh, how horrible it is to travel on Thanksgiving. Right, Paul? Right, right. Yeah, and our travel today does not compare with theirs in terms of hardship. Here's what, in fact, Bradford said in a Plymouth Plantation about the trip later. Looking back, he said, being thus arrived in a good harbor and brought safe to land, They fell upon their knees and blessed the God of heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element. You know, we forget these pilgrims were very, very simple people, aside from Brewster, and a couple others, and really Bradford was discipled by Brewster. But most of these people were very simple people of the land. They were farmers. They were not world travelers. They were not seafaring people by trade. Again, they really had no business, humanly speaking, even making such a trip. But for God's providence in their lives and God's just overwhelming, against all overwhelming odds, provided for their needs. And I love how he wants people to give thanks in the company of one another as it should be that you know we have church at the end here let them let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people and praise him in the company of the elders we should be doing that as often as possible right Paul being thankful with the body of Christ with the brethren do it in public and let you know let the redeemed of the Lord say so I think is what we're talking about yeah Absolutely, and the pilgrim certainly modeled that as well. Yes, yes. And then the psalm concludes and people can we have we are minimal time today because we're on the clock. We'll let people finish that psalm. Do you want to say something about the end? I don't want to keep you from saying anything about it. Well, again, let me remind everyone of their assignment to read Psalm 105, 106 and 107 and consider the background. perhaps with the help of a good Bible study aid, but especially just read the verses and see how these Psalms move from the history of Israel and God's faithfulness to his covenant with Abraham, to his faithfulness in each of our lives. We've covered a lot of ground, Mary, with this, and certainly much, much more that could be said than what we've only scratched the surface. But Psalm 107 ends It's amazing. It talks about the natural world that we've been thinking about here, the rivers and the wilderness and the desert and so forth. God can use that for our chastening, verse 33 and 34, or He can use it for our blessing, verse 35 through 38. And people could read and meditate on that, I think, and see more of their situation there and their need. And then it ends with another, more reasons to praise the Lord generally. And then this psalm, which began with praise, it ends with a promise. Verse 43, it sounds like something out of the book of Proverbs. Whoever is wise will observe these things. and they will understand the loving kindness of the Lord. In other words, you want to quit being a fool, a wicked person who's constantly chastened by the Lord? Okay, here is wisdom. Observe what is written in Psalm 107. Consider what the Lord says. May the Lord give you understanding of his loving kindness and his ways and his works within and among his people. as you see yourself in Psalm 107 and respond and trust the Lord and then follow his guidance. And then you'll be on your way to being like a pilgrim, won't you? Yeah. Yes, absolutely. All this to say, this is the mindset of the pilgrim, which we opened up with this morning. And I really like talking about this because while we're just observing this Psalm, you know, maybe from 5,000 feet, there's so much more there, but to give people a general way to approach Psalm 107 and the application, Paul, thank you, has been so wonderful here. I want to talk briefly about, before we talk about the Bible that the pilgrims had, I want to talk about a life of gratitude and how important that is because as I get older, I find myself, I am more grateful. I figured out how to just stop expecting so much of this world, stop expecting so much of life. And I think that comes with age. The simple things give me a lot of joy. I used to wonder why older people go birdwatching. Well, now I know why. It's the simple things. that are so wonderful. So just a couple of quick comments on this and we'll move on. But first Thessalonians 5, 16 to 18 says, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That's pretty straightforward there. We give thanks because he is good, his love endures forever, Psalm 136, his mercy endures forever. So it's a multiple choice situation. And I wanna also address one more thing about gratitude, Paul, and that is Romans 1 talks about those who suppress the truth of God reject him it's connected with a lack of gratitude and thankfulness this always amazes me when I read Romans 1 it's presented as a root sin which leads to a distortion of the understanding of who God is Paul Romans 1 that is fascinating they were not thankful Wow. Yeah, that's really my favorite negative verse about thankfulness. Yes, it is. Because it preaches, the sermon sort of preaches itself there in Romans 1, 21, when Paul is talking about the degeneracy of mankind or of any society or any culture, any people. because of the depravity of man, our fallen nature is exhibited in these incredible ways that Paul describes that bring about the wrath of God. This is the classic passage in the New Testament on how God displays his wrath during this age of the church or grace. And as you said, I like to picture it like this, Mary. It's like, think of the opening scene of a horror movie. And I'm not advocating horror movies, but we've all seen something like this. And there's deep darkness and fog, and there's a stairwell going down deep into the ground. And as you step into that, under those stairs, your foot hits a broken tread. and you go into a free fall into everlasting darkness of eternal hell. And that is, you say, well, what is the broken step? The broken step is ingratitude. Romans 121, all of this comes apart right here. They knew God, but they did not glorify him as God. They're without excuse, in fact, because of this, and God's gonna reveal his wrath upon them. Why? because they were not thankful. That's the broken step. That's the key to everything right there. It is. It is. It is sinful to live a life of ingratitude. It is sinful and it leads. It's a path downward like you said and it's a free fall. And that is something we all have to take very seriously. And I think with our kids, teaching them to be thankful, that should be the normal response to God's work in the world. All you have to do is look up and behold the glory of God. You should be thankful. And it will keep our kids from being spoiled and entitled through materialism, which seems to define and occupy so much of American thinking. So that's really, really important that we teach our kids to be thankful. We could go on about this all day, Paul, but I want to give you a chance to talk about the Bible that the pilgrims had, the Geneva Bible, those who left Europe for freedom. Tell us about that. Well, Mary, we've talked today a little bit about the pilgrims. Let me just say, people can find a lot more teaching from me on the pilgrims on my page on sermonaudio.com slash P-S-C-H-A-R-F, P-sharv. I love the pilgrims, as I've mentioned, and out of my passion for understanding more about the pilgrims, came in the providence of God, a passion for studying about the Geneva Bible. Because you really can't understand the pilgrims without understanding the impact of the Geneva Bible that was translated in Geneva, Switzerland, first coming out in 1557, the New Testament in Psalms. This is the first English Bible version taken directly, the whole Bible taken directly from the original languages. And it was put together there in Geneva, which was a hotbed of Bible texts and Bible translation because the people were forced out of England under the rule of Bloody Mary and the persecution in England as England returned to Roman Catholicism during the reign of Mary in the 1550s. and so 1553 to 1558. And so many men gathered there in Geneva. They also fled other places as well, but in Geneva comes this Bible translation, which would impact the history of Bible translation all the way down to our time and would totally impact the history of our nation as it was brought here, especially by the pilgrims and the Puritans who really built their lives on the Geneva Bible, the translation and the study notes. It was the world's first study Bible. and it had a tremendous impact on their thinking and it was absolutely essential to their whole life and worldview and they lived it out and of course that was what drove them to leave England and to pursue a place where they could have freedom as separatists to live out and practice their faith all built really on what they were learning from the Geneva Bible as people, and this is putting a lot together quickly, but people need to remember that we're talking about a time in which no one previously could afford to own a Bible. Certainly, especially before the beginning of the printing press and mass production of the Bible to some extent. And then most people couldn't read a Bible. So this is all coming out of a hundred years of history of the Reformation in Europe and the pilgrims, the separatist believers in God's providence live at a time when they can now actually have a Bible that they can read and afford to own. Maybe several families would have to share one together, but at least they could access it and they could read it in their language and it had study helps to guide them and they build their lives upon it and it changed the world. And it was the first English Bible to use the verse numbers. Yes. Yeah. That's interesting. And some people have mixed feelings about that. Well, they weren't they weren't numbered. And so sometimes thoughts change from chapter to chapter. But nevertheless, that is significant part of this Bible. Yeah, there are a number of firsts about it. I've actually written a new article about the Geneva Bible for Thanksgiving. People can find it on my sermon audio page and on a number of other websites. But it is absolutely the Bible that built America. And people may be surprised to hear that and think, they may believe it would be the King James Version that built America. But actually, if you don't know the story, King James, is the one who persecuted the pilgrims and got them out of England. In fact, he had a campaign slogan about the pilgrims. I don't know if he had it on a bumper sticker on his card or anything, but it went like this. He said, I will make them conform. or I will harry them out of the land. And of course that's a fancy way of saying you can't stay but you can't go. Basically, you can't live here. He was an interesting character. Yeah, King James was an interesting character. He persecuted the pilgrims severely. He did. Wow, so much more we could say, Paul Scharf. I so appreciate your time today. And we'll have to do this again sometime, because there's no end of material in the scriptures. And I love the context that you brought to this about the pilgrims and the Reformation making that connection there. If you look at Geneva Bibles on Amazon, they have the Apocrypha in them. But I want to mention that the Puritans were the ones who had the discernment to say the Apocrypha is not the canon of scripture. So there's a whole other story there. Whoops, I hit my microphone. Thank you, Paul. God bless you. I hope you have a nice Thanksgiving. All right. Thank you, Mary. And to you and everyone listening, happy Thanksgiving. Thanks much. All right. Tomorrow, headlines with Tim, as usual, leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. And like I said, Crash had said earlier, we won't be here Thursday or Friday, but there will be some edifying music for you to listen to. So, you know, my verse that I love the most, therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And you can find that in First Corinthians 1558. We love our listeners. Thank you so much for listening and go to church Sunday. Get together with the brethren and give thanks to the Lord in the sanctuary, in the company of the brethren. So God bless and we will see you tomorrow here on Standard for the Truth.