Turn with me now in your Bibles, please, to the book of Psalms and Psalm 107. Psalm 107 is our scripture reading this evening and our study together tonight. I mentioned to you this morning about my decision to use the theme, the steadfast love of God, for the Synod devotions. And I thought I would choose another place where we find a good bit of repetition about the steadfast love of God. I didn't mention to you this morning, but probably many of you thought about it and recognized that The fact that that term is used so often throughout the Psalms means that there are just numerous Psalms where you find that term, but there are a few where you find it excessively. And Psalm 136 is one of those, and I didn't choose to go there this evening. But in Psalm 136, that phrase is repeated in every single verse, the second half of the verse. And I think probably one of the reasons for that, in addition to simply the importance of reflecting on that expression, is it was a memory aid as well. It was being used in that way particularly to help the people remember all of these different things. Well, you're going to find in Psalm 107, there's a repetition as well. There are actually two or three different kinds of repetitions throughout the psalm. And so as I read through this psalm for us this evening, see if you pick up the different places and the different expressions that are repeated a number of different times. They actually serve as an outline of the psalm for us as we hear them throughout the psalm. Let's give our attention then to the Word of God as we hear it from Psalm 107. O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west and from the north and the south. Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man, for he satisfies the longing soul and the hungry soul he fills with good things. Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, for they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor. They fell down with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love. for his wondrous works to the children of man, for he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts into the bars of iron. Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction. They loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, And he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his deeds in songs of joy. Some went down to the sea in ships. doing business on the great waters. They saw the deeds of the Lord, His wondrous works in the deep. For He commanded and raised the stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea. They mounted up to heaven. They went down to the depths. Their courage melted away in their evil plight. They reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits' end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man. Let them extol him in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders. He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, a fruitful land into salty waste because of the evil of its inhabitants. He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water, And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in. They sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield. By his blessing, they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish. When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless waste. But he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks. The upright see it and are glad, and all the wickedness shuts its mouth. Whoever is wise, Let him attend to these things. Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord. I think it was at least five times throughout the psalm there that we see that expression of the steadfast love of the Lord. As I was reading some commentaries on this psalm and reflecting on it, I looked at part of the comments by James Boyce on this particular psalm, and he says some things in an introductory way that I thought were very interesting and helpful. And so I want to just share with you two or three paragraphs of his opening introduction as an introduction to this psalm. I'm quoting from Boyce at this point. It may seem strange to anyone who knows anything about the English Puritans to speak of Psalm 107 as, quote, the pilgrim's psalm, end quote. Not because they did not know, frequently read, and greatly cherish it, but because being people of the book, they loved and cherished the other psalms too. In fact, they cherished the entire Bible. But that is not the whole story. As anyone who knows anything about the Pilgrims is aware, Psalm 107, more than any other portion of the Bible, aptly describes the many dangers, toils, and snares they experienced prior to, during, and after their courageous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to found America's Plymouth colony. Did they recognize this description themselves? There is reason to think they did, since Governor William Bradford, in his account of the founding of the Plymouth plantation, explicitly referred to Psalm 107 in his well-known summation of their achievement. The following now is a quote from what General Bradford said. May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say, our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean and were ready to perish in this wilderness. But they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good, and his mercies endure forever. Yes, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord show how he hath 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." End of quote from General Bradford. He's quoting King James translation from Psalm 107. Boyce goes on to say, the words are based on Psalm 107, which suggests that the psalm was often in the pilgrim's minds. Since the pilgrims came ashore on Monday, December 11, 1620, after having spent the prior day worshiping God, it is even likely that Psalm 107 was the basis for that Sabbath's meditation. In its own setting, Psalm 107 is a praise song of the regathering people of Israel after their Babylonian bondage. Thus, Psalm 105, 106, and 107 form a trilogy. Psalm 105 recounts Israel's experiences from the time of God's covenant with Abraham to the people's entrance into the Promised Land. Psalm 106 tracks their unfaithfulness during that same time period and reflects the years of their exile to Babylon. Psalm 107 thanks God for their deliverance from that exile. Still the psalm was aptly used by the pilgrims and may be loved by us as well. Since the example gives of the perils from which the people of God are delivered at once common, varied, and suggestive. We can ourselves, in each of these situations, experience it as well. I thought Boyce was giving us a good introduction to the psalm as we think on those things particularly. Well, I trust that you noticed some of those repetitions, as I was reading throughout the psalm for our scripture this evening. And it is a psalm that many commentators think was written following the exile and celebrating the deliverance that they'd had from the exile. The basic theme of the psalm is given to us in those first three verses and I believe it was this that Pastor Dave was emphasizing particularly last week down in Springs in his introduction as he spoke about the call in verse two for the redeemed of the Lord to say so. Be one who confesses these truths and say so to friends and neighbors and to others as well. But then, following those first three verses of introduction and establishment of the theme, in the next portion of the psalm, we see the psalmist reflecting on particularly four different experiences that are somewhat common, as Boyce says, all of us and in some ways not explicitly related to the Babylonian captivity although in some of them there certainly is some relationship there and some indication that we can take from that that would help us maybe see that connection in a particular way. So in verses 4 through 32 we have three or rather four different expressions of things, perils that the children of Israel and all believers face in one way or another. And so let's just look down through those for a few moments and kind of touch on them briefly. The first one, beginning at verse four, goes down through verse 12. And in this one, the reason for giving thanks, the reason for saying so, if you will, and telling others of our experiences with the Lord is the idea of wanderings and being delivered from those wanderings, from the various experiences that we might have run into in this way. God has delivered us out of these kinds of experiences. And so in verses four on down to verse 10, we see that particularly, or rather verse nine. And the first phrase that is repeated throughout each one of these four is the phrase that describes how they cried to the Lord in their trouble. They recognized that they were in trouble. and that they needed help. And so we see that in the verse here six, that they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress. It goes on to describe then how he goes about the deliverance and some of the things that he did in delivering them, leading them in a straight way. bringing them to the city that they're to dwell in, particularly in the case of the exiles coming back. They were coming back to Jerusalem, a city that was destroyed, and they're coming back to rebuild that city. But they are led by the Lord as he brings them back there and He encourages them and consequently we should thank the Lord for his steadfast love. The second phrase is repeated four times throughout this section. They cried to him in their trouble and then a verse or two later we should give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love. The second one that comes before us, begins in verse 10. And you can see the beginning of each one of these in verses 4 through 32. The next paragraph or the next vignette, if you want to call it that, begins with the word, some of them. And it tells us of a new experience then. Verse four, some wandered in desert places, desert waste, and so forth. Verse 10, some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, physical persecution, sickness, perhaps, that's being described here. But the acknowledgement that in this case, it's coming about because they've rebelled against the words of God. The children of Israel were taken into captivity in Babylon primarily because of their idolatry, because they had rebelled against the clear teaching of God and how they were to worship him. They fell into idol worship, worship of Baal, of Ashtoreth, and just their idolatry again and again. And finally, God sent them into captivity. Interestingly and thankfully, Once the children of Israel came back from Babylon out of captivity, they never fell into idolatry again. Other sins, certainly other rebellion, but not into the kind of idolatry that they had experienced there. So beginning at verse 10, some sat in darkness, shadowed death, prisoners of affliction, in irons, in sickness, and so forth. And again, then, verse 13, they cried to the Lord. They came to their senses. Incidentally, as you read through the book of Exodus particularly, you see the same pattern. As the children of Israel are wandering in the wilderness, God delivers them, brings them out of Egypt, cares for them. they get rebellious. Oh, it was so much better back in Egypt. If we could just go back where they had the leaks, I can't imagine that myself. But anyway, they remembered what they thought of as the good things and they rebelled against God. And the pattern repeats itself again and again. throughout Exodus as they rebel and then they come to their senses because God brings judgment upon them. They cry out to him. He delivers them and the cycle repeats. Read through the book of Judges and you'll see that pattern again. Same kind of pattern. And it's one that we need to be careful that we don't follow into as well. That we begin to remember incorrectly the things that are past. And that's part of the purpose of Psalm 107, to remind us of the good things that God has done and the deliverance that he has given in all of these different experiences. And as they cried out to the Lord, then he brings deliverance to them. He bowed their hearts down with hard labor and they fell down and they cried and then he brought them out of darkness In the shadow of death, he burst their bonds apart. And so they need to thank the Lord again for his steadfast love. And here they're thanking him particularly, verse 16, for the way in which he shattered the doors, the bondage that has been on them. Notice verse 17 is a sum again. Some of them did something this way. Some were fools through their sinful ways. Because of their iniquities, they suffered affliction. They loathed any kind of food they drew near to the gates of death. And so here in this section, it's dealing more with our physical needs of food and the provisions that are there for us. And they were loathing that. They were They were not being thankful in this way. But as God brings judgment upon them, then they cried, verse 13, they cried to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them and he brought them out. So let them give thanks to the Lord. Verse 17 again, the sum, some were fools through their sinful ways and because of their iniquities, they suffered affliction. of the food and that sort of thing that that I've just mentioned. And again, he sent them his word and healed them and delivered them out of this. And so they're to thank the Lord, his steadfast love. They're to give thanks for his wondrous works to the children of men. And in this section, it's a reference also to the sacrifices of thanksgiving. So it seems to be a reference to the way in which they were then worshipping God with sacrificial worship as they gave praise to God and worshipped Him in this way. Then again, beginning in verse 23, the portion that we just sang a few moments ago, we have a picture of those who went to the sea in ships, probably a reference to merchants who were trading on the Mediterranean, perhaps either going up to the Greek isles or down towards Egypt. In any case, they were on the sea. There was sea travel, merchant marines that were involved in that. And so they were doing business there. And they saw the wondrous works of the Lord. But they also saw the storms. And although this, I think, is not a reference to that, it was written far earlier than that. I was reminded of the storms that the disciples experienced on the Sea of Galilee and the way in which Jesus then calmed the storms. These were violent storms, and the Mediterranean was replete with that kind of storms as well. When we read about some of the travels of Paul and the missionary journeys in the storms that he went through there, we get a picture of the kind of thing that's being described here. The reeling and staggering like drunken men. I think that's a description of Seasickness probably and the way in which the ship was just tossed and turned in every way But it's serious enough and and dangerous enough that then they cried to the Lord and their trouble again They cried out to him and he made the storm to be still he calmed the storm and And they were glad when he did that. And so again, the response is to let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love and for His wondrous works to the children of men. Let them extol Him in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the assembly of the elders. Tie that back again to verse 2. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so. because he's redeemed them out of their trouble, out of their difficult situations. Well, when we come to the next section, it's a little bit different than the others. The others are particularly descriptions of deliverance from particular difficulties that they were facing, and you have that pattern that repeats throughout all four of those experiences. They recognized finally that they were in trouble, so they cried out to the Lord. The Lord hears their cry and delivers them, and the response then is, let's give thanks for the steadfast love of the Lord. Let's respond in this way. The last section beginning at verse 33 and on down to the end, is not that same kind of a description. It's more of a summary, I guess you could call it, of the whole passage. And it's describing for us the way in which God is a sovereign God in providential care over all of his creation. And that sometimes includes difficult things, and sometimes includes wonderful blessings of deliverance. And so as you read through those verses, beginning at verse 33 and on down to the end, we find a description of God's providential care in so many different ways. How he provides water where it's needed, turning the springs of water into a thirsty ground. But also sometimes he causes the river to dry up and turn into a desert. Because of the evil of the inhabitants, the fruitful land sometimes is not fruitful again. But on the other hand, he also does the generous and gracious thing of turning the desert into pools of water and the parched land into springs of water. And so he deals graciously with his people. We were talking this morning a little bit about the providence of God, and it's generally easy for us to thank the Lord and remember the steadfast love of the Lord when things are going well. when things are happening in a way that the Lord's really blessing us at this time. But there are also hard providences that God brings upon us. And I was thinking this morning as we were talking about that, it's a little bit like the parent who's getting ready to discipline his child and trying to explain to that child, I love you. That's why I'm going to spank you. And it just doesn't make sense to the child many times. And sometimes it doesn't seem to make sense to us as well. But I've been greatly impressed particularly in the last couple of years, as we've seen experiences of, I can think of at least four or five individuals who entered into a very difficult physical suffering of cancer. Some of them are no longer with us. Some of them still are. But God has used those experiences for them, in their testimony at least, to strengthen them and to encourage them. Some of you are probably not aware of, can't think of her first name, McDonald in in Longmont, but she's on CaringBridge as well. And she was diagnosed with a tumor in her brain about the same time as George, I think. And they've treated it, they did surgery, took it out, but the doctor said it's gonna come back. And so she's been on various treatments and currently I think is on one that is somewhat experimental. But in her Caring Bridge, she continually comments about the way in which God has used this experience to strengthen her faith and to strengthen her in her walk with God. And certainly George is another example of that. Sometimes God brings hard providences on us as well, but the testimony of this Psalm is that even when we experience those hard providences, And we cry out to the Lord and ask for deliverance. Sometimes the deliverance is not the kind of deliverance that we're desiring. But it's his deliverance that is best for us in that particular experience. And consequently, then we need to reflect upon the goodness of the Lord. And that really is the conclusion of the psalm as we come to verses 42 and 43 after he is told us these four different experiences and how the people of God were were delivered and And God heard their prayer and answered them favorably in those cases. He reminds us that God is a God of providence and God is one who brings blessing but also sometimes brings discipline as well. And the conclusion is the upright see it and are glad and all wickedness shuts its mouth. We need to shut our mouth in that experience if the answer is no, or wait, or my grace is sufficient for you with this thorn that is in your flesh. And the conclusion, whoever is wise, let him attend to these things Let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord. And as I was saying after our discussion time this morning, I'm going to have to do some thinking and come up with about five or six different Ps, I guess. It's personal. It's persevering. And it's, what was the other one? Well, certainly it's providential, but it's also persistent. And God's steadfast love isn't just for a day or an hour. It's for all eternity. And he's called his people and he's called them to be his people and remember that he is steadfast in his love towards them. Let's look to God in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you once again for your grace and your mercy, for your loving kindness, for the way in which you deal graciously with us. Father, we thank you also for those times that you have chosen to discipline us in a way that would strengthen us and cause us to become more like you. We pray that you would continue to deliver us in those experiences. We thank you for that part of the prayer that our Lord taught us to pray, deliver us from evil. And so we pray that you would be keeping us safe. in times of temptation, in times of trial and suffering, cause us to be like the wise man in this psalm, to consider these things and then reflect on the steadfast love of the Lord. We seek to give you praise and glory and honor in all of this, in Christ's name, amen.