Sermon for Sunday 24th June 2012

Sermon delivered by the Revd Darryl Cotton

At Christ’s Church Mandurah

On 24^th June 2012

Our redeeming God

Psalm 107

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord God our strength and Redeemer. Amen

Very seldom do I  preach on the Psalms but this morning I thought I would preach on our Psalm for today, Psalm 107[i]. So would you please open your prayer books to Psalm 107, (page 337) which is a remarkable Psalm telling us of the saving nature of our God.

Psalm 107 opens with the words:

¹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good :
 for his loving mercy is forever.
²Let the Lord’s redeemed say so :
 whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
³And gathered in from every land,
   from the east and from the west :
 from the north and from the south.

 (Psalm 107:1-3)

To begin then, it is thought that Psalm 107 is a community hymn of praise and was most likely a liturgy of thanks offered by worshipers at a festival at the temple in Jerusalem. These first three verses give the message of the Psalm and tells us to give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;... Let the redeemed of the LORD (or those who have been saved by God) say so, for he has redeemed them from trouble.

Verse 3 tells us that there are four groups of people who have been saved by God. The Psalmist refers to them as those from the east, the west, the north and the south. So four groups of people appear in the following verses, together representing, perhaps all of the earth.

Group 1: Those lost in the desert are directed

The first group, those from the East, are found in Verses 4-9 which tell us of a group of wanderers who are lost in the desert, but who finally arrive at their destination. The historical setting for this is that to the East of Palestine there was a massive desert which separated Palestine from the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia. Very few travellers in the ancient Near East dared any attempt to travel through this terrain and it was common for those who tried, to get lost in the desert.

Group 2: Those imprisoned are set free

The second group, those from the West, are found in Verses 10-16 which tell us the story of prisoners who are set free. Now why the west? Well, the West is the place where the sun sets and because of this the ancient mind understood the west to be a deathly place of darkness. It is also easy to see the connection between darkness and imprisonment. Those who are imprisoned are unable to free themselves, just like those in darkness are unable to find a way out of the darkness.

Group 3: Those suffering from sickness are healed

The third group, those from the north, are found in verses 17-22, which tell us of “sick” people who are healed. Once again, the historical context for this is that in Jewish thinking all sickness was a direct result of a person’s sin. So it is no coincidence that the Hebrew word for “sick” and the Hebrew word for “foolish one” are exactly the same word. You see the Jewish people associated sickness with foolishness because they understood sickness as God's punishment for sin (see Psalms 32:1-5 and 38:3, 5). This makes sense doesn’t it? If you know sin make you sick, then you must be foolish to sin. To put this in a modern context – if you know smoking gives you cancer, then when get lung cancer from smoking, you must be foolish.

Now why are they referred to as the North? Well, the Jewish people understood that all of God’s punishment came from the North. This was probably because the Babylonians were in the north, and in the Old Testament books of the prophets, the North was often depicted as the direction from which the punishment of God came to the ancient Israelites. 

Group 4: Those caught in a storm of life are saved

The fourth group, those from the south, are found in Verses 23-32, which tell us the story of a group of sailors who are saved from shipwreck. It begins, in verse 23 which says, “Those who go down to the sea in ships, and follow their trade on the great waters”, and continues in verse 26 describing the experience of being in a storm saying, “They go up the sky, and again down to the depths, their courage melts away in the face of disaster. They stagger like drunken men..”

Now why are they called the group from the south. Well, the Hebrew word for “sea” and the Hebrew word for “South” and again one and the same. 

Four groups representing life’s troubles

So Psalm 107 gives us four groups of people who find themselves in four different kinds of trouble: We have those who are lost in life, wandering around without direction; we have those imprisoned and unable to free themselves, feeling like they are trapped in utter darkness; we have those who sick and in need of healing, suffering because of their own sins; and then we have those caught in the storms of life, feeling like they are about to go under at any moment.

Perhaps you might identify with one of these four situations. Are you perhaps feeling directionless in life, not knowing which way to turn next? Are perhaps feeling imprisoned by an addiction that has you in its grips or perhaps do you feel like you are stuck in darkness? Are you perhaps feeling like sin is making you sick? Are you perhaps feeling like a boat battered by the waves caused by the storms of life? If so learn from these four groups of people.

Each group has one thing in common. They cry out to God for help. In verses 6, 13, 19, 28 we are told, “Then they cried to the LORD in their distress, and God took them out of their trouble.” So each group is saved, redeemed, and finds their salvation; and the Psalmist encourages them to recognise the source of their salvation and so he says, “Let them thank the Lord for his goodness : and for the wonders that he does for the children of Adam.”

This theme of God saving people from times of distress is what we find, of course, in our Gospel reading as well. Mark tells us Jesus and his disciples are in a boat and a great storm rose up. We are told Jesus is sleeping when this happens and so the disciples woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ Jesus woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm.

Finally Jesus says to them, “‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ ⁴¹And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’”

Conclusion

Now we may never find ourselves literally wandering lost in a desert wasteland, or literally forced to dwell in a place of deep darkness; we may never find ourselves sick to the point of death, or caught in a tumultuous storm at sea, but each of us have or will face those times when we desperately need the redeeming hand of God. Psalm 107 provides a model for us on how to handle those times.

Firstly, recognize and acknowledge the situation you are in; secondly cry out in faith to God for help; thirdly accept the deliverance that God brings; and then give thanks to God.

Psalm 107 finishes with these words, “They are weakened and brought low: through stress of adversity and sorrow. But he lifts the poor out of misery:  and increases their families like flocks of sheep. The upright shall see it and rejoice: and all wickedness shall shut its mouth. Whoever is wise, let them observe these things: and consider the loving-kindness of the Lord.”

Amen.

Psalm 107

Introduction

¹O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good :
 for his loving mercy is for ever.
²Let the Lord’s redeemed say so :
 whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
³And gathered in from every land,
   from the east and from the west :
 from the north and from the south.

Those lost in life

⁴Some went astray in the wilderness and in the desert :
 and found no path to an inhabited city;
⁵They were hungry and thirsty :
 and their heart fainted within them.
⁶Then they cried to the Lord in their distress :
 and he took them out of their trouble.
⁷He led them by the right path :
 till they came to an inhabited city.

⁸Let them thank the Lord for his goodness :
 and for the wonders that he does for the children of Adam;
⁹For he satisfies the thirsty :
 and fills the hungry with good things.

Those imprisoned

¹⁰Some sat in darkness and in deadly shadow :
 bound fast in affliction and iron,
¹¹Because they had rebelled against the words of God :
 and scorned the purposes of the Most High.
¹²So he bowed down their hearts with affliction :
 they tripped headlong, with none to help them.
¹³Then they cried to the Lord in their distress :
 and he took them out of their trouble.
¹⁴He brought them out from darkness and deadly shadow :
 and broke their chains in two.

¹⁵Let them thank the Lord for his goodness :
 and for the wonders that he does for the children of Adam;
¹⁶For he shatters the doors of bronze :
 and cleaves the bars of iron.

Those suffering from sickness

¹⁷Fools were far gone in transgression :
 and because of their sins were afflicted.
¹⁸They sickened at any food :
 and had come to the gates of death.
¹⁹Then they cried to the Lord in their distress :
 and he took them out of their trouble.
²⁰He sent his word and healed them :
 and saved their life from the Pit.

²¹Let them thank the Lord for his goodness :
 and for the wonders that he does for the children of Adam;
²²Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving :
 and tell what he has done with shouts of joy.

Those caught in a storm

²³Those who go down to the sea in ships :
 and follow their trade on great waters,
²⁴These men have seen the works of God :
 and his wonders in the deep.
²⁵For he spoke, and raised the storm-wind :
 and it lifted high the waves of the sea.
²⁶They go up to the sky, and down again to the depths :
 their courage melts away in the face of disaster.
²⁷They reel and stagger like drunken men :
 and are at their wits’ end.
²⁸Then they cried to the Lord in their distress :
 and he took them out of their trouble.
²⁹He calmed the storm to a silence :
 and the waves of the sea were stilled.
³⁰Then they were glad because they were quiet :
 and he brought them to the haven they longed for.

³¹Let them thank the Lord for his goodness :
 and for the wonders that he does for the children of Adam;
³²Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people :
 and praise him in the council of elders.

Summary of God’s goodness

³³He turns the rivers into desert :
 and springs of water into thirsty ground.
³⁴He makes of a fruitful land a salty waste :
 because its inhabitants are evil.
³⁵He turns the wilderness into a pool of water :
 and parched ground into flowing springs.
³⁶And there he settles the hungry :
 and they build a city to live in.
³⁷They sow fields and plant vineyards :
 which give them fruitful harvest.
³⁸He blesses them, and they multiply greatly :
 he does not let their cattle diminish.
³⁹But he pours contempt upon princes :
 and makes them stray in the pathless desert;
⁴⁰They are weakened and brought low :
 through stress of adversity and sorrow.
⁴¹But he lifts the poor out of misery :
 and increases their families like flocks of sheep.

⁴²The upright shall see it and rejoice :
 and all wickedness shall shut its mouth.
⁴³Whoever is wise, let him observe these things :
 and consider the loving-kindness of the Lord.

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[i] Based on a commentary on Psalm 107 by Nancy deClaissé-Walford, Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages, McAfee School of Theology, Mercer University, Atlanta, GA