Feb 11 - Speak Up!

Feb 11

Speak Up.

Ps 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,…

 Two men waited in my shop while their wives selected some woodworking products I had made.  They talked about their favorite lake for fishing. One mentioned a particular lake and said it was the largest lake in the state. The other disagreed. I thought they were about to start fighting when a third guy arrived and explained that yes they were both right. One lake had the longest shoreline and the other the largest area.

These men were total strangers and were discussing something of little importance, yet both were very vocal, did not hesitate to disagree and held firm to their position.  Yes, that seems like the recipe for starting a fight. But the psalmist did not want to start a fight. He just wanted people to praise God for his redemptive mercy.

This psalm may have been written about the rebuilding of the temple, mentioned in Ezra 4:6.  Here the Israelites had been released from captivity in Babylon and were allowed to return to their former country. Most of them had been born during the 70 years of the Babylonian captivity.  Although scattered across the Babylonian empire they were gathered and led across harsh terrain to Jerusalem. There after they had gotten settled a little, in the war torn nation and the rubble that was left of Jerusalem, they commenced the rebuilding of Solomon’s temple.

This psalm was designed to be sung in courses, with one group singing and the other group answering back. You can see some of the Chorus in this song if you look at verses 6, 13, 19, 28 where you read the same refrain.

Ps 107:6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble,

and he delivered them out of their distresses.

These verses are followed by a verse describing how God cared for them and following is the praise chorus in verses 8,15,21 and 31.

Ps 107:8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness,

 and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

The entire psalm is one of praise.  The opening two verses are especially interesting.

Ps 107:1 ¶ O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good:

for his mercy endureth for ever.

What else could we give God but our thanks and praise. He is in need of nothing. He does not need our money, or our talent, and we do Him no favor through our religious exertions, no matter how sincere they are. We have only thanks and praise to give. Notice in the King James Version the word LORD is sometimes all capitals and other times it is not. When it is written with all upper case the LORD spoken of is Jehovah.

     God is good. He is very good to His children. The word mercy is often correctly defined as not getting what we deserve. The pardoned criminal has received mercy. But here mercy is broader, more intense than our simple word for mercy.  Here it is more than favor shown to the guilty but includes kindness, goodness, and positive feelings.  It is this mercy we celebrate in this psalm. 

Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

We were in the slave market of sin. Christ was the only one who could pay the high price to redeem us. But he did more than redeem us to be a slave in His house. He took the chains of sin off from us, set us free, and placed the chains on himself to pay the ultimate price for our redemption.  Free at last, free at last, thank God almighty, we are free at last. 

     If two strangers will speak of lakes with great zeal, why won’t Christians, the redeemed ones, speak to others of his unspeakable gift.  When there is opportunity to speak for Christ, and we sense the Spirits leading, do we proclaim the goodness of our redeemer?  Or do we remain silent.  Do we look for times and places to praise God, or do we look for excuses not to. What could be more worthy to be discussed?  What sports figure, or celebrity, or possession, or event could be more praiseworthy? Yet while we engage in idle chatter do we neglect  to praise the one who has given us joy unspeakable and full of glory?  Oh, dear reader, please excuse me. I must go and search my own soul to be sure I am not just sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal – a writer of words.  Let us ponder the depths of our text today. May we all do better in the future than we have in the past.

Ps 107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so