Every year, on the last Sunday of our year, we spend our last time of corporate worship together in Psalm 107. In this Psalm, the psalmist exhorts the people to consider God's steadfast love, and if they have seen it in their lives, then "let the redeemed of the Lord say so." In the midst of the congregation and the elders, it is important for us to declare God's goodness to one another.
And though 2020 proved to be the most challenging year most of us have faced, we still want to end our year the same we always do: giving God thanks for His mercy, grace, and kindness. It is important for us to continually keep our eyes, minds, ears, and hearts trained upon His goodness, rather than on the negative events in our world and in our life. It is only by training ourselves to look for His grace that we can be freed from the negativity and discouragement that brings us down and distracts us from God.
Psalm 107 compels us to vocalize God's steadfast love, both for our own souls and to encourage the church. We see four scenarios where people encounter God's grace: the lost wanderer, the isolated rebel, the suffering sinner, and the storm-tossed soul. Whether through aimless wandering, willful rebellion, self-inflicted suffering, or life's overwhelming storms, God's response is consistent. When these individuals, at their wit's end, cried out to the Lord, He delivered them. He satisfies the longing soul, breaks the chains of rebellion, heals the afflicted, and calms the tempestuous seas. Just as we trust a skilled surgeon's knife, we should trust God's hand in our lives, even amidst trials. Let the redeemed acknowledge and celebrate His steadfast love.
