Give Thanks to the LORD

​Psalm 107:1-3 ~ “Oh 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, from the north and from the south.”
 
As you enter this day, let the gratitude of your heart rise up before the LORD and give thanks to the Savior who has redeemed His people. Of all the troubling conditions that mankind can fall into, of all the distresses that would cause calamity, there is none so dread as the thought of walking through this life without the LORD. In darkness, He is our light. In fear, He is our peace. In weakness, we find strength in Him, and He comforts the troubled mind. We have much to be thankful for this day. The temporary conditions of this world are not worth comparing to the promises of God. Paul wrote in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” I pray this reading today will bring you into a time of gratitude, looking to the LORD Jesus for all He has done. Take a moment to read through Psalm 107 even now, and see if you find yourself in the text and God ministering grace to your heart.
 
And our text opens with this great declaration: “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” How countless are the reasons to give thanks to the LORD. We open our eyes and let us praise the LORD if light pours through them that we can see. The air fills our lungs with every breath and we can praise the LORD for the gift. Psalm 34:8 entreats, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!” Do you want to taste the goodness of the LORD? Then I would commend you to look at the cross upon which our LORD and King was crucified to redeem His people. Or, as Peter would say, “the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18).
 
If you have read through Psalm 107, you encountered many who needed the goodness of God. In verse four, some were wandering in the desert; in verse ten, others sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. We find in verse seventeen, there were fools through sinful ways and in verse twenty-three, some faced terrifying voyages upon the sea. For each of these groups, there is a repeated phrase. Psalm 107:6 is repeated for each and it says, “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” But not only is God good, His steadfast love endures. He does not shift away His love from those who belong to Him. He has placed His affections upon His people, and there will be no distress or condition of men that will remove His love. Paul states in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God’s love may cause Him to discipline His child (see Hebrews 12:5-6), but He will never remove His steadfast love.
 
Let us continue with our text, for it calls upon us who are saved to testify, “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, from the north and from the south.” Has the LORD delivered you from your sins? Then, beloved Christian, say so. Has God Almighty placed you in a family He calls the church and kept you from wandering alone? Then, it is upon us who belong to Christ and His church to say so. Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We are to be the witnesses of Christ, testifying to the goodness of God and His steadfast love. We have been redeemed, gathered from the four corners of this earth, and brought into fellowship with God Almighty through Jesus Christ our LORD. 1 Peter 2:9 declares, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”
 
If your sins are forgiven in His name, and your life made new by the power of His Holy Spirit, if you have been given a new life and an eternal home in the heavens, then, by all means—say so! Jesus Christ is worthy of all our praise. Let us give thanks to the LORD—and let us do so out loud. Who knows, but that others who see and know us might hear.
 
In His Grace,
Pastor Michael

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