In “Point Man”, Steve Farrar tells about a photographer for a national magazine who was assigned to take pictures of a great forest fire. He was advised that a small plane would be waiting to fly him over the fire.
The photographer arrived at the airstrip just an hour before sundown. Sure enough, a small Cessna airplane was waiting. He jumped in with his equipment and shouted, "Let’s go!" The tense man sitting in the pilot’s seat swung the plane into the wind and soon they were in the air, though flying erratically.
"Fly over the north side of the fire," said the photographer, "and make several low-level passes." "Why?" asked the nervous pilot. "Because I’m going to take pictures!" yelled the photographer. "I’m a photographer, and photographers take pictures."
After a long pause, the "pilot" replied: "You mean, you’re not my instructor?"
Who are you relying on today? Whose hands have you committed your life into?
• Where is our hope? Where have you placed your hope?
• Our hope can only be found in God.
We usually say things like, “I hope it will not rain tomorrow.”
• This is just a wish, a word upon our lips. We cannot control the weather, the weather station cannot. Our hope is actually baseless, unless we believe in the One who controls all things.
• God is our only hope. Look at Psalm 107 and understand this God whom we can fully trust.
The Psalmist recounts his past experiences and remembers God’s deliverance.
• It is a thanksgiving psalm, a testimony of what God has done.
• The psalmist testifies how God helped them through many difficulties, and wanted the people to join him in thanking and trusting God.
The introduction in Psalm 107:1-3 expresses the theme of the Psalm.
1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this - those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
We have a good God, who can help us through our difficulties.
• He loves us, and His love ‘endures forever’ – meaning it does not change.
• This is the thing that gives us hope today. I trust Him because He does not change.
The psalmist went on to explain WHY we should give thanks to God and trust Him.
• He describes 4 experiences (or testimonies) from 4 scenarios, of people who are hurting and in need of help. These are most likely Israelites true experiences.
1. People who were in the wilderness, lost and in need of food and water;
2. People who were in bondage, in slavery,
3. People who did wrong and sinned, and were discouraged and hopeless,
4. People who are hit by storms.
[Read Psalm 107:4-9]
• These are those who are lost, looking for a home or a place of security. Just like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness. They lacked food and water.
• They are looking for life’s direction and purpose. They are hurting because life has little meaning to them. They have many basic needs.
• In their hardship they cried out to God and God guided them back to the right path, into the land of Canaan.
Many are in such an experience today, searching for answers. They have no direction in life. They need to cry out to God and seize God’s help.
[Psalm 107:10-16]
• They dwell in darkness, like prisoners enchained in misery.
• They disobeyed God’s Word. They suffered because they did not listen to what God says.
• The Israelites were attacked and enslaved by foreign powers, eventually by the Babylonians and were in captivity for 70 years.
• In their hardship they cried out to God and God opened the way for their return (and a new freedom).
People are in bondage today, by certain addictions, habits, by their sin.
• They want to get out of it but they cannot. They are living the life of a slave, no freedom. They need to cry out to God and see God’s deliverance.
[Psalm 107:17-22]
• They have done wrong. They made mistakes in life. They did evil and sinned. Their iniquity brought them pain and suffering. They are discouraged and hopeless.
• They feel that there is no hope for them. They are ready to give up and die.
• In their hardship they cried out to God and God healed them.
[Psalm 107:23-32]
• They are ‘merchants’ going out to do business. It was good at first but then they faced a terrible storm.
• Who sends that storm? Verse 25: "For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.” Not to punish them but to get their attention.
• The trial comes to remind them that they are not in control of their lives. They were quite helpless in the storm. They need God’s help.
• In their hardship they cried out to God and God saved them.
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All of us experience similar difficulties in life at different times.
• Some are lost, not knowing where to go or what they should do. They are looking for food and water, looking for some security.
• Some in bondage, by their sin, habits, or hurts; they feel discouraged and hopeless, ready to quit.
• Or those who think everything is going well, and then suddenly they faced a storm, a tragedy and they collapse.
But in all of these trials, the psalmist tells us how the people responded – THEY PRAYED.
• All 4 groups of people respond to their crises in the same way.
• They cry out to the LORD in their trouble – v. 6, 13, 19, and 28. This is the wisest thing to do.
And each time the cry out to God, God answered them and delivered them.
• This was their experience. This was the history of Israel.
The psalmist says this is what they had experienced. God did not fail them.
• That’s why he ends each part with: "Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men." (See vv. 8, 15, 21 and 31).
Looking at this psalm and the experience of Israelites, we come to know these 3 truths:
(1) God hears prayer – He notices the plight of the people, He is aware.
• He cares about our predicament. No one may be aware, but God is.
• We pray because we trust Him.
(2) God is merciful. He listens and helps, even if you have sinned and done wrong.
• The second and the third are very clearly suffering because of their sinfulness -- they are rebelling against God. But when they cry out to God, God answers them!
• Ezek 18:23 "Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?’ declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?"
• He comes to them in their distress. He is the loving Father who is seeing his prodigal child return, and embraces him.
Whenever we humble ourselves and turn to Him, God accepts us.
(3) God has the power to helps us overcome our difficulties.
• He has the power to shatter the gates of bronze, to burst the bars of iron asunder, to free us from whatever enslaves us, to lift us up out of our discouragement, to rescue us from the storms of life.
• In verse 20 says, "He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction."
This is our God. He is our hope. He is our ONLY hope.
Man needs to live with hope. I do not know where you place your hope – in yourself, your children, your work, in the banks, in Singapore…
• The Bible says we need to place our trust in God. He is our hope.
Scientists performed an experiment with laboratory rats to measure their ability to live under stress. First, they put a rat into a jar of water, placed it in total darkness and timed how long it could continue swimming before it gave up. It lasted for 3 minutes.
Next, they put it back in the jar, but instead of placing it in total darkness they allowed a ray of light to shine in. This time the rat kept swimming for 36 hours: 720 times longer! All it needed to keep going was a ray of light!
It has been said that you can live 40 days without food, 4 days without water, 4 minutes without air, but only 4 seconds without hope.
God is our only HOPE, our only SURE hope. The psalmist starts off saying we ought to trust God – He is a good God, and His love for us endures forever.
• The psalmist says in v. 1: "...for He is good, for His love endures forever."
• He is giving a testimony, not writing a story. It happened in their lives, in history.
Not only is He good and loving, but He is forever the same.
• That gives us a TRUE assurance. Anything that changes cannot be a lasting hope.
DON’T TREAT HIM AS DEAD
Early in their marriage, Martin Luther’s wife watched him battle bouts of depression, even question God’s willingness or ability to help him through a difficult trial.
Without saying a word, she donned a black dress and veil, reserved for times of mourning. When Luther asked why she was dressed that way, she commented, "Because God is dead. It’s obvious by the way you’re acting."
"The End of the Road Is but a Bend in the Road" - a 90 degree bend.
• Trust God. God will open a way for us.
Let us end with the reading of Romans 8:35-39.
