INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• What do you tend to do when things in life get difficult? Where do you run, to whom or what do you turn?
• One lesson I have learned in life is who I need to turn to when I need deliverance and who to thank!
• We are entering the Thanksgiving holiday season.
• Today we will begin a new three-week series entitled Dependent-Psalms of Thanksgiving!
• This three-week series covers three different psalms expressing thankfulness, gratitude, and a heart positioned toward God and his faithful actions toward his people.
• A thankful heart is always a dependent heart. How do we continue to thank God amid dry seasons?
• The authorship and exact dating of Psalm 107 are unknown; however, given the circumstances of this Psalm, it appears that it was written around the time the Jews were released from Babylonian captivity in 537 BC.
• This Psalm is a Psalm of thanksgiving for toward God for His deliverance of the people from exile.
• God used Babylon to punish the nation for their deliberate disobedience towards Him.
• Life was not easy during this time for the nation, nor was it supposed to be, yet even in the midst of punishment, God had His hand on the nation was planned on delivering them when the time was right.
• The key idea in this passage is that God is willing to restore those who call on him, even through a variety of circumstances—wandering, self-inflicted pain, or rebellion in this case.
• There is a relational aspect: God continues to help his people only after they have acknowledged their circumstance and called upon his name; we have a God who expects us to call on him and ask for help.
• There is no room for pride or "self-help." His faithfulness and loyalty to his people are displayed in three different situations within this portion of the passage, which we will examine together today.
• Even though there are times when the Lord allows us to suffer the consequences of our own sins (for example, David’s sin with Bathsheba), we can find comfort in knowing that his mercy still can extend to the depths of our issues.
• The big idea for the message today is simple, God’s mercy is cause for thanksgiving; when we cry out to him, he can restore us, even when our troubles are the result of our own sin.
• Let begin by reading Psalm 107:1-3
• SLIDE #2
• Psalm 107:1–3 (CSB) — 1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD proclaim that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe 3 and has gathered them from the lands— from the east and the west, from the north and the south.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
I. We need to depend on God for deliverance from our foes.
• The nation of Israel had been in captivity for about 70 years, the Prophet Jeremiah warned the nation before their captivity started in 605 that they would be in captivity to the Babylonians because of their disobedience to God.
• I love verse 1. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love endures forever.
• This is coming from people who were under the bond to their foes for 70 years.
• It would have been easy for them to be angry because of the fact that God allowed them to be carted off to Babylon.
• When we are under the hand of our foes, we cannot lose heart, and we cannot lose faith in God's ability to deliver us from the hand of our enemy.
• The people whom God has saved are to thank Him because He rescued them from their enemies—literally, “the hand of the enemy” (verse 2b).
• The Hebrew word can be taken to mean trouble. So sometimes our foes or enemies are not just people, but circumstances. In this context, it speaks of the nation of Babylon.
• The phrase used in verse two that he has redeemed them from the power of the foe can mean that God can redeem (DELIVER) us from foes or circumstances.
• The nation needed God to deliver them, just as he delivered them from Egypt under Moses.
• Verse 3 says and has gathered them from the lands— from the east and the west, from the north and the south
• The exiles have been “redeemed” from the hand of the foe (v. 2b), the Babylonians. But their return could have come from all parts of the earth.
• The Israelites were scattered by the Assyrians (c. 722 B.C.) as well as the Babylonians (c. 597–586 B.C.).
• Many had fled to Egypt and beyond (cf. 2 Kgs 25:26).
• The new policies of the Persians allowed all captives from all lands to return to their former homes and to reestablish their religion.
• Israel was simply one of many who did this.
• When God delivered them, they praised Him, they offered thanks to Him.
• What foes have you under their or its control?
• God can deliver you from the hands of your enemy, God can deliver you from your sins and addictions that enslave you.
• Are you being overtaken by anger? God can deliver you!
• Are you being overtaken by hurt? God can heal you!
• Are you being enslaved to not being able to forgive someone, are you allowing that to enslave you? God can deliver you from that problem!
• No matter what or who holds you captive, God can offer deliverance if you will humble yourself before Him and ask!
• Let turn to verses 4-9
• SLIDE #3
• Psalm 107:4–9 (CSB) — 4 Some wandered in the desolate wilderness, finding no way to a city where they could live. 5 They were hungry and thirsty; their spirits failed within them. 6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; he rescued them from their distress. 7 He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live. 8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his faithful love, and his wondrous works for all humanity. 9 For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.
• SLIDE #4
II. We need to depend on God for deliverance when we are lost.
• This section of the text speaks to how those who are lost, those who are literally or figuratively wandering in the wilderness, can be delivered to safety by God!
• The context could be referring to the Israelites wandering in the wilderness during the exodus from Egypt or when both going to and leaving Babylon.
• When we are lost, when we wander away from God, we have a way back.
• The thankfulness we offer to the Lord is not due just to his action of delivering us, but ultimately to the ever-present mercy, which guides his decision in the first place.
• God should always be thanked for his loyal love toward us during our dishonorable experiences.
• In verses 4 and 5, the people of God wander and cannot find shelter or food in their own effort, even though they have tried.
• It wasn’t until they cried aloud to God that he found shelter in a city for them, thus leading to the idea of dependence on God rather than their own strength.
• When we as Christians spiritually wander and stray from the Lord, we, in the same way, naturally move away from our provision and safe place.
• Verse 5 tells us they had given up hope, they were at their wit's end.
• Have you ever felt that way?
• It seems like there is no way home, that life is falling apart around you.
• God can deliver you from that state! We tend to want to avoid the difficulties of life, and understandably so!
• Trials and unfortunate situations are always going to happen in life; James 1 says it’s a part of this journey we’re on and is meant to refine us.
• Psalm 107 contains words and phrases like “wasteland” (v. 4), “hungry and thirsty” (v. 5), “distress” (v. 6), and “iron chains” (v. 10).
• However, these are the very things that made these people of God, so thankful for his intervention (once they cried out for help).
• God’s people wandered in the wilderness, becoming homeless, hungry, and on the verge of death.
• When they became housed and fed (both physically and spiritually), they were likely able to look back to the time when they had nothing.
• Do you take the home you live in for granted? When is the last time you thanked the Lord for the everyday necessities in your life, like your home, your bed, or food?
• There are times when our wandering is due to a sense of pride, thinking that this life can be done on our own terms, and we can fix our own problems.
• Pride is very crippling, and the result can lead to a fear of not being able to ask for help.
• When we get into the habit of not asking for help, the danger is doing the same thing with God.
• When we are willing to cry out to God, He will answer!
• In verses 6-9, the Psalmist writes, Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; he rescued them from their distress. 7 He led them by the right path to go to a city where they could live. 8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his faithful love, and his wondrous works for all humanity. 9 For he has satisfied the thirsty and filled the hungry with good things.
• Are you wandering aimlessly, lost in the wilderness? Maybe it is time to call out to the Lord!
• Let’s turn to verses 10-14
• SLIDE #6
• Psalm 107:10–14 (CSB) — 10 Others sat in darkness and gloom— prisoners in cruel chains— 11 because they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 He broke their spirits with hard labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. 13 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; he saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and gloom and broke their chains apart.
• SLIDE #7
III. We need to depend on God for deliverance when we have rebelled against God.
• We have been in this spot before, and some still are in this spot.
• Sometimes we bring difficult times on ourselves due to rebellion. The nation of Israel was in captivity because of their rebellion against God.
• The nation had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High (v. 11).
• The entire ministry of Jeremiah could be used as an example of how the people and their leaders rejected the word of God (Jeremiah 36, Jehoiakim burning Jeremiah’s scroll!). Thus, God subjected them to bitter labor (v. 12a).
• This is what is amazing about our God when we REBEL against Him, He is still willing to forgive and deliver us when we cry out to Him in repentance!
• These folks who cried out to God caused their own issues by rebelling against God, yet here He is, reversing their circumstances.
• Not only does God have the love, will, and power to deliver, He also has to power to break them free from their chains.
• God has a high capacity to forgive and love.
• Jesus went to the cross while we were still sinners!
• If you are running or rebelling against God, all you need to do is to call out to Him, He will forgive you!
• If you have never given your life to Jesus and still are in a state of rebellion, you simply need to put your faith in Jesus, repent of your sins to God, to confess Jesus as your Lord, and be baptized into Christ!
• When you do this, all is forgiven and forgotten.
• God will accept you with open arms, with a clean slate, with no condemnation.
• I bet there are those here today who need this!
• People need the mercy of the Lord extended to them.
• Morally, we are all captives, lost, or in a state of rebellion at some point in life.
• The worst feature of this moral distress is that many are oblivious to this fact.
• It is time to accept the fact that God has opened the door for you!
CONCLUSION
• Life brings about many different types of distress, whether out of our hands or self-inflicted.
• Yet God brings us out of all of them when we call out to him. The calling out is an acknowledgment of dependency.
• We cannot get ourselves out of situations alone or in our own strength; thus, we should thank the Lord for his merciful rescue.
• God restores our needs when we acknowledge our dependence on him.
• The bottom line is this: when we are exhausted from the hard circumstances of life, we must depend on God and not our own strength.
