Psalm 107

Thanksgiving to the Lord for His Great Works of Deliverance

James F. Gauss, Ph.D.

May 4, 2023

No. 274

Sometimes as Christians and a people of prayer we get discouraged. We pray hard and often in the midst of affliction or spiritual darkness, yet see very little tangible results. I am likely one of millions of Christians who experience such emotion occasionally and even frequently. Yet, I am a firm believer in prayer and answered prayer. Why? I have seen numerous miraculous answers to prayer that were not coincidence or mere happenings. Some of the things I pray about may not happen in my lifetime, but that does not stop me from praying about them.

Recently, I have been reading through the Gospel of Luke, and at the start of chapter 18 Jesus shares the parable of the persistent widow.

“There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’” (Luke 18:2-5).

Like all His parables, Jesus was providing His disciples a teachable illustration on the consistency of prayer. “Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?’” (Luke 18:6-8).

The consistency and persistency of prayer is as important as the prayer itself. We are never to give up; never give the devil a foothold; not one square inch. Pray without ceasing!

This parable reminded me of the great Psalm 107 where the psalmist recounts some of the trials and tribulations of the Jewish people. How, because of their rebellion against God, they were constantly getting themselves into deep predicaments. Once they realized their difficulty and that they had no answers to relieve their situation, then they cried out to the Lord God and He had mercy on them and delivered them.

Right now, in America, and in the Church in America, it feels in many ways that we have reached the end of our proverbial rope. It seems like there is no way back. No way to redeem what we have lost. And, maybe we have gone too far away from God. Maybe America has fallen so far into the pit of debauchery that we are beyond redemption.

However, through repentance, there is always hope in God and through God. He always has a way forward, upward and out of our sinful morass. It does, however, take consistent and persistent prayer of the faithful petitioning God for His forgiveness and mercy.

Remember, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Psalm 107.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
For His mercy endures forever.
²Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
³And gathered out of the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.

⁴They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way;
They found no city to dwell in.
⁵Hungry and thirsty,
Their soul fainted in them.
⁶Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He delivered them out of their distresses.
⁷And He led them forth by the right way,
That they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
⁸Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
⁹For He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.

¹⁰Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Bound in affliction and irons—
¹¹Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And despised the counsel of the Most High,
¹²Therefore He brought down their heart with labor;
They fell down, and there was none to help.
¹³Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
¹⁴He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
And broke their chains in pieces.
¹⁵Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
¹⁶For He has broken the gates of bronze,
And cut the bars of iron in two.

¹⁷Fools, because of their transgression,
And because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
¹⁸Their soul abhorred all manner of food,
And they drew near to the gates of death.
¹⁹Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
²⁰He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions.
²¹Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
²²Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And declare His works with rejoicing.

²³Those who go down to the sea in ships,
Who do business on great waters,
²⁴They see the works of the Lord,
And His wonders in the deep.
²⁵For He commands and raises the stormy wind,
Which lifts up the waves of the sea.
²⁶They mount up to the heavens,
They go down again to the depths;
Their soul melts because of trouble.
²⁷They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,
And are at their wits’ end.
²⁸Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He brings them out of their distresses.
²⁹He calms the storm,
So that its waves are still.
³⁰Then they are glad because they are quiet;
So He guides them to their desired haven.
³¹Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
³²Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people,
And praise Him in the company of the elders.

³³He turns rivers into a wilderness,
And the watersprings into dry ground;
³⁴A fruitful land into barrenness,
For the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
³⁵He turns a wilderness into pools of water,
And dry land into watersprings.
³⁶There He makes the hungry dwell,
That they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
³⁷And sow fields and plant vineyards,
That they may yield a fruitful harvest.
³⁸He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
And He does not let their cattle decrease.

³⁹When they are diminished and brought low
Through oppression, affliction, and sorrow,
⁴⁰He pours contempt on princes,
And causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
⁴¹Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction,
And makes their families like a flock.
⁴²The righteous see it and rejoice,
And all iniquity stops its mouth.

⁴³Whoever is wise will observe these things,
And they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord.

Finally, as Christians we must continually remind ourselves, that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

To do such battle we must put on the whole armor of God and carry on spiritual warfare—not on our own, but enjoined by fellow believers near and far (see Ephesians 6:10-18).

Related.

A Prayer for Repentance in the Church

The 7 Churches of the Book of Revelation

Will America and the Church Become a “Byword”?

Proclamation 97

Revival in the Church. When will it come? Part 1

Revival in the Church. When will it come? Part 2