Sitting on the deck steps this afternoon, I cracked open the Word to Psalm 107.
Sunlight glinted off the pages and I waited for my eyes to adjust.
The stanzas repeated the tales of wanderers and homeless people who were lost.
They cried out to God for help, and He helped them.
Obviously.
He has a soft place in His heart for the poor, weak, and homeless.
Of course He would help them.
But then there were those “in darkness and deepest gloom, imprisoned in iron chains of misery.”
Why? Because “they rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the Most High.”
Well these guys are sure going to get it, I thought. I mean, I’ve read the Old Testament.
This is where they get swallowed up by the earth or turned into salt or something.
Sunlight glinted off the pages and I waited for my eyes to adjust.
The stanzas repeated the tales of wanderers and homeless people who were lost.
They cried out to God for help, and He helped them.
Obviously.
He has a soft place in His heart for the poor, weak, and homeless.
Of course He would help them.
But then there were those “in darkness and deepest gloom, imprisoned in iron chains of misery.”
Why? Because “they rebelled against the words of God, scorning the counsel of the Most High.”
Well these guys are sure going to get it, I thought. I mean, I’ve read the Old Testament.
This is where they get swallowed up by the earth or turned into salt or something.
So what happened when they cried out to God for help?
“He saved them from their distress. He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom; He snapped their chains.”
These? He would save rebels and mockers whose pain was well deserved?
Does His mercy know no bounds??
Tears streamed down my face at the endless, humble love of our God. He is too good to us. Even when we spit in His face, mock, rebel, or hide from Him, He will still accept us if we ask.
That He would bend His knee to us – selfish, foolish wanderers and rebels - just because He wants to (because it’s certainly not what’s fair), is a humility I cannot fathom. If anyone could be proud and demanding, it’s God. And He chooses to bend His knee to us like a kind dad.
Even after walking with Him all these years, His deep and genuine adoration for us blows my mind.
He protected me when I lived a dangerous lifestyle in a seedy area among dangerous people. Oh, the hundreds of things that could have gone badly!
He’s healed my fingertips when no doctor could.
He rescued me from a dog ready to attack.
He saved my sister’s life.
He gave me children despite Endometriosis.
He freed me from addictions.
He provided us with many desperately needed things – a house we could afford, money when we had no income, a good husband who loves me despite my crazy ways, and countless other things.
He's used cancer to polish my mom's faith to a gleaming shine for all to see.
He’s rescued me, saved me, protected, and provided for me.
And all despite my rebellion. He has indeed cared for me in ways I don’t deserve.
His kindness wrecks me. All that’s left to say is praise and thanks.
“He saved them from their distress. He led them from the darkness and deepest gloom; He snapped their chains.”
These? He would save rebels and mockers whose pain was well deserved?
Does His mercy know no bounds??
Tears streamed down my face at the endless, humble love of our God. He is too good to us. Even when we spit in His face, mock, rebel, or hide from Him, He will still accept us if we ask.
That He would bend His knee to us – selfish, foolish wanderers and rebels - just because He wants to (because it’s certainly not what’s fair), is a humility I cannot fathom. If anyone could be proud and demanding, it’s God. And He chooses to bend His knee to us like a kind dad.
Even after walking with Him all these years, His deep and genuine adoration for us blows my mind.
He protected me when I lived a dangerous lifestyle in a seedy area among dangerous people. Oh, the hundreds of things that could have gone badly!
He’s healed my fingertips when no doctor could.
He rescued me from a dog ready to attack.
He saved my sister’s life.
He gave me children despite Endometriosis.
He freed me from addictions.
He provided us with many desperately needed things – a house we could afford, money when we had no income, a good husband who loves me despite my crazy ways, and countless other things.
He's used cancer to polish my mom's faith to a gleaming shine for all to see.
He’s rescued me, saved me, protected, and provided for me.
And all despite my rebellion. He has indeed cared for me in ways I don’t deserve.
His kindness wrecks me. All that’s left to say is praise and thanks.
“Let them praise the Lord for his great love
and for the wonderful things He has done for them.”
Psalm 107: 15, 21, 31
and for the wonderful things He has done for them.”
Psalm 107: 15, 21, 31
What are some wonderful things God has done for you?
