This is a paraphrased and personalized
rendering of Psalm 107, that is reviewing things Father has done for Israel and
us or as if He and were talking with each other.
Psalm 107
I will give
thanks to the Lord for His mercy endures forever. He has redeemed my soul form the hand of my
enemy. He has brought me out from my
sinful nature. (v 1-3)
In the past, I
wandered in a spiritual wilderness, doing what I felt like doing but found that
I had no place for rest. I was
spiritually hungry and my soul was faint.
Then I cried to the lord in my troubles and He delivered my out of my
distress. (v 4-6)
He led me by
the right way so I could find a place to settle in. (v 7)
Oh, let me
praise the Lord for His goodness and for the wonderful works He has done in my
life. He satisfied my empty soul and
filled my hunger with His goodness. (v
8-9)
For once I
was in darkness, even in the shadow of death bound by those things that weighed
heavily on me because I had rebelled against God’s Word and disregarded His council.
In those days, I labored heavily for there was no one to help me. (v 10-12)
But when I
cried unto the Lord in the midst of my trouble, He saved me out my
distress. He brought me out of the
darkness and even the shadow of death and He broke off those things which had
me bound.
Oh let me
praise the Lord for His goodness and for the wonderful works He has done unto
me.
For He has
broken those brass gates and iron bars in two, which held me captive. (v 15-16)
I was a fool
because of my transgressions because my sins brought on my affliction. For then
I hated the food which brought me near the gates of death. (v 17-18)
Then I cried
unto the Lord in my trouble and He saved me out of my distress. He sent his WORD and healed me and delivered
me from my destruction. (v 19-20)
Oh, let me
praise the Lord for His goodness and for the wonderful works He has done in my
life.
Let me offer
my heartfelt thanksgiving and let me rejoice while declaring the works He h done
for me. (v 21-22)
Father guides
and directs success in life. He can
bring me up or He can bring me down. I
can be facing problems that seem so overbearing, but the Lord can bring calm to
my soul, my heart and my mind. He brings
me into a haven of peace. (V 23-30)
Oh let me
praise the Lord for His goodness and for the wonderful works He has done unto
me.
I will praise Him where people gather as well as in
the assembly of the elders. (v31-32)
When I get off track my rivers (problems) become a
wilderness and my springs of life dry up.
When I wander from His ways, my fruit dries up, my fields are dead
because wickedness has settled in. (v 33-34)
But as I am faithful, He turns my wilderness into
standing water and my dry ground into a wellspring of life. He fills my hungry soul that I may live. The works I put my hands to flourish (v
35-37)
He blesses me in the things I do and they are
multiplied greatly. Through whatever I
have encountered, my problems have diminished. (v 38-39)
My Lord causes those (or that) which stand against
me to wander in the wilderness, unable to find their way. (v 40)
Yet because I am poor (in my spirit or humble) He
sets me above that which comes against me and my family flourishes. (v 41)
The righteous shall see how God
blesses me and rejoice and those who would speak ill of me will hold their
tongues. (v 42)
Those who are wise and observe the goodness of God
shall come to understand His lovingkindness.
How many of us truly understand how good Father has been to
us? How many of us take time to count
the blessings Father has given us this day? How many of us have taken time to
take note how many times has given us direction over the past week? How many of us realize how many situations
Father has delivered us from over the past month?
We usually look for the ‘big’ things that God does for us and we
give Him praise for those things. Things like being saved from a potentially
fatal crash, being healed from a debilitating or deadly illness, blessing us
with a pay raise, on the job which we weren’t expecting? How many times have we looked into the closet
and asked “which outfit should I wear?”
Many of us have been programmed to believe that Father only does the
‘spectacular’ things and we seldom considers that He actually cares about the
‘little’ things in our lives or the decisions we make. Father is interested all our things in our
life, not just the ‘headline grabbers or those things which just don’t seem important
to us to us to bother Him with.
We have ‘testimony time’ at our church. We’ve all expressed our gratitude for Father
helping us make ‘minor decisions’. Yes,
sometimes minor decisions can become important moves in our life may impact
other things down the road. Those little
things could lead into bigger things. We
seldom know the full details of the decisions we make until the ‘whole picture’
finally unfolds. I used to chuckle at a
lady from several years ago, the first thing out of her mouth was “I thank God
for giving me another day!’ I’m not
chuckling anymore. I know what she
meant.
Father want us to share our lives with Him, no matter how
significant or insignificant something may seem to be.
Father knows our heart and our mind. In speaking to the Pharisees, Jesus told them
that He knew their heart and it wasn’t good (Luke16:15). Father knows everything about us, He can even
know the thoughts and intents of our heart (Heb. 4:12). So Father knows us but how can we know
Him? We have the mind of Christ (1
Corinth. 2:16)! With Jesus Christ in us,
through the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, we have a direct communication with
our Lord (John 14:16-17). Jesus tells His disciples (and us) that what He says
has come from the Father (John 14:29). The
Holy Ghost will lead us into all truth and show us things we need to
know (John 16:13-15). The BIG question
is are we listening?
Reread this again and pick up your bible and read psalm 107. Ask Father to open your eyes and heart see
what you might discover about being thankful and giving Him the praise He
deserves for all that He does for us.
Amen
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