International
04 October 07
Psalm 107
In our society today there are lots of different opinions about the
concept of god. To some extent it’s the inevitable consequence of a
pluralistic society where the prevailing belief is that truth is what
each person makes it out to be. In such a climate it’s pretty unique to
find something that people agree on – particularly where religion is
concerned. However, one surprising area of consensus amongst people
regarding god is that whoever he, she or it may be, people like to think
of god as a god of love. In general you find that even those who say
they don’t believe in god comment that if they did then he or she would
be a god of love.
This is the key idea behind Psalm 107 that we’re going to spend the next
few weeks looking at. The first and the last verses (vs1 and 43) put it
well, ‘Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast
love endures forever!’ ‘Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD’. The psalmist is
telling us that if we want to know what real love looks like, then we
need to consider the things that God does for his people. Only when we
‘attend to these things’ will we really understand what love is.
Of course most people today would think that they have a pretty good
idea of what love looks like, but you only have to live in the world of
sport for a day to realise that our idea of love can’t be right. Sport
is dominated by love of self where so many look out for number one often
at the expense of those they put-down to make themselves look better.
Off the pitch the nights out after a match often expose an idea of love
as fickle or cheap, where people sleep around or cheat on their
partners.
But we need to be clear that we ‘the redeemed of the LORD’ (vs 3) are no
better in and of ourselves. The only difference between us and the lost
people around us is that ‘he has redeemed us from trouble, and gathered
us in from the lands, from the east and west, from the north and south’
(vs 3). As the Apostle John puts it ‘By this we know love, that he laid
down his life for us’ (1 John 3:19). So before next week when we’ll look
into more detail at the psalm, take some time this week to ‘attend to
these things’, to consider the steadfast love of the LORD, and give
thanks to him, and as you do that may God’s love overflow from your life
into the lost world around you that so desperately needs it.
Pete
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