Let us Consider the Steadfast Love of the LORD

“Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.” (Psalm 107:43 ESV)

Last week, we observed how the Psalmist of Psalm 107 did something really profound. He connected the steadfast love of the LORD to the wisdom necessary for a good life. If this is true, it is vital for us to know how do we practice this? How can we obey this exhortation of the Psalmist to “consider the steadfast love of the LORD”?

As we saw, Psalm 107 is a well structured Psalm. After the opening lines, we see the a stanzas, with a basic pattern

“Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in;

 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.

Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.

Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man! For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” (Psalm 107:4–9 ESV)

“Some wandered…” (vv. 5-6) describes a people facing a specific distress.

“Let them thank the LORD….” (vv.8-9) is a call for rightful gratitude towards the One who saves; and further names not just what the people are saved from but how He saves (“he satisfies the longing soul”).

And sandwiched in the middle of this opening and ending, is the phrase “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress…. ” (v. 6-7) which describes what the People Did and what God did in response.

This is the pattern we see four times.

107:4-9

107:10-16

107:17-22

107:23-32

And in every one of them, Not only do we see HOW the steadfast love of the LORD saves, but we are also made to see HOW the steadfast love of the LORD is made real in our lives. They “cried out to the LORD in their trouble…”. That’s it. There’s no formula. There’s no 100 page manual. There’s no deep mystery. They cried out to the LORD in their trouble.

What kind of person responds to our cries?

What kind of heart is it that breaks down and is moved by our cries?

What kind of relationship does this God have with his people?

The nation of Israel did not first know God has Creator, but first as Father. The story they celebrate on their birth day is marked by this powerful revelation…

“Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”” (Exodus 3:7–10 ESV)

Israel’s knowledge of God is not first as the God who created everything… but as the God who seen their affliction. As the God who hears their cry. As the God who know their sufferings. As the God who comes running to save them from their distress. God for Israel was not some metaphysical concept but a relational one - God was…

The Father who birthed them.

The Father who nurtures them and nourishes them.

The Father who hovers of them.

The Father who responds to them in their cries.

It was out of a Father-Son relationship that Israel discovered, God was the Creator of Heaven and Earth. The One who has power over all things. The One who calm the winds and the waves and stop the raging sea. The One who could heal the sick and cause the blind to see. The One who had the power of sin and death itself.

As Christ followers, we too believe in the God of Israel. The Christian Creed begins with this - I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth. This is interesting because it doesn’t say - I believe in God the Creator. It says, I believe in God, the Father… who is the Creator of Heaven and Earth.

Do we know God as Father?

Do we know God as the One loves us and draws close to us?

Do we know God as the One who responds to our cries?

Do we live on earth in trusting obedience to God as Father?

Let us this week set time aside to consider the steadfast love of the LORD.