Let the Wise Consider the Steadfast Love of the Lord

Psalm 107
December 26, 2021
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

If you’ve been with us here at Highland for some time, then perhaps you’ve noticed a reoccurring theme in many of my Sunday sermons and Friday Bible studies and prayers and pastoral counseling. The theme has been wisdom. Wisdom and the fear of the Lord.

On Sundays, we went through Proverbs in the first half of 2018, we went through Revelation and the seven letters to the seven churches in the early summer of 2020, and we went through James this year in 2021. And on Fridays, we recently finished a study through the entire book of Ecclesiastes that began in February 2019. (We took a lot of breaks.) So: wisdom, wisdom, and more and more wisdom.

I decided to put a lot of emphasis on this because all of us are in important stages in our lives right now. These are the years in which we are really tested and tried in our faith. These are the years in which we understand what real Christian life looks like. These are the years in which we truly own our responsibilities, our decisions, our mistakes, our consequences. These are the years in which we are broken down and humbled as we realize that lack wisdom, we are more childish and foolish and immature than we thought, and we do not fear the Lord as we ought to.

But what does it mean to be wise and fear the Lord? When I think of what it means to be wise, I think of many things: heeding important warnings, being aware of serious consequences, remembering the big picture, seeing the world for what it really is, and being humble and patient and impartial and slow to speak and quick to listen. But the main point of today’s passage kind of flew under the radar for me for a very long time. Perhaps it has flown under the radar for you as well.

Psalm 107 ends with these wonderful words: “Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.” A wise believer in Christ Jesus is someone who considers the steadfast love of God. A wise Christian who fears the Lord is someone who thinks about and meditates upon how God’s love is constant and unchanging. A wise church member is like an eager student who studies and reviews and buries in his or her heart and mind how God’s love is eternal and covenantal and unlike any other love. A wise brother or sister in Christ is someone who actually prays that he or she may have strength to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:14-19). A wise saint is someone who realizes that there is a direct correlation between wisdom and knowing the truths of the gospel of Christ through and through.

Let us do just that with Psalm 107. Let us be wise and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

Psalm 107 is about how God brought his people back after their exile. Remember the big picture story in the Old Testament. God delivered Israel from Egypt and brought her through the wilderness to the Promised Land. He did it so that he would dwell with them and they would dwell with him. It was a beautiful picture of ultimate deliverance - deliverance from sin and from death. And it was a glorious foreshadowing of ultimate home - home with God. But God’s people sinned against him. They worshipped false gods. They burned children as offerings. They committed sexual immorality. They disgraced the Sabbath. Their sins were many. Therefore, God brought judgment and discipline upon them. He exiled them from the land. The dwelling place was no more. Many nations attacked them and conquered them and took them away. And so they were scattered throughout the earth. They were far from home. They were exiled away in eastern lands and western regions. They were scattered far away north and south of the Jerusalem and the Promised Land that they lost.

But God brought his people back. The Lord redeemed them from trouble. He rescued them as they were in distress. And he gathered them in from everywhere. The psalmist goes on to describe four kinds of people that God brought back. It is as if there were a group for each direction of a compass. God gathering his people in from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

As we go through these four groups of people, think about yourselves. Think about your relationship with the Lord. And consider his steadfast love toward his people.

The first type of people that God brought back home is described in verses 4-9. Some of God’s people were wanderers. Wanderers in barren places of desert wilderness. They were hungry and thirsty. Their soul was fainted. They were far from home. Imagine wandering in a desert throughout your life. Imagine lacking in food and drink because there is no one who cares about you. Imagine giving up hope. Imagine being homeless. God’s people were like this.

The second type of people that God brought back home is described in verses 10-16. Some of God’s people were prisoners. Prisoners sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. They were in affliction and in irons. They were broken down with hard labor. They fell down. No one helped them. Imagine living in a dark cell throughout your life. Imagine always in fear that you will not see tomorrow. Imagine heavy chains around your hands and feet. Imagine serving a master who is against you and who does not care about you. God’s people were like this.

The third type of people that God brought back home is described in verses 17-22. Some of God’s people were fools. Fools who lived in their own sinful ways. They sinned against God and against other people. And they faced the consequences for their sins. They were afflicted. They loathed food. And they drew near to the gates of death. Imagine having wrongs in your life that you cannot undo. Imagine facing the consequences for your wrongs and there is no mercy or forgiveness. Imagine suffering through affliction and knowing fully well that you deserve all of it. Imagine having to die for your sins. God’s people were like this.

The fourth type of people that God brought back home is described in verses 23-32. Some of God’s people were lost at sea. They did business in ships on the great waters of the sea. They were prideful in their courage and wicked in their evil plight. But they were humbled by God’s storms and winds and waves of the sea. They were brought down, down to the depths, and they reeled and staggered like drunken men at their wits’ end. Imagine building a life for yourself only to have it destroyed. Imagine living for money and living for the things of this world. Imagine being humbled by God and brought down. Imagine being shipwrecked and then drowning. God’s people were like this.

God’s people were like this. All of this. They were wanderers. They were prisoners. They were fools. They were lost at sea. This was who God’s people were during the exile. They had lost the dwelling place of God. They were far from home. This was their disastrous and desperate situation.

So what could they possibly do in their disaster and desperation? In each and every section, the psalmist repeatedly tells us what they all did and what God did.

They cried to the LORD in their trouble.

And he delivered them from their distress.

This is so amazing. God’s people cried to him. They grieved and mourned over the exile and the reality of their sins. They asked God for mercy and grace. And God delivered them. God heard their cries. He had compassion upon his people. He showed mercy and grace to them.

But above all, he was faithful to his promises and to his covenant of grace. That is his steadfast love. The exile was terrible. But God meant for it all to show to his people their great need for Christ Jesus. And he meant it to remind them of what is eternal and true. God loves his people. And even though his people are not faithful to him, he is faithful to them. This was his steadfast love.

Look at what the Lord did for the four types of exiles in Psalm 107.

For all who were wanderers in the desert and without food or drink and without home, God led them by a straight way and God brought them to a city to dwell in. God satisfies the longing soul. The hungry soul he fills with good things. God is faithful and kind to his people. God is forgiving and loving to us. And this steadfast love has been demonstrated to us in the salvation of Jesus Christ. For in Christ Jesus, we are well fed with his word, and we are at home with him. Praise the Lord!

For all who were prisoners facing death, God brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death. God burst their bonds apart. God sets them free. God is faithful and kind to his people. God is forgiving and loving to us. And this steadfast love has been demonstrated to us in the salvation of Jesus Christ. For in Christ Jesus, we are no longer slaves to sin, we are set free from sin and now we are slaves of righteousness. Praise the Lord!

For all were fools who sinned against God and faced the consequences for their sins, God spoke to them. God sent out his word to them and he healed them. God delivered them from their destruction. God is faithful and kind to his people. God is forgiving and loving to us. And this steadfast love has been demonstrated to us in the salvation of Jesus Christ. For in Christ Jesus, we have been justified and healed, there is now no condemnation for us, and we are now growing in his wisdom. Praise the Lord!

For all who were lost at sea and full of pride and worldliness, God made the storm be still. The waves of the sea and the waters, which are all under his command, were hushed and quieted. And God brought them to dry land. God is faithful and kind to his people. God is forgiving and loving to us. And this steadfast love has been demonstrated to us in the salvation of Jesus Christ. For in Christ Jesus, we have our new Master and King whom we love and serve with humble joy and with the best of our heavenly-minded good works. Praise the Lord!

And on top of all of this, God defended them from their enemies. When princes of other lands diminished God’s people and brought them low through oppression, evil, and sorrow, God poured contempt on such princes. The Lord was to his people a good shepherd, raising up the needy out of affliction and making them his flock. The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth. Praise the Lord!

What a turnaround! What a reversal! God’s people goes from bad news to good news. From humiliation to exaltation. Yes, God turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground, and a fruitful land into a salty waste - all because of the evil of its inhabitants. But God also turns a desert into pools of water and a parched land into springs of water. There was judgment. But there was also grace.

Dear Highland, this is the steadfast love of the Lord. If you are far from home, if you are too far east or west, too far north or south, if you are in a disastrous or desperate situation, then cry out to the Lord. Cry out the Lord, Highland, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Dear Highland, please consider the steadfast love of the Lord as you wait for his return. Please think about it and meditate upon it. For then you will grow in wisdom and the in the fear of the Lord. Consider Jesus. His person. His work. His birth and his life. His death and his resurrection. His ascension and his ministry of love to you throughout your life. Dedicate yourself to being a life-long student of the gospel of Christ. We often forget how much God loves us. But we shouldn’t. Whoever is wise, let him or her attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord. And let them give thanks.

Soli Deo Gloria