Sacrifices of Praise to the Lord God of Lovingkindness

March 5, 1989 AM

Psalm 107:4,10,17,23; 33 (Text: Say it with me:

"Oh that men would praise the Lord for His GOODNESS, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.")

Introduction:

One song we sing, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," was no doubt written by a Calvinist, for we Wesleyans have, perhaps correctly, changed some words in its final verse:

The other version reads: "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it! Prone to leave the Lord I love. Here's my heart, O take and seal it; Seal it for Thy courts above."

... and our version is the noble prayer: "Let me know Thee in Thy fullness; Guide me by Thy mighty hand Till, transformed, in Thine own image In Thy Presence I shall stand."

It is good and necessary to have a walk with God that is settled and steadfast. And we may be delivered from the "proneness to wander." But in this all-too-real world there are forces that seek to rob us of the reality of spiritual victory and assurance, and of the certitude of our standing in Jesus Christ unless we continually SEEK God's face.

Unless we make it the heart of every day's activity to WALK with God, and to learn to PRAISE Him as a way of life, that "proneness to wander" will re-enter the reality of our living, regardless of our sound doctrine and correct theology!

This Psalm (107) is a lesson in the recurrence of wandering and being brought back; or, perhaps better, in despairing of faith and being found by God. And it has a valuable lesson for us (for me!) in getting away from that "prone to wander"-kind of outlook. It has four "strophes" of

(1) being/going away from God, and of (2) crying out to Him, and (3) finding His salvation and His assurance, and THEN (4) praising Him for His goodness:

[Say it with me: "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His GOODNESS, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."]

I. (verse 4) WANDERING, LOSTNESS

"They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in."

  1. THEY WANDERED

    There is a lostness that comes of never having made personal living contact with God through Jesus Christ. Perhaps this describes every person who has not yet found that God is our HOME; the man or woman that doesn't know God in any personal way.

  2. THEY CRIED TO GOD

    When this lostness becomes a cry, God has already heard. And God draws near to make them a part of the fellowship. Lost no more,

  3. GOD HEARD, AND CAME: AND THEY PRAISED HIM!

    They have a heart full of praise!

[Say it with me: "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His GOODNESS, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."]

[If YOU have never found that God loves YOU, and wants YOU to be "at HOME" in Him, you can be sure that He is already listening for your cry! He is waiting to make you a part of His family, His fellowship! And then YOU will have a reason to praise!]

II. (verse 10) DARKNESS, THREAT, PRISONERS OF MISERY AS A DIRECT RESULT OF REBELLION

"Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God .."

  1. THEY FELL DOWN AND THERE WAS NONE TO HELP

    There is a sense of lostness that comes because we are careless about spiritual things!

    The pathway to glory is seldom smooth. There may well come periods of darkness, and some of these are the result of our own failure to trust in a heavy trial or temptation, or because we deliberately disobey God's will. Prisoners of misery!

  2. THEY CRIED TO GOD

    But when this helplessness becomes a cry, God has already heard. And God comes to bring light like the sun coming from behind a cloud. The darkness of their bondage is broken, and

  3. GOD CAME TO THE RESCUE, AND THEY PRAISED HIM!

    And their hearts again are lifted in praise!

[Say it with me: "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His GOODNESS, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."]
[Have you been there? Are you there NOW?]

III. (verse 17) FOOLISHNESS, AFFLICTION, NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCE

"Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near to the gates of death."

  1. THEY CAME TO HORROR OF INIQUITY

    This almost sounds like a back-slider to me! One who is sick all over because of falling into sin!

  2. THEY CRIED TO THE LORD

    But God, full of LOVE, and everlasting in MERCY is ready to hear the penitent cry!

    "Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses..."

  3. GOD CAME, AND THEY PRAISED HIM:

    "He sent his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions."

    And their hearts again are lifted in praise!

[Say it with me: "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His GOODNESS, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."]

IV. (verses 23 - 30) MISERY OF TEMPESTUOUS STORM, MELTED COURAGE EVEN FOR THE USUALLY BRAVE

"They that go down to the sea in ships..."

  1. THEY GOT INTO A FRIGHTENING STORM!

    This strophe is not so simply defined! Here is a person on a journey; a business venture, perhaps— at least a necessary venture of life. And there is a storm! It certainly can be applied literally, as when the disciples at Christ's command were caught in a threatening storm on Galilee, and Jesus came to them walking on the water.

    But this also stands for many a storm of life for which there is no simple explanation.

    These wayfarers are not called rebels, or foolish, or wanderers. They simply are doing business in great waters. In the course of the bruises and risks and adventures of life, The storms do come. They come to us all.

  2. IN THE STORM THEY CRIED TO GOD!

    In the storm, God hears our cry. When it seems as though the howl of the gale snatches away our prayers before we can even hear them ourselves, God hears!

  3. GOD HEARS, GOD COMES AND DELIVERS, AND THEY PRAISE GOD:

    And when peace reigns again,

    Again they are brought to the place of lifting their hearts in praise!

[Say it with me: "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His GOODNESS, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."]

V. (33 - 43) SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

The Psalm closes with a statement of the SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD; and with the observation: (43) "Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the LOVINGKINDNESS of the Lord."

  1. WHAT CAN THIS PATTERN TELL US? HOW MAY WE BE "WISE?"
    1. Do we need to wander away?; to fall?; can we stay near to the Lord? [CERTAINLY WE WILL BE TESTED. BUT WE NEED NEVER LEAVE HIM, AND HE WILL NEVER LEAVE US.]
    2. Do we need to wait until we are in trouble to cry out our dependency on God? WE MUST BE SEEKERS AFTER GOD, AND WE MUST SEEK TO BE PRAISERS OF GOD FROM OUR HEARTS.
  2. COME BACK TO THE BEGINNING OF THE PSALM:

    "O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is GOOD; for His mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy ... "

    1. LET THEM SAY WHAT? Say "so?" That they are redeemed? Yes, but more specifically, Let them say the Lord is GOOD, and His MERCY, His LOVINGKINDNESS endureth forever! Let's be specialists in PRAISE!
    2. Instead of being brought to praise after trials, which is proper, let God's people be specialists in praise at all times:

      [34:1] I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise will continually be in my mouth!

    3. Such praise helps us get the center of our lives back to God, and not simply to what God is doing for US! Praise the Lord for His GOODNESS! So much even of our worship revolves around how WE feel, and what WE are doing for God!
    4. But it IS proper and right to thank the Lord for "His wonderful works to the children of men!" And we would be ungrateful if we did NOT praise God for what He is doing in and through US!

Conclusion:

The old song says "Prone to wander, Lord I feel it!" ... and perhaps rightly we have changed the words to "Let me know Thee in Thy fullness ..."

But remember, there are forces that will drive us away from freshness unless we continually SEEK, and unless we make it a part of our very daily rituals to PRAISE the Lord.

If we can just learn to praise at the outset, we can short-cut the length of the darkness. It doesn't mean we will never face the storms. But the sacrifice of praise keeps the center where it belongs.

Say it with me one last time: "Oh that men would praise the Lord for His GOODNESS, and for His wonderful works to the children of men."

#72 I Will Praise Him