Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story. Psalm 107:2
I opened the memory box and pulled out a small, silver lapel pin, the exact size and shape of a ten-week unborn baby’s feet. Caressing the ten tiny toes, I remembered the loss of my first pregnancy and those who said I was “lucky” I wasn’t “that far along.” I grieved, knowing that my baby’s feet were as real as the heart that once beat inside my womb. I thanked God for freeing me from depression and using my story to comfort others who were grieving after losing a child. More than two decades after my miscarriage, my husband and I named the child we lost Kai, which in some languages means “rejoice.” Though I still ache from my loss, I thank God for healing my heart and using my story to help others.
The writer of Psalm 107 rejoiced in God’s established character and sang: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever” (v. 1). He urged “the redeemed of the Lord” to “tell their story” (v. 2), to “give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind” (v. 8). He offered hope with a promise that God alone “satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (v. 9).
No one can escape grief or affliction, even those who’ve been redeemed through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. We can, however, experience God’s mercy as He uses our stories to point others to His redeeming love.
Psalm 107:1-9
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.[a]
4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. 6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. 8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind,9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
INSIGHT
1. How has God healed your heartbreaks?
2. How has He used someone else’s story to comfort you?
The Psalms are divided into five “books,” or sections. Psalm 107 is the first song in the fifth of those books. Verse 3 provides a clue as to when it was written—likely after the Jewish people had been exiled from their homeland. It refers to them as “those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south,” an indication that they’d been scattered among the nations. The psalm recounts Israel’s checkered past as it praises God for His frequent deliverance. Repeatedly they forgot God, which led to dire circumstances. Four times we hear the refrain, “Then they cried (out) to the Lord in their trouble,” and four times we read that He delivered “them from (out of) their distress” (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28). The psalm concludes, “Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord” (v. 43).
PRAYER
Dear Jesus, thank You for healing me and using my story to point others to Your redeeming love. In Your name I pray and believe. Amen.
Read: Psalm 107:1-9 | Bible in a Year: Isaiah 23-25; Philippians 1
