Noted a command to obey in Psalm 107 this morning. So . . . I’m gonna obey it!

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
       let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.

(Psalm 107:43 ESV)

After 42 verses, the songwriter says, in effect, “Don’t just sing it, sit it in. Think it over. Consider diligently the implications of, as Peterson puts it, “GOD’s deep love” (MSG).

Okay, let’s do it.

Psalm 107 is a call to “the redeemed of the LORD” to “give thanks to the LORD, for His steadfast love endures forever” (v.1). And redemption, the songwriter says, is “from trouble” (v.2). And so, if you’re gonna sing the song of the redeemed you’re gonna sing of trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble.

Four scenarios of trouble are composed by the lyricist. “Some wandered in desert wastes” (v.4) and were famished. “Some sat in darkness” (v.10), near death because they rebelled and spurned the counsel of God. “Some were fools through their sinful ways” and suffered greatly, so much so they couldn’t even eat. And finally, while the song starts in the desert, it finishes in the sea where “Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business” (v.23). Just everyday people doing their everyday job amidst the everyday upheavals and chaos of everyday life and, on this day, they encountered stormy winds and lifted up waves and they were in trouble, too.

Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. Obey the psalm’s command and “attend to these things”, and you’re gonna know that, just as Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation” (John 16:33). So, what’s a guy (or a gal) gonna do?

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

(Psalm 107:6 and 13, and 19, and 28 ESV)

Four times, in every scenario, from the desert to the sea, from trouble caused by foolishness to trouble caused by sinfulness to trouble found even in faithfulness, regardless of the level or degree to which “they deserved it”, they cried to the LORD in their trouble. Okay, that’s makes sense. Dialing 911 is what you’re gonna do in an emergency. But what makes less sense perhaps, is that in every troubled scenario, God delivers them from their distress. But hey, that’s what makes the redeemed the redeemed. And that’s what makes the steadfast love of the LORD steadfast. Hence, that’s why they should give thanks.

So, what do we know from the song about being redeemed? Well, as the songwriter sings again and again, God delivers. Yeah, but there’s more!

He also leads the delivered “by a straight way” (v.7). He brings them “out of darkness and the shadow of death” and “bursts their bonds apart” (v.14). He sends out His word and heals them and rescues them “from their destruction” (v.20). And He makes “the storm be still” and brings them to “their desired haven” (v. 29-30). That’s not just deliverance, that’s deliverance plus!

Deliverance plus. That’s the experience of the redeemed. That’s my experience. My experience from when I was first delivered “from the domain of darkness and transferred to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). And it’s been my experience of every deliverance I’ve known since then — deliverance needed because of my foolishness, my sinfulness, and even when in my faithfulness the storms of life were simply overwhelming.

Yeah, we’re gonna have trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble in the world for all sorts of reasons. “But take heart,” says Jesus, “I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). And overcoming comes from deliverance plus.

Isn’t that what redemption is all about? I’m thinkin’ . . .

So, having obeyed this command-to-obey in the last verse of the song, I’m guessing I should obey the command-to-obey in the first verse of the song.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good,
       for His steadfast love endures forever!

(Psalm 107:1 ESV)

Yes, I will. Because yes, He is. For yes, it does.

And I have known that steadfast love through trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble.

Because of His abundant grace. Only for His all-deserving glory.