Psalm 107
This psalm gives 6 cycles of different kinds of troubles people have faced: And called to God for help, and how He rescued them: Causing them to thank and praise the Lord. Then the last verses give the conclusion.
1-4 -- (Introduction.) Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good: His love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this--those He redeemed from the hand of the foe, those He gathered from the lands, from East and West, from North and South.
(1) 4-9 -- Those who wandered in desert wastelands who were hungry and thirsty.Then they cried out to the Lord and He delivered them for He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things, so they gave thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men.
(2) 10-16 -- Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. So He subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled and there was no one to help.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men, for He breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.
(3) 17-22 -- Afflictions resulting from rebellious dietary choices; they cried out to the Lord and were rescued from death by being healed and then they praised Him.
(4) 23-32 -- They took to ships and faced storms and tempests; they cried out to the Lord and He calmed the storm and provided a safe haven, and they praised Him.
(5) 33-38 -- He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into a thirsty ground and fruitful land into a salt waste because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
Then He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs; There He brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle. They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest; He blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and He did not let their herds diminish.
(6) 39-41 -- Then their numbers decreased and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow: He who pours contempt on nobles [The Lord, because of their pride] made them wander in a trackless waste.
But He lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks.
42-43 -- (Conclusion.) The upright see and rejoice in praising God, but all the wicked shut their mouths [they have nothing to say]. Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord.
God's love is the foundation of everything that is. God created, and He loves what He made. He fashioned this Earth for us to live here, and formed us from it. Then He gave us all the guidelines so we could know how to live here, how to take care of the Earth and relate to one another: which is to love, as He loves. God loves us, and wants us to love Him back. And He designed our world and us to love one another, and take care of all He has given us as we use this Earth for our benefit and take care of one another in it. When we follow His instructions, then everything works the way He designed it; but when we think we know better, or in other ways rebel against His rules, then we suffer the consequences of our poor choices.
We cannot blame God for unfavorable circumstances in our lives when we don't follow (obey) His commandments and statutes. God has clearly given us the consequences of the kinds of decisions we choose to make, for our good or not. When we choose to live according to His ways, then we benefit and He gets the credit, the glory. When we choose to rebel against His ways in ignoring Him and deciding that we know better, then we reap the fruits of disease, of despair, of death, of everything that is against us.
Let us get to know this God who made us, and learn of His ways, and choose to live our lives according to His revealed will for us to love Him and one another.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
