Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for he has gathered his redeemed from the four corners of the earth…
Thus far in the psalms, we have been taken on a journey with Israel as they sought for help in temporal kings only to see that the kings always failed them. As a result of them trusting in their own power and rejecting God, they were taken into exile, placed in distant lands, and left longing for a return to Israel. It did not take long before they cried to God, recognizing him as the only source of hope and help. This is where we find ourselves in the opening chapter of Book V, reading the promise that the LORD will gather his scattered children, Israel, from the four corners of the earth.
But this chapter, and book even, is about more than the Israelites and God’s redemption of them from their captors. It is, in very many ways, the story of us all. For we have all placed our hope in something temporal at one time or the other. We have all longed to find the strength of God in one of his or one of our creations. And we have all been hesitant to rest our hope in God because we know he would compel us to live righteous lives. For most of us, such a bargain is one we find difficult to make.
But God is faithful even when we aren’t. Even when we have been scattered to the four corners of the earth, God still works his way. As the psalmist writes in Psalm 23:3, “He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” God leads us along these pathways not solely because he wants something of us, though that is part of it, but because it pleases him to reveal his glory through our lives. Remember, if you will, that Jesus said in John 9 that the man was born blind so that the works of God might be revealed.
Some wandered in desert wastes finding no way to a city to dwell in…
Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death…
Some were fools through their sinful ways…
Some went down to the sea in ships doing business…
It is difficult to come to grips with the fact that God leads us along pathways where there is no home or where we find ourselves in prison. It is difficult to comprehend how God would lead us along a pathway where we are caught in a lifelong struggle with sin. And it can be difficult to believe that sometimes we are, as my Dad once said, “called to be a businessman,” seemingly led along a pathway of little resistance. But in the case of Israel, these are the various pathways down which God led his chosen nation. As odd as it may seem, in our case the story is not much different. Our lives are filled with trouble from first breath to last, and we wander the pathways of this world hoping in God’s promise of love and mercy. But God does not leave us to silently hope, like the Israelites, he wants us to reach out to him.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble…
This is a lesson some of us take longer to learn than others. Some of us, myself included, seek solace from our pain in objects we can control. We numb ourselves to life’s pain by way of movies, vacations, video games, toys, and a myriad of other objects and activities, but we ought not to do so. One of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen, in his book The Inner Voice of Love explains that it is in these times of despair when we are called to live in the midst of the pain. But this is not to be an end in and of itself, rather a means whereby we might learn how to trust God. For God places each of us in our situations for a reason, but when we divert our eyes from the situation we divert our eyes from God’s hand in our life.
…and he delivered them…
He led them…
He brought them out of darkness…
He sent out his word…
He made the storm be still…
If we call upon the Lord, he is faithful to hear our cries and faithful to deliver us from our distress. He provides a home for the homeless, he breaks the chains of the prisoner, he sends his word to heal the sinner of his ways, and stills the storms of life for those who have become overwhelmed. However, far too often we think each need requires a different person or diversion as a solution, but the psalmist would tell us otherwise. The psalmist would tell us there is only one place, or person, serving as the solution for all of our problems.
Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love.
It is the Lord, the covenant-making God, who does all of this. And just as when we thank our friends for opening the door for us when our arms are filled with packages, we should thank the Lord that he satisfies our hungry soul, shatters the iron bars of our prisons, heals our sins, and calms the storms of life. Continual thanks and praise is the only proper response to all that he has done. For, ever since that day when we ran from his presence in the garden he has been at work to gather us, his chosen outcasts, back to himself.
