I continue to slowly read through the Bible in one year. Although there are some days it does seem like a burden (due to my humanity, not Scripture itself), being “forced” to spend time in God’s Word daily has been a great blessing.
I’ve never really been big on poetry (I abhorred it in high school English classes), so Psalms can be problematic for me. Luckily, as I’ve aged it is less taxing, and often I can actually enjoy it.
Reading Psalm 107 today was one of those cases…what an awesome song! It’s an tremendous reminder of how often God has bailed so many of us out of terrible situations, including one common to all mankind:
Some were fools through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress (Psalm 107:17-19 ESV).
I constantly feel in need of this kind of deliverance. I don’t fall in the very visible ways, but I fail in so many others. In my case, UNWORTHY should always be said in all caps—and with bold italics.
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24)
Who will deliver me? The same One who has always been there no matter how unfaithful I have been. The same One who has not abandoned me when times have been darkest. The same One who will make sure that my battles with the flesh are temporary. There’ll come a day…
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
"O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?"The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:51-57).
Psalm 107 ends making an assertion that demands our attention. God’s blessings on you and yours on this Independence Day…may it also be a day where you receive your independence from the bondage (and condemnation) of sin…and the promise of eternal deliverance from your body of death. Let freedom ring…
Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD (Psalm 107:43).