Redeemed!

 

Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    whom he has redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

Psalm 106, which we looked at yesterday, talked about all the ways and times the people of God had forgotten him, ending up in exile.  This next successive psalm begins with a call too thanksgiving because God had called them back home from all corners of the earth.  Each paragraph of the psalm lists a different situation from which they had been redeemed: some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in, and when they called out to Him, God put them on the road to find a place of safety; Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons, but when they called out to God, He broke them free from their chains; Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction, but when they cried out to Him He healed them; Some went down to the sea in ships and ended up plunged into the sea, but when they called out to God, He rescued them.  In short, in His steadfast love, His lovingkindness, God continues to hear and redeem us from our troubles.