For the last two days we have made observations about the structure and repetition of Psalm 107. While there may be a couple of more things to talk about tomorrow, I want to share some of the patterns I see in these observations.
First, when I did this I was reading Psalm 107 in my Logos Bible program on my iPad. On that platform there are no paragraph or section divisions, at least not in the way I use it. (Download the third part of the walk through here.) The first thing the structure and repetition did for me is divide the psalm into 5 sections, 1 – 9, 10 – 16, 17 – 22, 23 – 32, and 33 – 43. The first four sections have the repetition of the Lord delivering people out of:
So in all but the first case folks made choices that the Lord met with some form of resistance that caused them to call to Him in their distress. In each case He saved them out of that distress. The one difference is in the last example, the psalmist says that He brought them out of their distress. That raises a question about what the difference might be between this example and the others…
I have often wondered if my bad choices and the messes, distresses they create put me in a position that makes it difficult or impossible to be reconciled to God. The encouragement I find here through observation of the different elements upon which we have touched is that regardless of how badly I screw up, God not only can save me from myself but is actively engaged in leading me to the place where I cry out to Him for that redemption. For that I am overwhelmingly grateful.
There are a few more observations that are encouraging to me so we will have at least one more day with this.
Posts in this series:
First, when I did this I was reading Psalm 107 in my Logos Bible program on my iPad. On that platform there are no paragraph or section divisions, at least not in the way I use it. (Download the third part of the walk through here.) The first thing the structure and repetition did for me is divide the psalm into 5 sections, 1 – 9, 10 – 16, 17 – 22, 23 – 32, and 33 – 43. The first four sections have the repetition of the Lord delivering people out of:
- Spiritual hunger and thirst
- Rebellion against the Word of God
- Foolish rebellion
- Overwhelming circumstances
So in all but the first case folks made choices that the Lord met with some form of resistance that caused them to call to Him in their distress. In each case He saved them out of that distress. The one difference is in the last example, the psalmist says that He brought them out of their distress. That raises a question about what the difference might be between this example and the others…
I have often wondered if my bad choices and the messes, distresses they create put me in a position that makes it difficult or impossible to be reconciled to God. The encouragement I find here through observation of the different elements upon which we have touched is that regardless of how badly I screw up, God not only can save me from myself but is actively engaged in leading me to the place where I cry out to Him for that redemption. For that I am overwhelmingly grateful.
There are a few more observations that are encouraging to me so we will have at least one more day with this.
Posts in this series:
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