Praise The Lord

[00:00:00] It's good to be here together this morning. I trust that we've been challenged already, that our thoughts have been drawn toward God and His goodness. God is good all the time. God is good. Amen. I've entitled the message this morning, Praise the Lord. [00:00:32] I'm not going to have a PowerPoint. This screen up here hasn't been working properly, and I was going to work on that, and I forgot about it. And I felt like it would be a little easier for me this morning not to have to contend with that. But I had to ask myself some questions. And I want to ask you, do you praise the Lord? Why do you praise the Lord? When do you praise the Lord? Where do you praise the Lord? How do you praise the Lord? [00:01:16] I think those are good questions for us to ask ourselves. I want to turn to Psalm 107 this morning. There's some really interesting things here that I see. I know in my own life and experience that the Psalms are a very soothing portion of the Bible. When our emotions, our hearts are raw and bleeding, when we get to the point where we just feel like maybe we can hardly function, the Psalms have something there for us that just comes in and just smooths a healing salve across our soul. [00:02:11] So calming, so cooling, so gentle. And I'd just like to encourage you that the Psalms are that for us. So if you're going through a difficult time in your lives, I'd like to encourage you to read the Psalms. One of the things you notice as you read the Psalms is that David and the other people who wrote the Psalms, he didn't write all of them, You notice that at the headings of them. Some of the temple worship leaders wrote some of the psalms. But one of the things you notice is the psalms is probably the most emotional book in scriptures. [00:03:00] It's an expression of feeling. It's all about how the writer was feeling. And so, you know, he just lays it out. And so you can go into a chapter and you see he's angry. God, these enemies are coming against me. Lord, get rid of them. Kill them. Destroy them. And you go down through and you see him, his emotions start to change and you realize by the end of the chapter as he focuses on God, all of a sudden he's praising God. [00:03:41] And his emotions are soothed, they're healed. And so the Psalms are really interesting to read. And I, there was a time that I went through the Psalms and read, I've mentioned this before to you, just something to help you. Take today's date, the 26th, add 30 to that, 26, 56, 86, 116, 146, and do that every day, and in a month you'll read through the book of Psalms. [00:04:21] And you do that for several months and you realize, you begin to realize why David was called a man after God's own heart. And you begin to realize and you begin to feel that healing coming into your own heart and into your own pain and the things that you experience. So I'd just like to challenge you with that. I think it's something very worthwhile. Let's read Psalm 107. There's two phrases here that I want us to particularly pay attention to. [00:04:58] The one is, then they cried unto the Lord. Then they cried unto the Lord. It's four times. The other one is, oh, that men would praise the Lord, and that's four times. So, pay attention to those phrases. He starts out and he says, Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. And you say, oh, right. This psalm must be written by somebody that had it all together. [00:05:33] Everything was going just like they wanted. Their life was just great. You know, that's where this comes out of. Let's read on. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered them out of the lands from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. Well, maybe they didn't quite have it all together. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Well, maybe there's something here for me. [00:06:12] Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses. And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. For He satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Now, if you pay attention here, there's almost a division here between verse 9 and verse 10. [00:06:47] You'll notice this psalm has sections in it. These sections deal with different people, different situations, and we'll go back and look at that. So it's almost like we're starting over here in verse 10. Excuse me. Such as sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron. You see the change? We were talking about people that were redeemed and we were talking about people that were hungry and faint and so on. [00:07:21] But now all of a sudden he's talking about people bound in iron, in affliction. because they rebelled against the words of God and contemned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore, He brought down their heart with labor. They fell down. There was none to help. There's that verse again. Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder. [00:07:55] Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, for he hath broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder. Now it starts again. Fools, because of their transgression, because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat, and they draw near to the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saveth them out of their distresses. [00:08:30] He sent His word and healed them, delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men, and let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing. And here starts another section. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof. [00:09:03] They mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits' end. Maybe He does have something here. To say to me, maybe this isn't about people that have it all together. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. [00:09:37] Then are they glad, because they be quiet. So He bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men. And let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Now he starts another section. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground, a fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. [00:10:10] He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water springs. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation, and sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. He blesseth them also, so they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Again they are minished, and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way. [00:10:42] Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh them families like a flock. The righteous shall see it, and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. Did you notice why we're called upon to praise the Lord? O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. [00:11:21] Does that ever change? Does it ever change? Is God at some times not good? Are there times in life when God's mercies don't endure? No. His mercy endures forever. And so we realize that what David is calling on us, the psalmist here, is calling on us to do is something that is not based on us, but it's based on him. [00:12:05] And so that changes the picture. Praising God is not about what happens to us. Praising God is about who He is. One of the troubles we run into is that we focus so much on what God does instead of who He is. And that changes a lot of things. One of the things we do when we do that is we begin to expect certain things from God. [00:12:41] We begin to ask for certain things. And sometimes we receive them, but sometimes we don't. And so we need to look at this, we need to think about this. In verses 1 through 9, we see the redeemed. And we see a people who are in a position of hopelessness. Now you say we're redeemed. Exactly. They are redeemed, but they had to be something else before they were redeemed, right? [00:13:18] And so you look at this and you realize these people came from a position of hopelessness. Look at the contrast here. In verse 4, they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. And in the contrast in verse 7, He led them forth by the right way so they could go to a city of habitation. They came from wherever, in verse 3, out of the lands, from the east and from the west and from the south and from the north, from wherever to forever. [00:13:51] Whatever. They came from wandering to walking with purpose. They came from broken in verse 4 and 5, hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them, to blessed in verse 9. He satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. You see them coming from homeless in verse 4 to a place of habitation or mansions, a place of well-being and settledness in verse 7. [00:14:26] You see them coming from needy in verse 5 to satisfied in verse 9. You see them coming from crying in verse 6 to praising in verse 9. And so you see a people that's moved from hopelessness to redeemed. Anybody here like that? Ephesians says, we were all without hope in this world. [00:14:58] We were without God. We were without hope. There was nothing there. And yet He brought us and set our feet upon a rock and established our goings and made us a people, redeemed people, a chosen people, established people A people with purpose and meaning, a people who had a place waiting for them And when we look through Hebrews we notice there was something about faith that caused those people [00:15:30] People, even though their life continued to appear hopeless, you know, they lived in caves and dens of the earth, and they, you know, through faith they experienced death and heartache and pain and all kinds of things, but they were people that were redeemed. They were a people of faith and confidence. You and I need to rejoice and praise the Lord that we are among the redeemed. [00:16:05] God has taken us from that position of hopelessness, from that position of lostness, From that position of life without purpose and without meaning, a life of wandering, a life of destitution spiritually, to a life of meaning. And so he says, let the redeemed praise. Let our mouths be filled with praise. In verse 9, we're satisfied, we're filled because of what he's done. [00:16:40] Now, it's important for us to praise God for who He is. And there's nothing wrong and it's important for us to praise Him for what He does. But, we cannot let what He does stand in the way of praising Him for who He is. Because there's times that he does things that aren't pleasant. [00:17:14] Job said that. And we know that from the life of Job. Job said, the Lord gives and the Lord takes away. And I remember E.V. Hill preaching his wife's funeral. Said, we like the first part of that verse. The Lord gives. We get all happy and excited about the Lord gives, but he said, when the Lord takes away, then we throw a temper tantrum. We get upset with God. But our focus has to be on who He is. Who God is. He's God. He's the Creator. He's the Redeemer. He's the Sustainer. [00:17:55] And as we focus on that, our heart wells up in praise. And then we can praise Him, whatever the circumstances are. If He brings circumstances into our life that are blessings, we praise Him for those. But if He brings circumstances into our lives that are difficult, we praise Him. No matter what. In verses 10 through 16, we see the prisoner. [00:18:29] And we see this prisoner in a position of rebellion. He says there, very specifically, in verse 11, because they rebelled against the words of God. Because of rebellion. You know, it's interesting as we look at these different ones, As we go through these, you begin to realize this covers every one of us in life. [00:19:01] We may be there, we may have been there, we may have struggled with it, we may know someone that's there, whatever. In verse 10, he talks about darkness, death, and affliction. Those that sit in darkness, in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron. In verse 11 he mentions the fact that they're rebels and scorners. In verse 12 he talks about them being laborers. He brought down their heart with labor. In verse 13 we see brokenness. In verse 14 then we see deliverance and hope. He brought them out of darkness in the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder. [00:19:44] I believe there's a spiritual lesson that's important for us. Because I believe that the devil wants to keep you and I in bondage in the difficult circumstances of life. He wants us to be discouraged. He wants us to feel like giving up. He wants us to be bound in those bands of iron. [00:20:23] And I believe that praise delivers us from that bondage. I've experienced it in my own life. Pilgrim's Progress pictures that so clearly. When Pilgrim was on his way to the Celestial City and the enemy came and scared him and discouraged him and threw him into the castle, the dungeon in the castle of the giant despair. [00:20:55] And he looked at life and it looked hopeless. He felt helpless. And all of a sudden he remembered within his bosom there was the key of hope. And he pulled out that key and he was able to open every door in that castle and find his way back to the path again and go on praising and rejoicing in God. The devil wants us to stay in that castle of despair. [00:21:27] He wants us to feel like there is no hope. And maybe it's because of choices we made. You look at these things and you begin to realize that this was not, all of these situations were not because of what God was doing necessarily. It related more to choices that people made and a position that people were in. But as praise filled their hearts, and as He challenges us to praise, there is deliverance, there's hope, there's victory. [00:22:09] In verses 17 through 22, He talks about the fools. Now, in the Bible, a fool is someone who won't take instruction. He's where he's at in life because of his own failures. He could have had a better opportunity. He could have done better. He could have had more chances. [00:22:42] Things could be totally different. And so the fool, I believe, represents our own failures. And I believe that that's one of the things that the devil tries to use against us to cause us not to praise. He wants to get us focused in our own failures. And so it's important for us to recognize that. In verse 17, he talks about transgressions, and because of their iniquities, they're afflicted. [00:23:16] Even in verse 18, he says, even looking at death barely changes their mind. They're right at the gates of death, and they don't even change. They don't even want to think about it. It's interesting. Go through the book of Proverbs sometime and study the different people that he talks about there. One of the ones that he talks about a lot is the fool. He talks about the fool's thoughts. [00:23:48] He talks about the fool's tongue. He talks about the fool's mentality, what he thinks. He talks about the fool's end. He talks about what the fool does in a lot of different situations. And you can read through Proverbs. That's another challenge for your Bible study and your time reading the Bible. Read through Proverbs and just pick out a certain type of person. And look at all that he says about that person as you read through there. [00:24:20] It's really interesting. But the fool, even in the face of death, he doesn't make wise choices because he's a fool. And in verse 19, you see brokenness. They cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saveth them out of their distress. And in verse 20, He sent His Word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. [00:24:52] It's interesting to me that the Word offers healing for fools. If we found ourselves making bad choices, doing stupid things, going the wrong direction, the Word of God offers help and hope and direction for us. It gives us something to lay hold on. And it's interesting to me that each of these groups of people, the ones who were hopeless, come to redemption. [00:25:27] The ones who were rebellious and prisoners come to freedom. The ones who are fools come to wisdom. And they all come to praise. I find that very interesting. In verses 23 to 32, we find another group of people. And this probably touches our lives more than any of the other three, or more than all of those three put together. [00:26:01] We find here a group of people that are affected by unforeseen circumstances. He's talking about sailors, businessmen. They go down to the sea in ships. They do business in great waters. They see the works of the Lord. They're out there and they see those water spouts and they see the stars and they see all kinds of things that are just the touch of God and His working. [00:26:31] He commandeth, He raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths. Their soul is melded because of trouble. You see things happening here. These people observe God's works. They observe God's power. But all of a sudden, the power gets out of control, humanly speaking. And the waves go higher than this building and they go lower. It feels like you went to the bottom of the ocean. And it just, you know, it says in verse 27, they reel to and fro, they stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end. [00:27:23] You know, what do they do? You remember what they did when Paul was riding on the ship? And the other prisoners going to Rome? What did they do? They started throwing out all the freight, the grain, and all the things they were hauling. They started throwing them out, hoping that would keep the ship from breaking in half. And then they started throwing out the tackle. They started throwing out anything they thought they could possibly survive without. They were throwing it all overboard, hoping to save the ship. They didn't know what to do. They started crying out to their gods and they came to Paul and they said, you're a man that believes in God, pray to your God. [00:28:06] And, you know, they just didn't know what to do. The storm was so fierce and so strong. Remember Harold Fly preaching a message, Wits End Corner, from this verse. They're at their wits end. What do you do when you're at your wits end? You weren't planning to get there. When they left on this voyage, they were thinking about the money they were going to make. [00:28:40] They were thinking about the freight they were hauling. They were thinking about all of those things. They weren't thinking about some storm that was going to wreck their ship. I mean, they knew there was that possibility, but that's not what they're thinking about. You know, I believe that the unforeseen circumstances in life are probably some of the most difficult things we face. We struggle with them. We wonder what to do. We come to the place where we're at our wits end. [00:29:14] We don't know. Well, you know, I mean, when you're on a boat out there in the middle of the ocean, and there's a storm that's big enough to break your boat in half, there's just not too many options. There's not a lot, I mean, you don't get off the boat. What do you do? And we find ourselves often in life, which end corner is the corner of my ideas and my efforts [00:29:48] and all those things that are happening that my ideas and my efforts aren't able to deal with. That's the corner we're talking about, which end corner. I suppose probably all of us that are over the age of 30 have been there. And probably some of you that are younger have been there as well. [00:30:23] It's a difficult place. It's a place of struggle. It's a place of soul searching. You know, when you're out there in a boat on the ocean and it looks like the boat's going to break in two and you know you can't swim to shore. And you know the lifeboats aren't going to work in that storm. You start thinking about a lot of things and come to reality and come to grips with things that maybe you wouldn't face. [00:30:56] Maybe you wouldn't think about. Maybe you hid. Maybe you buried in life. So, when we think about this matter, the unforeseen circumstances and the difficulties that come, we begin to realize, you know what? Maybe God had his hand in this storm. So what the scripture tells us here, He commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind which lifteth the waves thereof. What was his purpose? What was his plan? [00:31:32] There's something else I notice here. As far as man was concerned, there was no answer. As far as God was concerned, the answer was real simple. He commanded the waves to rise. He commanded the waves to stop. And so you see, in verse 29, you see the situation changing from storm to calm. Now, what does it take in your life and in mine to change our situation from storm to calm? [00:32:11] The touch of God, the presence of God, is that enough? In verse 27 and 30 we see turmoil changing to quiet and calm. And one of the things that often happens to us when we deal with this situation of unforeseen circumstances, we find ourselves in turmoil. You know what? As people, we don't do good with unknown and waiting. [00:32:48] We just don't. None of us. Some of us maybe do a little better than others, but none of us do well. And when we're not able to see what's out ahead, when we're not able to picture something coming out of this, our heart, our mind, our spirit can often be thrown into a turmoil. And we need to be able to trust in God. We need to be able to look to Him to quiet our hearts, to calm our spirits, to give us strength and grace. [00:33:27] God is calling on us to praise. And it's interesting to me, if we go through each of these, that he brings, he kind of does this in an interesting way. He says, here's what was happening. And then they cried unto the Lord, and the Lord intervened. And then he says what the Lord did in intervention. How he changed the situation. [00:33:58] And then he says oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works And then he tells what ought to be done In verse 9 after talking about the hopeless ones that were redeemed He said he satisfieth the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with goodness In verse 16, For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. [00:34:31] In verse 22, Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. In verse 32, Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the assembly of the elders. There's a response that He says needs to come from us. God has worked. God has moved. God is God. We need to praise Him. We need to thank Him. [00:35:05] We need to rejoice in Him and we need to respond in thankfulness and praise for what He's done. One of the things that I notice in life is that God knows how to touch each of our lives. And so He comes to us and He reaches way down deep within our spirit, within our soul, and He touches us. Some of us he touches through sickness. Some of us he touches through financial adversity. Some of us he touches through relationships. Some of us he touches in other kinds of ways. [00:35:47] God knows exactly what is going to bring to the surface in my life those things that need to be dealt with, those things that He wants to deal with. And so He brings into each of our situations, into each of our lives, those circumstances that deal with those things. Maybe it's simply a matter of pressure in our lives that He brings. [00:36:28] I don't know what all He uses. I know some things. But I believe God knows how to perfect us. And I think we do well to stop and analyze, stop and think, What is God doing in my life? What does He want to perfect? What does He want to purge? What does He want to have me recognize and deal with in my life? In each of the circumstances of life. [00:37:02] But there's one thing that we've got to always remember. No matter what comes our way, we need to praise God for who He is. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Have you ever just stopped and thought, what would happen to me if I got what I really deserve? Ever stop and think about that? [00:37:36] Huh. Tell you what, none of us would be here today. I mean, it's that serious. What would we get if we got what we really deserved? Where would we be? Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness. It's interesting that in the last part of this chapter, he kind of goes back and forth here a little bit. He's not focusing on a particular group of people. But I'd like to just challenge you, take this scripture and look through it. [00:38:10] And think about these four groups that he talks about. Here in the last part, he talks about change that comes. Change that isn't liked. And he says the purpose of that change can be to challenge sin. In the 35 through 37, there's change that comes. It's change that's appreciated. Change that's enjoyed. And it leads to blessing. In verse 39, change comes again. And we realize that God is no respecter of persons. It doesn't matter if a person is poor or rich. It doesn't matter what our social status is, what our economic status is. [00:38:53] None of those things are that important to God. He is concerned with what our heart is. And then the last two verses of this chapter are interesting. The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. [00:39:26] There's two sets of three here. The righteous see and rejoice. The wise observe and understand. So there's something here for us. He says, look, if you're a righteous person, then you need to pay attention. You need to look, and you'll see, and you'll rejoice. If you're a wise person, you need to pay attention. You need to observe, and then you'll understand. [00:40:02] And I think it's important for us to recognize the need of praise in our lives. You say, well, I don't feel like praising. You know what? Praising isn't based on how you feel. Praising is based on who God is. And one of the things, there's a key here, because one of the things that happens is, when we begin to praise God for who He is, [00:40:37] All of a sudden, all the things that are happening around us take on lesser significance. Because we've seen the greatness and the awesomeness of God. So I'd like to challenge us this morning in this whole area of praise. It's such an important thing. Oh, that men would praise the Lord. Did David have reason to say that? [00:41:12] When he'd been hunted like a dog? When he'd been chased by Saul? When he'd been chased by his son Absalom? When he'd been through all that he'd been through? Did he have a reason to say that? Oh, that men would praise the Lord? Were his unforeseen circumstances less than ours? Were his difficulties something that you could just laugh off? [00:41:45] Is that how he could say this? Or was there a lesson that he knew way down inside that had worked for him in all those things that he had faced in life that he's challenging us with and that God is speaking to us with? Think about that. Let's stand for prayer. Father, we thank you for the challenge from your word this morning. [00:42:17] Lord, there's a lot of times we don't feel like praising. Our circumstances are difficult. Things have come up. Our world's upside down because of the waves. The things that we had hoped were going to turn out so well [00:42:50] and for our benefit seem to have all disappeared and evaporated and we're struggling just to survive, just to stay alive. And Lord, you know all about that. It's only a touch from you that can bring the calm and the peace to our hearts in the midst of all that turmoil. And Lord, we're challenged as we look at this scripture this morning with the reality [00:43:27] that you deserve praise every moment of the day, no matter what our circumstances are. Forgive us, Lord, when we've been so overwhelmed with our own circumstances that we fail to praise you, that we don't want to praise you, that we might actually cry out against you. And Lord, I pray that you impress on each of our hearts by your spirit [00:44:00] the importance of praising because of who you are. We want to praise you for what you've done for us as well, dear Lord, but we want you to just impress so clearly in our hearts the fact that we need to praise you for who you are day after day after day after day. Whether the circumstances are good or bad, we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen.