Here we have an excerpt from Psalm 107. In this psalm, we can see that God saves sinful people. The psalmist covers of a wide range of sorrowful and difficult situations. Whether it was the person’s own doing, or not, doesn’t really matter because the Lord’s unfailing love is greater than our guilt. To transgress is to willfully violate what we fully know is right to do. The punishment comes upon a person, not so much as a direct action of God’s will, but as an indirect result of living life as one pleases. The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) is a great example of this—of how, even reckless and rebellious living cannot truly separate us from the love of Christ. So, don’t give up praying, hoping, seeking. “Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story” (v. 2). What stories can you tell of God unfailing love?
A sobering point of this psalm is that too often people do not call upon God until calamity strikes. Storms come upon us all; sudden difficulty or severe sickness may arrest us from our unperceived or willful spiritual decline. But the text implies that if the Lord is sought with a contrite heart, crying for deliverance, the calamity may be reversed. And God’s will is for our healing, both spiritual and physical! The Lord will hear such a cry; and when He does, He heals us with “His word” (v. 20). The Redeemed of the Lord don’t want to sin. The redeemed of the Lord rejoice because Christ has delivered us from sin. Our story is not only that the Lord Jesus has saved us from sin, but that we seek Him through the Spirit to strengthen us and keep us from sin! We are the people of Christ has redeemed—“that He might sanctify and cleanse us * with the washing of water by the word” Ephesians 5:26, NKJV).