Always
By: Jack Wyman
It’s a fascinating litany of crises.
All manner of difficulties, turmoil, terror, confusion, and hardship come. People’s hearts grip them in fear. They cry out in desperation. They implore God for his deliverance and salvation. They plead for his help.
Before the rescue comes, the divine sovereignty is proclaimed. It starts with two words:
“Give thanks.”
The psalmist begins our journey with the confident assurance of an ironclad trust. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever” (Psalm 107:1).
We are told to give thanks because God is good. He’s good in every situation. Every crisis. Every challenge. Every difficulty. Every heartache. Every confusion. Every loss and every gain.
God’s love is faithful. It is no fair-weather love. It is no superficial affection that goes along with ease until problems come. God’s love is steadfast. It is unchanging. It knows no cooling or disinterest. God’s love is faithful because God is faithful. He cannot be less. Nor can his love for us.
God’s love for you and me endures forever. The hymnist tells us, “There is no shadow of turning with Thee.” Agape—God’s love—rises far above the love of mere mortals. It goes higher than the heavens. It goes far deeper than the deepest sin, far wider than the breadth of all human possibilities. And his love is longer than time itself.
The love of God wraps itself around eternity.
The great apostle Paul wants us to know and to experience the love of Jesus Christ. “And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully” (Ephesians 3:18-19).
God’s love comes to those who wander in a wilderness of doubt and fear; of hunger and thirst, lost and homeless (Psalm 107:4-5). “Lord, help!” they cry. How misleading is the world around us. How misguided are its thoughts and plans, its empty hopes and dreams, its vain promises and beguilements.
God comes to the rescue of the lost wanderers in the world’s wilderness. He takes them to safety. He gives them hope and a purpose for living. He gives their empty lives meaning. In place of want he gives abundance of life.
“Let them praise the Lord for his great love,” writes the psalmist, “and for the wonderful things he has done for them. For he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (Psalm 107:8-9). Writes King Solomon:
“He brought me to his banqueting table. And his banner over me is love” (Song of Solomon 2:4). In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus declares: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
In this season of thanksgiving, let us praise God for his abundant provision.
There are those who sit “in darkness and deepest gloom, imprisoned in iron chains of misery” (Psalm 107: 10). Many have rejected God, rebelling against his way and his word. They are despaired of hope, bound tight in their lonely heartache and despondence. They are the captives of evil thoughts and addictive behavior.
How our world writhes in emotional and mental suffering and illness. We cannot build enough institutions and prisons to house all those who are profoundly troubled. There are not enough programs and treatments to liberate them from their twisted minds and wounded hearts. “Lord, help!” comes the cry of the tormented.
The love of God can liberate the prisoners. He snaps their chains and rescues them from their distress. He leads them from darkest night to brightest day. “For he broke down their prison gates of bronze; he cut apart their bars of iron” (Psalm 107: 14-16).
He sets them free.
In his first public words, Jesus stakes out his mission and quotes the prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. . . he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound” (Luke 4:18).
May every person set free from sin and pain give thanks to the God who rescued him. “Let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them” (Psalm 107:15).
For every wanderer, every prisoner, every spiritual rebel, every struggling soul, God’s love and matchless grace have been more than sufficient. There is no trial or heartbreak you and I have faced, are facing, or will face that our glorious and mighty God cannot transcend, and give us his comfort, protection, strength, and guidance.
There are times of great storms in every life. The psalmist describes the fear of the sailors upon a violent sea:
“He spoke and the winds rose, stirring up the waves. Their ships were tossed to the heavens and plunged again to the depths; the sailors cringed in terror. They reeled and staggered like drunkards and were at their wits’ end” (Psalm 107: 25-27).
Then again came the desperate appeal of troubled hearts: “Lord, help!”
“He calmed the storm to a whisper and stilled the waves. What a blessing was that stillness, as he brought them safely into harbor” (Psalm 107: 29-30). Did not Jesus demonstrate his power over the waves when he ordered, “Peace, be still!” and comforted his disciples?
God will always give us peace through every storm. He will always protect us and guide us into the safe harbor.
To all those God rescues and guides and watches over, the psalmist tells us: “Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts” (Psalm 107: 22).
Let us give thanks to our great God. Let us praise his Son Jesus. Our Defender, Rescuer, Savior, and Friend. For God is always good.
Always.
To order Jack Wyman’s book, “Everything Else: Stories of Life, Faith and Our World”, go to amazon.com, Christian Book Distributors or barnesandnoble.com. It is also available on Kindle and eBooks.
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