7-12-2023

Good Morning All,

       Psalm 107: 1, 4-6; “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!  Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.  Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” 

    Have you ever watched movies or even documentaries about people who wander the desert?  There is always a sense of doom and being lost.  There is very little hope.  You wonder what they think or feel.  In the news this past week, there was an article about how it appears that the colonists at Jamestown may have resorted to cannibalism to survive.  How far gone are you when you think cannibalism is the right choice?  How desperate are you?

    I would imagine that at that point there would be complete despondency.  It could be your child or spouse or parent that you eat in order to survive.  You would feel completely lost and totally on your own. 

    There were times when the Israelites felt like this, especially when they were being marched to Babylon and while they lived in captivity in Babylon.  They wandered about as a people without a land, as a people without a city, as a people without a God.  Then, when they were at the total bottom, God rescued them and brought them home.  He gathered the faithful remnant and brought them home.  God delivered them from their sorrow.  God delivered them from their pain.  He delivered them from their distress.  He led them to their city where they no longer hungered or thirst.  He made them safe, and he tended to their needs.  The people cried out to the Lord; he heard and answered by delivering them from their distress.

    The LORD does this for us.  Remember this is the name for God when he gets his hands dirty in our lives; when he reaches out to us and brings us into his precious care.  We wander through the wasteland of sin.  We have no hope, no future; nothing to bring us relief.  Our sinful condition leaves us to cannibalize those around us.  We use and abuse them to our own selfish wants and desires.  If they are weaker, we push them down.  If they are bigger, we gang up.  If they have something we want, we take it.  All our actions are geared to one level and that is to me, for me; I don’t care about you.   Our life is painful because we are both the victims as well as the victimizers.       

    God brings us out of this.  Through our redemption through the cross of Calvary, we are led out of the wasteland.  We are led back to the land flowing with milk and honey.  We are given the spiritual food we need to support this body and life.  We have a city to defend us and to call our home.  It starts as the Church but ends as heaven.  So, we can cry out to the LORD for he will deliver us just as he always has.

Dearest Father, we cry to you, and you hear us. You lead us from the wasteland of sin into your marvelous light.  Guide us and guard us.  Lead us in faith to you.  Use us to be your hands and your voice.  In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret