Consider the great love of the Lord
Dear Friends,
It’s a challenge to know how best to encourage and inspire God’s people at the start of this new year. Some of you will be excited about what God may do this year, some apprehensive about what might happen, others disillusioned and not really expecting anything from God. Whichever of those best describes you, and it’s not an exhaustive list, I believe Psalm 107:43 has something to say to each of us: “Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD” (NIV).
The psalm is a song for “the redeemed”, to express their thanks to the Lord for bringing them back from exile to himself and to their land. It recalls his mighty acts of deliverance on their behalf. Their experience is like that of wanderers being settled, prisoners set free, fools restored to their right mind, and those in danger delivered. Similarly, our experience of the Lord’s redemption is that he has brought us home to himself, set us free from our sins and hopelessness, opened our eyes to see him and ourselves truly, and given us rest from our endless striving.
Disturbingly, alongside these experiences of the Lord’s ‘delivering’ love, the psalm details experiences of his ‘disciplining’ love – for example, when he made his people “wander in a trackless waste” (verse 40). These experiences also seem to be among “these things” that we’re to heed, and in which to “consider the great love of the LORD”. May the Lord make us wise, so that we will see how great his love is for us, whether that love is shown in deliverance or in discipline.
Yours in Christ,
Chris Hobbs.