God's Faithfulness in Times of Trouble

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Let me invite you to open your Bible, or click on your Bible, and to turn to Psalm 107. In the Old Testament they had idols. Today we have iPads, iPhones, other such things. Don't let it be an idol.

We've been talking this weekend about freedom and fullness and fruitfulness in Christ. And that's a great slogan. It's a great theme to rally around. We hear that and we say, "Yes, I want freedom! Yes, I want fullness. Yes, I want fruitfulness. I know it's in Christ."

But I wonder if any of you have maybe had a thought like this, "You know, that's a nice thought, and it's nice for all those speakers who live in a different plane than I live in. It's nice for the women sitting around me. But can I really experience freedom and fullness and fruitfulness in Christ? Can that be more than just words for me? I mean, Nancy, you don't know the challenges I'm facing when I get home. You don't know the baggage I'm carrying. You don't know the areas of struggles, the addictions, the bondages in my life or in the lives of those that I love or live with. Can that be more than a slogan in my life? Can I really experience freedom and fullness and fruitfulness?"

I want to just say as we jump into this passage the answer is, if you have Christ, then the answer is absolutely.You can experience freedom; you can experience fullness; you can experience fruitfulness if nothing changes in your circumstances. God can use your circumstances to change you, and we're going to see that as we look at Psalm 107, a praise song of the redeemed people of God. 

Now let me just give you an overview of it, and then we're going to take it apart, unpack it. And I want you to have a Bible in front of you if you can, because we're going to just dig into God's Word, okay?

Verses 1-3 are an introduction. Gives us the setting. After decades of exile and distress in Babylon, God has redeemed His people and brought them back to their homeland. We're going to see that in verses 1-3.

Then, verses 4-32, the long passage. This is the body of the psalm. And in this body you're going to see four scenes, each of which ends with the same chorus, the same refrain. You'll see that in just a few moments.

And then verses 33 to the end of the chapter, that's the conclusion. So we have these bookends, the introduction, the conclusion, and then in the middle we have these four scenes.

Now I want to read through the entire psalm, and I've asked four of my women friends who've been ministering here this weekend to read these four scenes as they come up in the Scripture. And I'm going to ask you to join us in reading out loud. We'll have this on the screen so you can see the text. The sections that are marked "all," they'll be in red. We're all going to read the sections that say "all," okay?

Then we'll read the other parts up here. You can follow along. Let me ask you to stand if you would as we give honor to the Word of God.

Now this is a long text and I may have lost my mind to attempt a forty-three-verse text in the last session at the end of a long weekend. But I want to read it and I want to walk through it, because I want you to capture the story that God is telling through this psalm of the redeemed. Because this is not just an ancient history lesson. It is a history lesson, but we're supposed to learn something from history lessons.

And if you're a child of God, this is your story. God finds you in here, and that's what I want us to see as we walk through this story. So we'll start by reading together the beginning, we'll read together the very end. And then these refrains, we're going to read together when you see the portions in red that are marked "all." Let's begin by reading together in verse 1.

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
whom he has redeemed from trouble
and gathered in from the lands,
from the east and from the west,
from the north and from the south.

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.

He led them by a straight way
till they reached a city to dwell in.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
For he satisfies the longing soul,
and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

 

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
prisoners in affliction and in irons,
for they had rebelled against the words of God,
and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;
they fell down, with none to help.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.

 

He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
and burst their bonds apart.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
For he shatters the doors of bronze
and cuts in two the bars of iron.

Some were fools through their sinful ways,
and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
they loathed any kind of food,
and they drew near to the gates of death.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.

He sent out his word and healed them,
and delivered them from their destruction.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

Some went down to the sea in ships,
doing business on the great waters;
they saw the deeds of the Lord,
his wondrous works in the deep.
For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,
which lifted up the waves of the sea.
They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;
their courage melted away in their evil plight;
they reeled and staggered like drunken men
and were at their wits' end.
Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,
and he delivered them from their distress.
He made the storm be still,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.

Then they were glad that the waters were quiet,
and he brought them to their desired haven.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!
Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,
and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

He turns rivers into a desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
a fruitful land into a salty waste,
because of the evil of its inhabitants.
He turns a desert into pools of water,
a parched land into springs of water.
And there he lets the hungry dwell,
and they establish a city to live in;
they sow fields and plant vineyards
and get a fruitful yield.
By his blessing they multiply greatly,
and he does not let their livestock diminish.

When they are diminished and brought low
through oppression, evil, and sorrow,

he pours contempt on princes
and makes them wander in trackless wastes;
but he raises up the needy out of affliction
and makes their families like flocks.

The upright see it and are glad,
and all wickedness shuts its mouth.

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

This is the word of the Lord. Amen? Amen. Thank you, ladies.

Okay, I want us to walk through this psalm together. I want to encourage you to follow along. We start in verse 1, verses 1-3, those opening verses, this overview, this intro to the psalm. And the first word I see is "Oh." Now I'm not going to camp on every word, or we'll be here until the next True Woman Conference.

But don't miss that word "Oh." You sense the fervency there? You sense the passion there? "Oh, give thanks to the Lord." This is an earnestness. This is an appeal for us to give Him fervent praise. "Oh, give thanks to the Lord."

Why? Because He's good. "For he is good." So we're going to see a couple of reasons here to give thanks to the Lord. The first is that "He is good." That's His character.

So I want to just ask you to repeat this verse with me. I want you to leave saying this verse today. I want you to be saying this verse next week and next month and as you go through this thirty-day walk over the next month. Say it with me: "Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever."

I'm not convinced by what I hear up here that you really believe that. So could you say it and convince me? Together.

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever."

Once more, and you might have it memorized.

"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." Amen.

God is good. He's always good. He's only good. He is the highest supreme good. And His steadfast love endures forever.

That word steadfast love, some of your translations it's translated the lovingkindness of the Lord. It's a hard word to translate from the Hebrew into English, because there is so much wrapped up in the word.

The Hebrew word hesed, the steadfast love of the Lord. That's God's covenant-keeping love. God's faithful love and mercy for His people. It's a love that is always acting on behalf of His people. It's a love that moves God to pursue us relentlessly, persistently, and it's His faithfulness to keep His promises to His people that He loves.

Now that's something to give thanks for-the fact that God is good and that God's steadfast love, His covenant keeping faithful love, endures forever.

God is good when you don't feel like He's good. God loves you with a steadfast love when you feel like He has abandoned you. Or where is God in this chaos in my home? God is still good. God still has His covenant-keeping faithful love, and it's always, always, always appropriate to give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.

Now we give thanks not only because of His character, but because of His redeeming work. Look at verses 2 and 3:

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,

whom he has redeemed from trouble

and gathered in from the lands,

from the east and from the west,

from the north and from the south.

Throughout this psalm we see God's people in trouble. That's a word, if you are looking in your Bible, you want to circle it. It comes back again and again. God's people are in trouble. God's people are in trouble.

You see that throughout this psalm. It's not just pagans out there who hate God and dismiss God. God's people sometimes get into trouble. There's distress. There's affliction. But in the midst of that we see the incredible redeeming power and work of God.

We see in this psalm that God has rescued His people who were in exile. He has brought them home to be His dwelling place, the community where He lives. God is always a redeeming God. He is always at work to redeem even the losses and the failures caused, the losses occasioned by even your failures or the sins of others. God is always redeeming.

So when you find yourself, maybe by tonight or tomorrow or Monday morning when you're back in that same old difficult job or situation you're in . . . you find yourself tempted to whine, to complain, to be discouraged, to give up, to doubt God. Counsel your heart with the truth.

God is good. His steadfast love endures forever. Counsel your heart with what God has done for you. Don't forget it. Keep telling yourself. You have to speak truth to your heart so that your emotions are not driving your mind, but your mind is driving your emotions because your mind is fixed on and being renewed by the truth of God's Word.

Got that? Listen, ladies-that's the key to sanity in this insane world. Keep counseling your heart according to that truth. "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good."

Now we come to the main body of the psalm, verses 4-32. And as you heard when we were reading this, there are four stanzas, four scenes. Now in our modern translations, on the first reading, it seems like these are four different groups of people in four different sets of circumstances.

But actually, as I've studied this psalm, I think all four of these scenes are just different ways using different word pictures of describing the trouble and the distress from which God's people have been and are being delivered. Just four different ways of explaining our distress and our trouble.

Now the immediate context here has to do with the Israelites. But these word pictures, these four situations, these four scenes describe the condition of every human being apart from Christ. We're going to see that in a moment. They also describe His redeeming work on our behalf. And these scenes describe the impact and the implications of the gospel on our lives.

Each stanza, each of these four stanzas, reiterates a few things, because the psalmist wants us to remember this. You teach your children by repetition, by reiteration. That's how the Lord is teaching us here.

It reiterates first that the Lord is good. It reiterates that His steadfast love endures forever. It reiterates that He has redeemed us from trouble. And it reminds us once again that He is to be praised.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Now each of these scenes follows the same pattern. I'm going to give you a pattern. Then I want to show you how it's played out in each of these scenes.

First there is trouble. Can you say it with me? Trouble. There's trouble; there's distress; there's affliction; there's severe problems.

So first trouble, then crying. They cry out to the Lord. The people in trouble cry out to the Lord. Why is it that so often we don't cry out to the Lord until we're in trouble? It's just kind of how we're wired. As long as we think we can make it without God, we try. As long as we think we're living in a heaven on earth, why would we look up to heaven? We've got it right here, right?

So God takes things out of our hands. He stirs up storms. We'll see that God moves in these circumstances to make us realize we are in trouble so that we will cry out to Him.

So we have trouble, we have crying, and then we have deliverance. God hears the cries of His children; He intervenes; He delivers them. And then what's the result in the people who've been delivered? Giving thanks, praise, thanksgiving.

So four words, and you'll know this psalm: trouble, cry, deliverance, and thanks. Can you say it with me, because I don't ever want you to forget Psalm 107? Trouble, cry, deliverance, and thanks. Once more, trouble, cry, deliverance, and thanks. Now you've got Psalm 107.

Let's look at it in a little more detail. First, trouble. We have here four descriptions of dire human need: wandering in the desert, in prison, sick, and storm tossed. Now we're going to see that sometimes these circumstances are the results of our own foolishness and sin. Sometimes it's a mess we've created.

But sometimes these circumstances come just as a result of living in a fallen world and sin coming against us, evil coming against us. We live in a fallen world we can't escape. But there is evil around us. There's evil in us. There's evil around us. But He's a redeeming God who is making all things new. Anybody want to say, "Praise God"? Thank you.

Okay, let's look at the trouble. First we have those who are lost and wandering in the desert. Verses 4 and 5: "Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them." They were lost. They couldn't find their way home.

I hear this from many women in different ways.

One woman wrote and said, "I'm trying to figure out who I am as a wife of two years and now as a new mommy. I have never felt so lost and unsure in my entire life."

Some of you been there? Feel lost, unsure at times?

Another woman wrote to say, "I am lost; I am hopeless. Where once there was faith and hope, I can't hear God anymore. I know He performs miracles. I've seen Him. But will He for me?" And then she signed it, "a pastor's daughter/pastor's wife who has lost her way." There are women in this room who have lost their way.

The other aspect of this description in verses 4 and 5 is that not only are they lost but they're alone. They're isolated. They're separated from community, from home, from the life God intended for them. And they're hungry and thirsty. They've used up all their resources, all their means of survival. They have no way to go on. They're desperate, and they're weary. They're exhausted in their souls. They are totally spent, trouble with a capital "T."

Look at verses 10-12. We have those who are lost, wandering in the wilderness. Now we have those who are prisoners.

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,

prisoners in affliction and in irons,
for they had rebelled against the words of God,

and spurned the counsel of the Most High.
So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;

they fell down, with none to help.

This passage describes trouble again in the form of imprisonment, bondage. It's darkness.

There's toilsome labor. There's a sense of being burdened down. Now how do these people get into that condition? Well, the Scripture says in this case it was a mess they made. God brought them into the trouble because He was disciplining them. He was chastening them. They had trusted their own wisdom more than God's.

He is the Creator of the universe. He created them. He is the sovereign ruler of the universe but they said, "No, I'll have it my way, thank you." They rebelled against His Word. They chose to walk in their own way rather than His way.

And could I say again, this is true of all of us apart from Christ. We are rebels. "All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way" (Isa. 53:6).

"No thank you, God, I'll do it my way. I know Your Word says that but . . .here is how I feel. Here is what I want. I don't feel like there is any way I could obey that Scripture. I know You tell me that I'm supposed to forgive. I'm not supposed to be bitter. But God, I can't help it."

Listen, if God tells you to do something, by His grace you can do it. You can't do it, but He can do it through you. Christ can forgive in you as you have been forgiven. But we say, "No, I'm going to go my way."

You know, a lot of times we're blind, we're deceived to the fact that we're even going our own way. Because we aren't putting our fist up in heaven most of the time saying, "No, God." We're just not listening. We're just doing our own thing, going our own way.

God sees that, and He loves us so much that He doesn't want us to be out in that far country. He doesn't want us to become prodigals. So He brings us back. How does He do that? Sometimes He puts us in prison. Sometimes He puts us in bondage, and we have so many today, and I've heard from some this weekend-slaves to sin, slaves to self, women with addictions, with habitual sin they can't seem to get victory over. This is a prison. God said that He turned them over to their own devices, to their own ways. We hear this all the time here at Revive Our Hearts.

A twenty-four-year-old single woman wrote and said, "I've struggled with sexual sin almost all my life. I want to throw this sin off so I can be more intimate with my Savior."

Another wrote, "I need prayer. I'm struggling with abuse and addiction of alcohol. About two months ago I tried to commit suicide, but praise God my sister found me. I've stopped drinking but I still struggle with the temptations." She's in bondage. She's a prisoner.

Another woman said, "I'm in a sexual stronghold. I am in such desire of breaking free from it, but I can't seem to just give it to God. I'm married to a man that I never felt understood me. He worked out of town for a year, and while he was gone Satan attacked me and I found love and comfort in a woman. Please pray that I may find freedom in Christ again." It's a woman in prison.

So we have those who were lost and wandering in the wilderness, hungry, thirsty, exhausted. We have those who are in prison. Number three, we have those who are sick and afflicted. Look at verse 17.

Some were fools through their sinful ways,

and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;
they loathed any kind of food,

and they drew near to the gates of death.

Here we have a description of intense, debilitating affliction. It may be physical; it may be mental; it may be emotional; for sure it is spiritual. They can't eat; they're at death's door. And realize here these are not victims. These wounds are caused by sinful, foolish choices.

And people, we don't always connect the dots. I'm not saying at all that all sickness is the result of sin. But I will say for sure that some sickness is the result of sin. Some mental torment, some mental illness, some chronic physical ailments. God never created our bodies to be able to hold up under rebelling against the Creator of the universe. He designed our bodies and our minds and our spirits to thrive when we're in submission to Christ.

Now you look at Joni in a wheelchair for forty-seven years. She'll be the first to testify that it was her foolishness and willful choices that God was speaking to her about when she had that accident. But here's a woman who is walking with the Lord, who loves Him, loves His Word, serving Him. And God says, "I want to keep you in that wheelchair for now."

You see, God is sovereign. You've got to let Him be sovereign. So not all sickness, not all emotional or mental issues are rooted in sin. But sometimes they are. We need to ask, "God, if there are some dots You're trying to connect in my life, please help me see it."

Don't go on a witch hunt about this. Just say, "Lord, if there is something You're trying to show me, I'm listening."

Number four, those who were storm tossed at sea. More trouble starting in verse 23. They went down to the sea. He commanded. He raised the storm. Who caused the storm? Who created this storm? Who did? God did. He commanded and raised the stormy wind.

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the storm you're walking through right now, that you think God is nowhere to be found, maybe He's the One who spoke those waves into existence? Maybe God stirred up those waters? You were just going along minding your business. You were out on your ship. You thought you were safe but your ship has proved to be no match for the storm that God has raised up.

See, the people in this storm came to realize that they are not the masters of their own fate. They were brought to their knees. Their courage melted away in their evil plight. They were terrified. They reeled and staggered like drunken men. They couldn't keep their footing.

Have you ever been there? You say, "Life is chaotic. It's a storm. I can't handle this. I'm being thrown back and forth. I'm seasick. I can't even stand up straight."

They reeled and staggered. They were at their wit's end. One translation says, "All their skill"-these were seasoned seamen-"All their skill was useless."

You see, we think we're smart. We think we're capable. You thought you were a good mom as long as you only had two children. You thought, I can handle this. It's not the easiest thing in the world but I can do this.

And then you got a third one, for whom no textbook has ever been written. [laughter] And now you are reeling and staggering like a drunken woman. Some of you just had that new little one and you're thinking, Will life ever look sane again? And then maybe it was a fourth or fifth.

God knows what it takes in each of our lives to put us to the place where we say, "I'm at my wit's end. I can't handle this." And you know that's exactly where He wants us to be. At our wit's end where all our skill, all our smarts, all we can throw at this problem is worthless. It's not working.

So you may be in the situation right now where you're at your wit's end. You can't fix the problem. You've tried, you've manipulated, you've cajoled, you've tried to control, you've tried to fix everybody and everything around you. Stop it, you can't. And God wants you to come to realize that you can't handle this. It may be a financial situation. It may be a difficult marriage. It may be a prodigal child. It may be a health issue.

Your little tiny boat that you thought was so safe is being bounced around on the waves, and you are terrified. You're in trouble. So in these four instances we see God's people in trouble. That's the first word that outlines this psalm for us-trouble.

Now what was the second word? Cry. So here they come out of their distress and verse 6 tells us, it's repeated throughout this psalm, "then they cried to the Lord in their trouble."

When did they cry to the Lord? When they were in trouble. Why didn't they cry before they were in trouble? Because they didn't think they needed God. Now they know they need Him. So look at the wanderers, verse 5, "hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them." Verse 6, "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble." Their unfulfilled needs, their unfulfilled longings, their weakness, drove them to Him, drove them to look upward.

My friend, whom I love to quote, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, says about this psalm-he's got a rich commentary on this whole psalm. But he says, "If hunger brings us to our knees, it is more useful to us than feasting. If thirst drives us to the fountain, it is better than the deepest draughts of worldly joy. And if fainting leads to crying it is better than the strength of the mighty."

They cried to the Lord in their trouble. Look at the prisoners, verse 12. "He bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down with none to help." Read verse 13 with me, "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble."

When did they cry to the Lord? When they were in trouble after they had experienced the painful discipline of the Lord. When they had fallen down and they couldn't get back up, when there was no one anywhere who could help them, when they had nowhere to turn but up, then they cried to the Lord.

Again let me quote Charles Spurgeon here, and I have learned this to be true as have many of you. He said, "We pray best when we are fallen on our faces in painful helplessness."

Am I right? Is he right? We pray best when we're falling on our faces. You say, "God, I don't want to be falling on my face in painful helplessness." You want to learn to pray? Then let God use trouble to bring you to the place where you cry to Him in your distress.

Look at the ones who were sick. Verse 18: "They drew near to the gates of death." Verse 19-say it with me-"Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble."

Look at the storm tossed. Verse 27: "they were at their wits' end." Read verse 28 with me. "Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble."

Listen, ladies, you may be at your wit's end in some circumstance in your life. But it does not have to be your soul's end. That storm is not intended to destroy you, but it's a mercy designed by God to disrupt your life and to bring you to the end of yourself.

If you've listen to Revive Our Hearts over the years, you've heard me say this many times. Finish this sentence for me. Anything that makes me need God is a blessing. That didn't sound very enthusiastic. Some of you hadn't heard it before. Let's say it. Anything that makes me need God is what? A blessing. So what is that thing in your life?

Leading up to this conference, as I always do, almost always do, leading up to an event like this, I prayed that God would create circumstances in the lives of the women who were coming to this conference that would make them desperate for Him. That would make them realize how much they need Him. Don't look at me like that. [laughter]

I'm not taking responsibility for whatever happened in your week. But did God answer that prayer in anybody's life? Did He create some circumstances in your week that made you come here hungry and thirsty? Made you realize how much you need Him?

Okay, there's trouble, then there is crying, and then what's the next one? Deliverance. Deliverance. Divine intervention. Verse 6: "They cried to the Lord in their trouble" and what? "He delivered them from their distress."

These people in all these situations, they cast themselves upon Him and on His mercy and they were not disappointed. Those who seek the Lord will never be put to shame. They will never be disappointed. He met them at their precise point of need.

God knows today what your trouble is, what the details are, what it looks like, what it's doing inside of you, and He is redeeming your situation in His way and He knows how to meet you at your precise point of need.

Look at the lost and the wandering. When they cried out to Lord, He delivered them from their distress. Verse 7: "He led them by a straight way till they reached the city to dwell in." He brought them out of the wilderness into a city, community with Him and with His people.

The hungry and the thirsty, they were in trouble, they cried out, He delivered them from their stress. Look at verse 9: "For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things."

Look at the prisoners. They were in chains. He delivered them from their distress when they cried out. In verse 14: "He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart." Verse 16, if you don't believe verse 14, it's repeated. "He shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron."

I have a dear friend who is here with us this weekend. She's a sister in the Lord. She's a daughter in the Lord. She's a sweet friend. She's a convicted felon who spent eleven and a half years behind bars. And she's been praying for me as I've been developing this message. She's been meditating on Psalm 107, and she sent me an email a week or so ago. I've got to share this with you.

She said, "I had a light bulb moment when I was meditating on this part of the passage." She said, "It doesn't say 'he unlocks the chains and the prison doors.'" She said, "It says 'he burst their bonds apart; he cuts the bars of iron in two.'"

Now let me read you what she said about that. She said, "I remember times in prison when I was bound by cuffs on my ankles and on my wrists with a chain connecting the two. This was policy any time a prisoner was transported to court, to the doctor, etc. When you got from point A to point B the chains and cuffs were unlocked but always with the understanding and the dread that they would come back and lock them back up again."

She said, "When chains are simply unlocked, they can be used again to bind you. But in this passage those chains are not just unlocked, they are broken. When chains and irons are broken, they can't be used again to bind you."

Amen? [applause]

She said, "The word here implies . . ." I read some of what God speaks through His Spirit through His Word to His people and I'm thinking, Why didn't I see that? Why didn't I get that? You meditate on God's Word, let Him apply it to your heart, it's amazing what you'll see.

She said, "The word implies there is force used, a setting free by force, an urgency in God's response to the prisoner who has cried out for help, a picture of complete liberty and redemption, one that fills the heart with adoration and praise for its Redeemer."

"He burst the bonds in two. He shatters the door of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron." This is a picture of what has happened to every child of God, every believer in Christ.

Remember, as the hymn writer said it, "Long my imprisoned spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eye diffused a quickening ray, I woke, the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee."

You're free, women, to follow Christ. The chains have been removed, not just unlocked. [applause]

What did He do for the sick? Verse 19: When they cried out, "he delivered them from their distress." Verse 20: "He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction."

What about the storm tossed? They cried out when they were at their wits' end, and he delivered them from their distress. Verse 29: "He made the storm be still." The same One who spoke the storm into existence knew when it was time to tell it to hush. "The waves of the sea were hushed."

Verse 30: "And he brought them to their desired haven." He took them to where they really wanted to go, where they were headed, where they needed to go.

Now again, we've been thinking about prodigals, broken marriages. You saw the testimony of Vicki Rose, saw how God healed her marriage. By the way, that was just a ten-minute version of a thirty-seven-year story. And we just put it all in one short video. It didn't happen in ten minutes, okay? And yours probably won't, either.

But as you've been seeing these, hearing these testimonies, you heard Chrissy and God answered Pastor Cymbala and Carol's prayers. But it was two and a half years of crying and sense of desperation and longing.

Maybe for you it's been twenty and a half years and you're thinking, I've cried out to Him, but He hasn't delivered me from my trouble. I'm still in the midst of the desert, the storm, the affliction. It's not changing.

Can I just remind us that God will deliver in His way and in His time and in the way that will bring Him the greatest glory? And in the way that will be for your eternal sanctification and satisfaction in Christ. He knows the desired haven, and He's going to get you there. But He's going to do it in His way, and in His time. 

So that shouldn't make you say, "Oh, I won't cry out to the Lord because I've cried a hundred times and nothing happened." Keep crying. Keep crying out to the Lord.

Now listen, don't make the restored marriage or the child coming home or the healing or whatever it is, don't make that your desired haven. Make Him your desired haven. Don't make an idol out of your marriage or prodigal child coming back.

God is sovereign. He will determine. You keep crying out, but you cry out to the Lord and say, "Lord, what I want more than anything is You. I want Your glory. I want Your kingdom to come. I want Your name to be hallowed. I want Your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. I want You more than I want that husband home, more than I want that child home."

I see a white flag, here. You might want to pull those out. You may be needing them. I want You. And when you want Him more than anything else in your life, that's what you'll get. You will get Him. He will deliver you. If you are still in the storm, trust Him that He knows when to tell it to be still. And that He will bring you safely to your desired haven.

"'Tis grace has brought us safe thus far." Right? "And grace will lead us home." God's grace will be with you in every moment of that storm.

Can I remind us that in this Old Testament psalm we see a glimpse of the coming Redeemer who now has come? That it's Jesus who is the One who delivers us from trouble and distress caused by sin, ours or others. He is our Redeemer.

So for those who are lost and wandering in the wilderness. He is the way. For those who are hungry and thirsty, He is the bread and the water of life who meets our needs. For those who are lost and away from home, He is our heart's true home. For those who are weary, He says to them, "Come to me and I will give you rest."

For those who are prisoners He says, "He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives, to set at liberty those who are oppressed." Christ is our Liberator. He breaks the power of cancelled sin. He sets the prisoner free. You never find freedom apart from Christ.

For those who are sin sick, emotionally, mentally, physically, relationally, whatever, by His wounds the healing that we most need takes place. By His wounds. Christ is our wounded Healer.

For those who are storm tossed, He's the One who stands up and says, "Hush," to the waves , speaks to the storm, speaks peace. And so in this psalm we see the hope of the gospel, the hope of Christ for every woman in every season and circumstance of life when her life is moored to Christ.

So we've seen trouble, crying, deliverance, and what comes next? Praise and thanksgiving. There's a refrain that's repeated four times in this chapter, and the first two lines are the same each time. Let's put this up on the screen if we can.

"Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man."

Can you say that with me?

"Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man."

I'd like to hear just a little bit more passion on that. Could we?

"Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man."

Quoting again my friend, Charles Spurgeon. He says, "They must be horrible ingrates who will not honor such a deliverer for so happy a rescue from the most cruel death."

Listen, if you're a child of God, God has already redeemed and delivered you from the worst possible outcome that anyone from sin, from Satan, from hell, from eternal damnation and condemnation, from the wrath of God. You have been delivered.

 

You may be in a storm. You may be in some other kinds of chains, but you've been delivered in the ways that matter most for all of time and eternity. So says the psalmist, "Give thanks to the Lord. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."

One devotional writer I've been reading says, "A soul redeemed demands a life of praise." You might want to just write that in the margin of your Bible there. I've written it in mine. "A soul redeemed demands a life of praise."

Women, if you've been redeemed, if I've been redeemed, it is unthinkable that we should live lives of anything other than unceasing, unending praise and thanksgiving and worship. Now we may do that through tears and we may do it at times when all around us seems dark, when the waves are so high that we're sick to our stomachs and we can't see over them. We can't see beyond them. We can't find our way. We're wandering around. We're at our wits' end.

We lift our eyes up to heaven into the light of His face. Up from our darkness and we say, "Oh, God, I choose to believe that You are good, that Your steadfast love endures forever. And I give You thanks that I have been redeemed."

A lady wrote to us and she said, "Years back, back in the early days of Revive Our Hearts radio, I was a heap of a mess on my kitchen floor as you spoke about loving your husband. This past week, fast forward, I was once again a heap of slobbering mess. But this time it was out of pure joy, thanksgiving, adoration, worship, and praise to my heavenly Father for His unending, undeserved faithfulness, grace and mercy." She said, "The Lord has restored my family and my marriage." And here I think this is even more important. "He has rescued me out of the slimy pit of self."

And every day let the redeemed of the Lord say so? Every day I have the glorious opportunity of speaking biblical truth into the hearts of discouraged women.

"Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so."

Well, let me just walk us quickly through the conclusion here, starting in verse 33, where we see just a reminder of the sovereignty of God over all of life.

Verse 33: "He turns rivers into a desert." You say, "Umm, I'm not sure I want that." "Springs of water into thirsty ground." We're going the wrong way here. "A fruitful land into a salty waste." Don't want that. Why? "Because of the evil of its inhabitants."

Let me just say a word to some who may be here that you feel really satisfied with the way things are in your life right now. Things are comfortable. You think everything is just going fine. And that's okay to have some of those seasons; God is a God of seasons.

But I want to tell you this, if in the midst of you thinking everything is going okay, if in the midst of that your heart is not turned toward Him, if you are covering sin, if you are living in a slimy pit of self, God can with a word change the course of your life.

He can turn those rivers into a desert. He can turn those springs of water, what you think are springs of water, into thirsty ground. He can turn what you think is a fruitful land into a salty waste.

And let me say to those with prodigal children or friends, husbands, important word here, all of those women who were crying in the aisles last night? Be willing to let God be God in that person's life. And be willing to let God do whatever He knows is needed in their life to make them desperate for Him. Because when are they going to cry out to God? When they're in trouble, right?

And sometimes the trouble needs to get to be bigger trouble. And you're a mom and you're a wife and you love your kid and you don't want to see him hurt. And some of you are perpetually trying to rescue your kids and your mates and everybody around you from the cross.

And God's trying to get them to the cross. And you're always trying to get them off the cross. You may get them off, but they'll be bloodied, weak, and wounded. God wants them to come whole to be redeemed, to be rescued from their sin. So let God be God. Don't try to rescue them from the cross. Don't you put them on the cross, okay? You let God do what He knows is needed.

But here is the good news. Know that whatever discipline God brings about in our lives or those we love, He can also with a word restore. Look at verse 35: "He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water. And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in."

You see, in this psalm we've seen spelled out the theme of this weekend. He wants to take you to a place of freedom. Verse 16: "For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron." That sounds like freedom to me. Get up, you're free. Go. Sin no more. Freedom.

Look at the fullness in verse 9: "For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things." Freedom, fullness, and look now at fruitfulness, verse 37.

These people who've been through all these. They've been in trouble, they've cried, they've been delivered, they're giving thanks. Look at verse 37. Now "they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield." By His blessing.

God sent chastisement, He sent discipline, He sent trouble, He sent storms. But now He sends blessing. They multiply greatly, and He does not let their livestock diminish.

Verse 41: "He raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks." That's not just for married people, by the way, too. God put the solitary, the single, in families. God wants to make you fruitful. You're going to sow the fields. You're going to plant the vineyards, verse 37, but God's going to give the increase. A fruitful yield.

He's going to bless, and you're going to multiply greatly. And as you're needy and you cry out to Him, He's going to raise you up and He's going to make us have families like flocks. Fruitfulness in Christ.

A lot of women in this room are going home to hard places. Hard jobs, ungodly environments. For a few days here you've been able to kind of push that stuff out of your mind, and here we are sitting on the mountaintop listening to God's Word and singing songs and loving Jesus. And a few hours from now, you're going to be in a whole different place.

We have 600 senior pastors' wives here. Some of them I can tell you are hurting really badly. Some of them, some of you are in churches that if God doesn't intervene it's chaos, it's a mess, it's not what it is supposed to be.

So you're going back to that tomorrow, if not sooner. But I want to tell you this, wherever you're going, He will go with you. He will go in you, and He wants to make you fruitful even in the place of your affliction.

 

You can experience fullness, freedom, and fruitfulness in Christ as long as you keep abiding in Him and letting Him have His way, letting him be God, trusting Him with what you can't understand, not demanding answers, not demanding fixes. Yes, crying out, and then trusting God to deliver in His way.

Not only does God want to turn some of the desert places where you are in His way and time into fruitful places, but for generations to come the fruit of your walk with Christ will be experienced in the lives of coming generations.

One commentator says about this conclusion here, "Although there are ups and downs in this life, the end of all things for God's people is not down, but up." Can you remember that? "We know this and we look for it because we know that God is both good and sovereign. God loves us. And because He does, He comforts us, preserves us, and brings us through even the hardest experiences in life."

Two more verses. What's the outcome? Verse 42: "The upright see it and are glad."

There's joy for the people of God. Anybody here leaving with joy greater than what you came with? Some of you get your joy cup filled? [applause] Joy is not an emotion. It affects us in our emotions, but joy is the presence of Christ with me, in me, through me in the midst of the storm and the pain.

But look what else happens as this redemptive story is lived out, as the gospel is lived out through us. I love this. "All wickedness shuts its mouth." Shut up! All wickedness. You see here the restraint of evil.

When God's people are being the people of God, as we're living in freedom and fullness and fruitfulness in Christ, in God's time. I watched the news today and I'm going, "God, let wickedness shut its mouth." There are the encroaching powers of false religions and evil people in this world.

You say, "Yes, it's bad out there, but it's true in my world where I live, in my workplace, in my family. There's so much evil." I want to tell you one day as you walk with Him through this, all wickedness will shut its mouth. [applause]

And could I say, too, that means also all the wickedness that's in here, in my heart, in your heart. Listen, it's a proud heart that only sees the wickedness out there and thinks it's their problem, it's their issue, it's their fault. That's pride.

The heart of humility says, "Lord, it's not my brother. It's not my sister. It's me, oh, Lord. Uproot the wickedness out of my own heart." And through Christ all that wickedness can shut its mouth.

Final exhortation, verse 43: "Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord."

Listen, there are women in this room who feel like you don't deserve His goodness, His mercy, His love. You're thinking, I deserve what I'm getting-that storm, the prison.

A lady came to me last night and said, "I made some very foolish choices much like Chrissy's and I've repented. I've come back to the Lord, but we're still pulling out thorns in my life."

So some feeling, I deserve what I'm getting. And some of you may be reluctant to run into His arms, reluctant to believe that that steadfast love of the Lord could be for you.

Can I just say, first of all, you're right about one thing? We don't deserve it. You don't deserve it. Those of us who think we deserve it don't deserve it. We don't deserve the steadfast love of the Lord. But He gives it anyway. He gives it to undeserved rebels, enemies, undeserving.

And knowing that, can I remind you that you don't have to perform to be loved by Him. You don't have to fix your own life. Cry out to Him, and believe Him to come and do by His grace what you could never do.

Could we bow our hearts in prayer in these closing moments? I want to just ask you two questions in this quiet moment. First of all, did you identify with some of the trouble we read about? Maybe right now are you lost, wandering? In some sort of prison? Sick, storm tossed?

What do you do when you're in trouble? Cry out to the Lord. A lot of women did that last night. But crying out to the Lord shouldn't be just something we do when an invitation's given. It's something we ought to be doing all the time. Don't stop. Keep crying out. Keep praying. Keep looking up. Cry out to the Lord.

The second question . . . let me back up. Keep crying out and believe in His way and in His time He will rescue you. He will bring you to your desired haven.

The second question, have you been redeemed? Have you been delivered from trouble? What do you do? Two things, you give thanks. Would you do that just right now from your heart? Maybe just whisper a prayer of thanks for His redeeming love in your life, for His goodness.

And then you tell others. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so." Declare it to God. Declare it to others.