Remember – August 16

If you know me at all, you know that it was pretty much inevitable that I was going to absolutely adore Christopher Nolan’s depiction of The Odyssey.

I mean, as far as I’m concerned, the movie has it all. The ancient Mediterranean world. Greek Mythology. A not-so-subtle commentary on humanity’s bloodthirsty obsession with imperial dominance. Matt Damon.

It checked all the boxes for me!

But one thing about The Odyssey that I really, really appreciated from a biblical studies perspective is the way it depicts the sea.

Here’s what I mean. In today’s world, if I were to ask you to imagine the ocean, what would come to mind?

Maybe a family trip to the beach. Maybe a giant cruise ship filled with food and activities. Maybe you picture a tropical island paradise. For us, the sea is kind of pleasant. It was not that way in the ancient world.

Now, it’s interesting this weekend that we’re experiencing just how powerful and dangerous water can be with the local flooding. We’ll be dealing the effects for weeks.

Usually dangerous bodies of water are not the kind of thing we have to think about in Central Indiana. Maybe the flooding will help us grasp today’s topic with a bit more ancient awe.

Like in The Odyssey, where the ocean dwarfs the tiny ship.

Where Odysseus’ crew has to battle mighty thunderstorms and ravenous waves. They have to ignore the voices of sirens luring them overboard. They have to choose between the dreaded sea monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis.

And through it all, they constantly dread the possibility that their travails are a punishment from Poseidon himself.

This is how the ancients saw the sea. And that ancient mindset is clearly echoed throughout the Bible.

For example, the story of Jonah, where terrified sailers are caught in an ocean storm and cast lots to see which one of them offended the gods. Or you read the prophets, who use shadowy sea monsters to represent the chaos of our world, or the book of Acts, where the Apostle Paul has to comfort fellow sailors as they are shipwrecked in a tempest…

Put simply, when our ancient spiritual ancestors imagined the sea, they didn’t think of beaches and piña coladas. They pictured rowing for their lives as the waters of chaos try to drag them to the depths.

So let’s try to tap into our ancient imagination today as we continue our study of Psalm 107. It will be a helpful perspective as we consider what it means to be grateful even when we are adrift on the waves.

SERIES RECAP

Welcome back to “Remember,” our sermon series about being grateful in the hard times of life.

Using Psalm 107 as a guide, we’ve been exploring how public, communal gratitude has the power to change the way we think. To literally re-wire our brains to reduce anxiety and stress, and to promote resilience in our lives.

Through the series we’ve been focusing on the Hebrew word, khesed - unfailing, loyal, covenantal love

It shows up six times in the psalm to describe the character of God in the midst of our hardships.

So let’s jump back in. Please turn with me to Psalm 107, While you do, I’ll pray for us.

AT SEA

Alright, as a quick reminder, Psalm 107 originally served as a guide for communal thanksgiving during Israelite festivals. The people would gather, regardless of whether they were facing good times or awful times, and recite these words together.

Psalm 107:1-2

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!

His faithful love endures forever.

Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out!

Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.

After these introductory lines, the psalm then tells four stories of types of people who have a reason to be grateful to God.

First are those rescued by God when they were lost and hungry in the wilderness. As we saw in week 1, in many ways this represents simply living in a broken world. Even when we’re in the wasteland, the unfailing love of God endures. He is with us every step of the way, so give thanks.

The second and third stories are about people whose suffering was due to their own actions. Prisoners in chains of their own making. Those who are sick because their sins and rebellion.

As Maron showed us last week, we have a reason to be grateful even in situations like these because God redeems us, even from our own shame. He breaks the chains of our past mistakes!

As Maron said, I can be grateful for where I am compared to where I was.

Now we come to the fourth story which, as I said, is all about sailors lost on a stormy sea.

Again, use your ancient imagination here. Don’t think beach umbrellas and sandcastles. Think blistered hands clinging to the rigging while sea monsters circle below! Think about water as a forced to be reckoned with.

Psalm 107:23-32

Some went off to sea in ships,

plying the trade routes of the world.

They, too, observed the LORD’s power in action,

his impressive works on the deepest seas.

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.

“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble,

and he saved them from their distress.

He calmed the storm to a whisper

and stilled the waves.

What a blessing was that stillness

as he brought them safely into harbor!

Let them praise the LORD for his great love

and for the wonderful things he has done for them.

Let them exalt him publicly before the congregation

and before the leaders of the nation.

Alright, let’s talk about what we just read.

First, it’s worth just pausing and appreciating the poetry of this psalm. I love the imagery of verse 26 for example. “Tossed to the heavens… plunged to the depths.” The sailors “reeling like drunkards.”

You can really sense the movement. The despair. This is no pleasure cruise. It’s like one of the extremely tense scenes in The Odyssey where screaming sailors are rowing for their very lives.

So the poetry is evocative. But so is the twist that this fourth story introduces. Look at verse 24. “They observed the Lord’s power in action.” Verse 25: “He spoke, and the winds rose, stirring up the waves.”

In other words, the terrifying storm these sailors are caught in… was caused by God himself! He sent the storm.

In the first story, of the wanderers in the wilderness, there is no explicit cause. That’s just what life is like sometimes. But here, it is God’s own voice which causes the waves to start crashing.

So what do you think the Psalmist is trying to communicate here?

That’s the best thing about Jewish Meditation Literature. It invites us to wrestle and ponder and rarely gives us cut-and-dried answers.

TESTING

So let’s talk about the different possibilities. Why did God send the waves?

Maybe God is disciplining the sailors. Like the prisoners in verse 12. Like Odysseus’ crew in The Odyssey. They all assume Poseidon is trying to punish them with stormy seas for offending him.

It could be that here, except the psalm doesn’t depict the sailors doing anything wrong, like the people in stories 2 and 3. They’re just merchants on the sea. So I don’t think it’s punishment.

Another option. Perhaps these sailors are simply at the mercy of divine forces far beyond their control. Maybe God is just doing God stuff - sending the wind and the waves - and these sailors were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

I guess that’s possible, except God never appears absentminded or distracted in this psalm. In fact, quite the contrary. His actions are always intentional. As we said in week 1, God is paying very close attention in Psalm 107. He hears even the weakest voices of his people when they call out to him, including these sailors.

“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.” God pays attention.

So if God isn’t being vengeful or absentminded by sending the waves, why else would he do it?

Well, there is a third possibility: That God is sending the wind and the waves in this story as a form of Testing.

Now hear me out. I recognize that the idea of God testing his people can rub some of us the wrong way. “How could a loving God cause any kind of hardship for his children?” In our modern minds, we recoil against the idea of God “testing” us at all.

However, divine testing is actually a fundamental concept found throughout the Bible. God routinely provides trials and challenges for his people. But here’s the key: he doesn’t do it arbitrarily. He does it to grow their faith.

For example, when God leads the Israelites through the wilderness, they face many difficult obstacles - a lack of water, a lack of food, etc. But it’s clear from the outset that this testing is a form of training!

God is teaching the people how to put their trust in Him instead of themselves. Towards the end of their wildness wanderings, Moses says this:

Deuteronomy 8:2

Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands.

Their testing was not punishment; it was character development! God put them through hard times to strengthen them.

There are dozens of similar examples throughout the narratives of the Old Testament. The New Testament authors also pick up on this theme. James, the leader of the church in Jerusalem, wrote:

James 1:2-3

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.

The apostle Paul put it this way.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NRSV)

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

We never like it in the moment, but testing is a very, very good thing.

Like an orchestra director pushing their instrumentalists to the limit of perfection, like a taekwondo teacher adding an extra wood block to be smashed, like a parent placing a favorite toy just out of reach during tummy time…

This kind of testing might feel like cruel and unusual punishment in the moment. But it is necessary for growth! For development. It builds grit and endurance and strength.

A perfect example of this is the story of Jesus building the faith of his disciples on the stormy Sea of Galilee. It directly echoes Psalm 107! They’re caught in a fearsome storm on the sea, rowing for their life, while Jesus is asleep in the back of the boat.

Matthew 8:25-27

The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”

Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm.

The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!”

What seemed like a crisis for the disciples was really an opportunity to grow. They came out of that storm with the faith that Jesus was more than just a man. That’s what biblical testing accomplishes. It grows our faith that no matter the storm we’re facing, our God is in the boat with us.

Again, the biblical authors are not describing arbitrary hardship. They’re describing intentional obstacles God puts in our way to teach us how to trust in him. Sometimes he sends the waves to make us strong in our faith.

Now, if I’m right in this interpretation of Psalm 107, it adds a fascinating layer to the story. Because if this ocean storm is indeed a test from God, then the sailors passed the test!

Verse 28. When these sailors were “at their wits end” (literally, “their wisdom was swallowed up,”) they didn’t row harder. They called out to the Lord. They put their faith in God to save them. And that’s exactly what he did!

Psalm 107:29

He calmed the storm to a whisper

and stilled the waves.

What a blessing was that stillness

as he brought them safely into harbor!

These sailors have a reason to be grateful. Not just because God brought them back to dry land, but because they now have a story of God’s deliverance to hold onto the next time they’re out on the waves.

Their faith was put to the test by God. And now their trust in his unfailing love is even stronger than before. They see the world differently now. Their gratitude for the past will strengthen them for the future, and it will do the same for all who hear their story.

“Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out!” Because Gratitude changes the way we think.

NO MATTER WHAT

So that’s the fourth and final story in the psalm. What I want to do now is try and draw these threads together to see if we can apply the message of Psalm 107 to our lives today.

We’ll start here: Sometimes, like the people lost in the wilderness, our troubles are simply a result of living in a broken world. We’re hungry and thirsty because life can sometimes be a wasteland.

Sometimes, like the prisoners or the sick, our hardships are a direct result of our own sin and rebellion. We're wrapped in chains of our own making.

And then, as we just saw in the story of the sailors, sometimes our difficulties are tests from God - opportunities for our faith and endurance to grow.

Which raises a really good question. How do you know which story you’re in? When you’re facing hardship or distress, how do you know what caused it?

For example, why is all this flooding happening? Is this a test from God? Or is this just the broken world being broken?

I mean, some of our neighbors have lost homes and businesses because of the floods. Why?

Well, unfortunately, Psalm 107 doesn’t give an answer. It makes it clear that all of these causes are possible, but if you look at the stories you realize there’s no way of knowing which one it is when we’re still in the middle of our hardship.

The wilderness just feels like wilderness. Prison just feels like prison. The stormy seas just feel like the stormy seas.

We can’t always know why this is happening. But there is something we can hold onto.

The causes of our hardship may still be murky, but God’s response to it is crystal clear.

Let me show you what I mean. If you skim through these four stories you can see how different they all are. But see if you can spot a similarity they all share.

We’ll start with the wanderers in the wilderness of life.

Psalm 107:6

“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.

Well, how about those trapped in prisons of their guilt and shame:

Psalm 107:13

“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

What about those sick with the consequences of their own rebellion:

Psalm 107:19

“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

And how about those sailors enduring the testing of their faith by God himself:

Psalm 107:28

“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.

Are you seeing the common thread?

We may never know why we’re going through what we’re going through, but we can be confident of God’s unfailing love in the midst of it. We don’t know why it’s happening, but we know God is paying attention. Our savior is in the boat with us.

This is why public gratitude is so deeply important. Because by regularly reflecting on how God has come through for us in the past, no matter the reason for our hardship, we start to expect him to do it in the future.

With a grateful heart our faith - our trust - can grow, whether we are being tested by Him, being disciplined by Him, or simply existing in a still broken world.

“Lord, help!” we cry out in our trouble… because we know how that sentence will end.