Insightful Musings on theScriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Greetings, dear ones.

Very nice day out there. I need to get out and do some work—cutting grass, and we have a bunch of flowers to plant. But I’m also feeling all itchy and uncomfortable since I ran my sawmill for around 5 hours today—cutting up 9 logs on a customer’s property about 7 miles away. The swirl of sawdust when the breeze is in my face causes it to permeate everywhere.

Have a great afternoon.

Love, Dad/Ray.

The question that once again arises in my mind as I digest Psalm 107 is this: Where would I be and what would I be like if I was on a perpetual roll?—if everything I wanted and tried to do was a wonderful success?—if every one of my entrepreneurial pursuits met with huge profitable returns, and generating wealth was a snap?—if all my relationships were perfectly balanced with love and respect, and I was constantly applauded for being so wonderful?—if my body remained strong and fit and was never hammered by sickness, pain, or aging? I guess that’s a pretty big and broad question. But I’m prompted to add to it: What would I be like if in the course of my preaching and promotion of the Biblical Gospel I was so effective that people were spontaneously convicted and persuaded to repent of their sinful state and receive Christ by the hundreds?—and everyone I laid my hands on with prayer for healing was instantly and miraculously restored to perfect health?—and everyone who came to me with their problems were profoundly encouraged and equipped with perfect solutions? I think these questions are worth raising and reviewing, but I already know what I would be like under these conditions. I would be perhaps the biggest, most arrogant ass on the planet—criticizing and condemning those who were not as superior and successful as I was. I might even be tempted to believe that God was obligated to consult me before making any of His major decisions.

Another angle for articulating these questions could go like this: Where would I be and what would I be like if I never had TROUBLE or DISTRESS? The answer is the same. And if that answer is accurate then I cannot avoid a glaring conclusion: I DESPERATELY NEED TROUBLE! And I think you do too.

The universal distribution of trouble actually serves to meet a universal need. Trouble, especially the kind over which we have little or no control, helps people to look up—to seek their Sovereign Maker. They would be less inclined to do so without such trouble. The proper response to trouble is repeated four times in this psalm—“Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress.” Notice that it does not say that the LORD delivered them from their trouble, but that He delivered them from this debilitating psycho-spiritual effect of their trouble—distress. Therefore He is faithful to “deliver them from their distress” (v. 6), to “save them from their distress” (vv. 13, 19), and to bring “them out of their distress” (v. 28). I have to believe that our gracious Lord is still very good at responding to the humble honest cries of human hearts.

Four times the psalmist puts forth the basic obligation we face as recipients of God’s intervening grace: “Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men” (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31). So be it! Let’s do it!