Psalm 107:23-28 - in Huge Detail - NOT just a tale about Sea, Ship and Business ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Psalm 107: 23 Some went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters. 24 They saw the works of the Lord, his wonderful deeds in the deep. 25 For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves. 26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away. 27 They reeled and staggered like drunkards; they were at their wits’ end. 28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. Remember: 1. Verse 28 says - THEN....so after happenings of Psalm 107:23-27...THEN....They were tossed up and down....melted away...reeled, staggered, wits end before they come to passage verse 28........ 2. They CRIED out TO THE LORD 3. End Result: GOD brought them OUT of THEIR distress Note: 1. Captain can be an expert 2. Captain helpers can be an expert 3. Still GOD only can calm the storm. Note: In Both the below parallels and the above parallel - remember Jesus is not there in the scene...when Jesus came, the storm stopped....Call and ask Jesus to come on the scene in case of troubles, trials, issues, problems etc., Parallel: 1. Jonah troubled in the sea with the ship God delivered him 2. Jesus disciples trouble in the sea with the ship God delivered One thing is PROMISED....We started from seashore and the end up with the correct destination...We started our Life journey and will end up in the kingdom of God...(Psalm 23:4)..David passed through the valley of death...entered into Eternal Life.... We are dependent upon God for our next breath or heartbeat. That is the fact of the matter. But we do not experientially believe it. And so God designs problems to come into our lives so that we reach the end of ourselves, call out to Him for deliverance, and thereby experience and appreciate His great love. To receive help from God, you must come to the end of yourself and cry out to Him for His undeserved favor. The whole psalm 107 chapter talks about four poetic portraits of people in difficult circumstances In each case the people were overwhelmed with a problem they could not solve; they cried out to God in prayer; He answered their prayer with His provision; and then there is an exhortation to praise God for what he has done. Group 1: Wanderers (4-9) Group 2: Prisoners (10-16) Group 3: Sick (due to sin) (17-22) Group 4: Overwhelmed by circumstances (sailors) (23-32) GROUP 1: WANDERERS (VV. 4-9) This group is lost in the wilderness, aimlessly wandering in confusion. They lack the security and stability of a city to call home. They are hungry, thirsty, and fainting from exhaustion (v. 5). Finally they call out to the Lord (v. 6) and He delivers them and directs them to an inhabited city where their needs are met (v. 9). Therefore they are to give thanks to the Lord for His love and wonderful deeds (v. 8). The wanderers represent those spiritually who are lost, groping for meaning and purpose apart from God. There is no genuine meaning to life or purpose for living if you live apart from God. Verse 9 tells us the kind of people God helps: The hungry and thirsty soul. It is those who realize they’re lost and cry out to God (v. 6) whom He answers. Those who march through life ignoring or denying their desperate need for God will not find Him. He satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with what is good. Do you feel lost? Jesus says, “I am the Way.” Do you feel empty and hungry? Jesus says, “I am the Bread of Life.” Do you feel thirsty to know God? Jesus says, “I will give you living Water.” Do you feel exhausted and weary? Jesus says, “I will give you rest.” To get help from God, you must realize that you are lost, give up your own efforts to find the way, and call out to God. He will lead you to Himself. GROUP 2: PRISONERS (VV. 10-16) This group is in captivity, in darkness, misery, and chains, due to rebellion against God’s Word. They have spurned the counsel of the Most High (v. 11). Because of their sin, God humbled their hearts with labor and put them into a situation where they came to the end of themselves and found that there was no one to help. Then they cried out to the Lord and He saved them (vv. 13-14). This group represents those who think they can cast off God’s directives and live apart from obedience to His Word. Many in our culture think that their modern way of thinking is far superior to the confining mentality of the Bible. They say, “We want to be free to live as we choose!” But sin always leads to bondage and ultimately brings misery and death. I find many who claim to be Christians, but they have cast off God’s Word and live according to their feelings and to the ways of this self-seeking world. If you talk to them about the need to obey God’s Word, they say, “That’s legalism!” But they have turned the grace of God into licentiousness (Jude 4) Sin is always deceptive. At first it looks great and it seems to meet your needs. But it’s like a thirsty man who quenches his thirst with amoebic water. His thirst is quenched for the moment, but it gives him a terrible case of dysentery which dehydrates him all the more, and his latter state is worse than his former. God graciously sends hardship to such people to the point that they stumble. All the earthly things they have relied on fail them; there is none to help (v. 12). Please note that it is God who sovereignly, graciously brings difficulties into the lives of His people who have spurned His counsel. If you have shrugged off the commands of God’s Word because you didn’t like them, and now you’re having problems, those problems come directly from God for the purpose of humbling your heart so that you will turn back to His Word and submit to it (v. 12) GROUP 3: SICK (DUE TO SIN) (VV. 17-22) Sickness is not always directly due to sin but sometimes it is. The group described in these verses is clearly physically ill due to their sin (see vv. 17-18). The word “fool” (v. 17) in the Bible does not refer to the mentally deficient, but to the morally deficient. The fool is not unintelligent; he is rebellious. This group represents those who think they can sin without penalty. Again, God lets them reach the point of despair: “They drew near to death” (v. 18). Until they hit bottom, they weren’t willing to turn to God. Finally, they came to the end of themselves. There was no where to go for help except to God. They cried out to Him and He saved them out of their distresses (v. 19). Note God’s grace in rescuing groups two and three. They’re not in trouble because they’re lost or overwhelmed (as with groups one and four); they’re in trouble because of outright rebellion. They don’t deserve God’s grace. But that’s what grace is: undeserved favor. And so God responds to their call for help. If you are in great trouble today and you know that the reason for your trouble is your own rebellion, you may feel that you can’t call out to God for help. Not so! Cry out to Him and He will deliver you from your sin to His glory! GROUP 4: OVERWHELMED BY CIRCUMSTANCES (VV. 23-32) This group represents those who are confident that they can handle life and cope with life’s problems in their own strength. These men were skilled in seamanship. It was their business. But God merely spoke and raised up the wind (v. 25) and these self-sufficient sailors were brought to the end of their skills (v. 27, margin). God put them into a situation where they were forced to abandon all trust in themselves and call out to God for deliverance. Through this trial they came to experience God’s love and grace. We are passing through this life...We are passing through this sea with the ship..... Who can control the sea roaring ??? Who can control the strom ???? Only Lord Jesus Christ.... Life is like a sea.... A sea is unstable.... A sea is uncertain... A sea is constantly moving in different directions... As the wind blows the water moves, as the water moves the sea is so unstable...moving, turning, toxing... Wind is blowing and making the sea as unstable.....Wind is causing the sea as unstable... There is no hope in this world...There is no hope in anything except Lord Jesus Christ..... we cannot control the water, wave..We cannot stop the wave....Instead of worrying about the wave, sickness, problems which is increasing in the World...we need to ask GOD to help to walk over all of them..... see the troubles NEVER BEFORE see the sickness NEVER BEFORE see the problems NEVER BEFORE see the waters are roaring NEVER BEFORE see the waters are rough NEVER BEFORE We need to walk with Jesus never before.... We need to live closer with him never before.. We need to communicate with him never before... We need to have more revelation never before.... we need to love jesus never before... we need to read the bible never before... We need to pray never before... We need to change our characters never before.. We need to surrender never before... We need to obey the commandments never before... We need to increase the faith never before... we need to reproduce christ never before.. We need to be relevated instead of relevant never before.. We need to spiritual never before... We need to sensitive to the word never before... When the first negative report given by Doctor fears comes upon us.. When the first running nose you see fear comes upon us reg flu... When the first throat issue fear comes up on us... If you think it going to be really going to be bad, if thats what is your faith has, thats what you are going to have... Man always see the visible things...catching the boat..tangible...can be seen and catched.... But the Elect and Bride of Christ will put the trust and confidence on the unchanging promise of GOD .... Jesus Sends the Disciples into the Storm - IMMEDIATELY Matthew 14:22 “Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.” After Jesus fed the 5,000 He “made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side.” Don’t forget that little, seemingly incidental comment. It was Jesus that sent the disciples to the other side of the sea and into the storm but they were about to go out into no small storm in the middle of the sea and in the pitch black of night! During the most impossible situations, when all hope seems to be lost, and there is nothing but darkness and doubt with no one that could possibly help us, is the exact time that Jesus is there. He told the disciples and He tells us, “Take heart…do not be afraid.” When Jesus got in the boat, immediately “the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him by saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.” He is the God of the storms of life, able to calm every storm. He may not keep us from the storms or allow us to go around them…but He will be with us through the storms. Peter doesnt begin to sink until he starts looking around at the wind and the waves. Taking our eyes off Jesus, and focusing on the difficult circumstances will cause us to get under our problems. But when we cry out to Jesus, he catches us by the hand and raises us above the seemingly impossible surroundings. Peter starts out with good intentions, but his faith falters. This does not, however, end up in failure. Peter, even in his fear, cries out to the Lord, the only one who can help him. When Jesus gets in the boat, the storm ceases. When we have Jesus in our boat the storms of life will be calmed and we can worship Him. he miracle of Jesus walking on the water, recorded in three of the gospels (Matthew 14:22-36; Mark 6:45-56; John 6:16-21), came on the heels of His miraculous feeding of the 5000 with only five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14:17). But it was the miracle of Jesus walking on the water that, more than any other, convinced Jesus’ disciples that He was indeed the supernatural GOD (Matthew 14:32-33) Each day there are many believers in every part of the world who are experiencing trials and tribulations. Jesus tells us that we will be persecuted for His names sake. Our faith must see us through each trial, by trusting in Jesus’ strength not our own. Just knowing that Jesus is going through each and every trial with us is our comfort. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1. Faith must be understood spiritually; there’s nothing blind about our faith in Jesus Christ. The evidence is overwhelmingly clear. It points to who Jesus was and is, where He is and even that He’ll return one day very soon. We don’t need to be ashamed of our faith in Christ because He is risen and alive and we know that fact to be true. Faith allows the born again believer to see things spiritually, and yet, unbelievers have been rendered spiritually blind simply through their unbelief. Our faith comes to us by hearing, reading, and studying God’s perfect word.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Nov 2014 20:54:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015