Cry Out for a Reason to be Thankful

by Nate Luck

From the very start, Psalm 107 offers a pretty significant reason to give thanks:

"Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" (Psalm 107:1-2, ESV)

From here, the psalmist takes us into four different scenarios where God provides respite from some form of major calamity to the groups referenced in verse 3. It is how God's assistance is garnered in these scenarios that strikes me as possibly the greatest reason of all to be thankful for "God's enduring love." All that we have to do to receive his enduring love is follow the example of the people in Psalm 107...

"Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress." (Psalms 107:6, 13, 19, 28, ESV)

In their stubbornness, each of the four groups are pushed to the brink of disaster before they finally ask for God's help. After reading Psalm 107 herself, my wife pointed out that people by nature are stubborn, and I have to agree. We often feel as though we have the power to take on everything that life can dish out, and we will not reach out for any type of assistance until things are so ugly that it seems that all hope is lost. It is in these times that we tend to finally succumb and cry out to God for his assistance.

It is his response in kind, where "He made the storm be still and the waves of the sea were hushed," (Psalm 107:29) that we have a reason for giving thanks to the Lord. All that we have to do to be delivered from our distress is cry out - to accept that we are powerless over life and that only through Him can we find true salvation.

"Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!" (Psalm 107:8, 107:15, 107:21, 107:31)