There is nothing like the Word to soothe the broken places, give direction in the deserts of life, and offer hope when we feel hopeless! Even today, I didn’t want to crack open the Bible and read from our church’s reading plan (meaning…. I didn’t pick the passage but God knew!) Reading Psalm 107, I instantly inserted “I” where it said “you” and things got real personal!
I couldn’t think of a better way to testify what the Lord has done and where I’ve been absent the past months than to give you this Psalm that pumped up my heart rate! My favorite part is the ending… “If I was really wise, I’d think this over— it’s time I appreciated God’s deep love.”
Don’t read between the lines… I mean every word of this, and I hope you can personalize it for yourself as well to see how good God is in spite of our failures!
Personalized Psalm 107:
Oh, thank God—he’s so good!
His love never runs out.
I’m set free by God, I will tell the world!
I will tell how he freed me from oppression,
Then rounded me up from all over the place,
from the four winds, from the seven seas.
I wandered for years in the desert,
looking but not finding a good place to live,
Half-starved and parched with thirst,
staggering and stumbling, on the brink of exhaustion.
Then, in my desperate condition, I called out to God.
He got me out in the nick of time;
He put my feet on a wonderful road
that took me straight to a good place to live.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves.
He poured great draughts of water down my parched throat;
starved and hungry, I got plenty to eat.
I was locked in a dark cell,
cruelly confined behind bars,
Punished for defying God’s Word,
for turning my back on the High God’s counsel—
A hard sentence, and my heart so heavy,
and not a soul in sight to help.
Then I called out to God in my desperate condition;
he got me out in the nick of time.
He led you me of my dark, dark cell,
broke open the jail and led me out.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
He shattered the heavy jailhouse doors,
he snapped the prison bars like matchsticks!
I was sick because I’d lived a bad life,
my body feeling the effects of my sin;
I couldn’t stand the sight of food,
so miserable I thought I’d be better off dead.
Then I called out to God in my desperate condition;
he got me out in the nick of time.
He spoke the word that healed me,
that pulled me back from the brink of death.
So thank God for his marvelous love,
for his miracle mercy to the children he loves;
Offer thanksgiving sacrifices,
tell the world what he’s done—sing it out!
I set sail in big ships;
I put to sea to do business in faraway ports.
Out at sea I saw God in action,
saw his breathtaking ways with the ocean:
With a word he called up the wind—
an ocean storm, towering waves!
I shot high in the sky, then the bottom dropped out;
my heart was stuck in your throats.
I was spun like a top, I reeled like a drunk,
I didn’t know which end was up.
Then I called out to God in my desperate condition;
he got me out in the nick of time.
He quieted the wind down to a whisper,
put a muzzle on all the big waves.
And I was so glad when the storm died down,
and he led me safely back to harbor.
God turned rivers into wasteland,
springs of water into sunbaked mud;
Luscious orchards became alkali flats
because of the evil of the people who lived there.
Then he changed wasteland into fresh pools of water,
arid earth into springs of water,
He blessed me and I prospered greatly;
my herds of cattle never decreased.
But abuse and evil and trouble declined
as he heaped scorn on princes and sent them away.
Good people see this and are glad;
bad people are speechless, stopped in their tracks.
If I was really wise, I’d think this over—
it’s time I appreciated God’s deep love.
Read with me: Bible Reading Plan