3 lines
6.6 KiB
HTML
3 lines
6.6 KiB
HTML
|
<p>Here is, I. A general call to all to give thanks to God, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.107.1" href="/passage/?search=Ps.107.1">Ps. 107:1</a>. Let all that sing this psalm, or pray over it, set themselves herein to <i>give thanks to the Lord</i>; and those that have not any special matter for praise may furnish themselves with matter enough from God’s universal goodness. In the fountain <i>he is good</i>; in the streams <i>his mercy endures for ever</i> and never fails.</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p class="tab-1">II. A particular demand hereof from <i>the redeemed of the Lord</i>, which may well be applied spiritually to those that have an interest in the great Redeemer and are saved by him from sin and hell. They have, of all people, most reason to say that God is good, and his mercy everlasting; these are the <i>children of God that were scattered abroad</i>, whom Christ died to <i>gather together in one</i>, out of all lands, <a class="bibleref" title="John.11.52,Matt.24.31" href="/passage/?search=John.11.52,Matt.24.31"><span class="bibleref" title="John.11.52">John 11:52</span>; <span class="bibleref" title="Matt.24.31">Matt. 24:31</span></a>. But it seems here to be meant of a temporal deliverance, wrought for them when in their distress <i>they cried unto the Lord</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.107.6" href="/passage/?search=Ps.107.6">Ps. 107:6</a>. <i>Isa. any afflicted? Let him pray</i>. Does any pray? God will certainly hear and help. When troubles become extreme that is man’s time to cry; those who but whispered prayer before then cry aloud, and then it is God’s time to succour. In the mount he will be seen. 1. They were in an enemy’s country, but God wrought out their rescue: <i>He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.107.2" href="/passage/?search=Ps.107.2">Ps. 107:2</a>), not by <i>might or power</i>, it may be (<a class="bibleref" title="Zech.4.6" href="/passage/?search=Zech.4.6">Zech. 4:6</a>), nor by <i>price or reward</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Isa.45.13" href="/passage/?search=Isa.45.13">Isa. 45:13</a>), <i>but by the Spirit of God</i> working on the spirits of men. 2. They were dispersed as out-casts, but God gathered them out of all the countries whither they were scattered in the cloudy and dark day, that they might again be incorporated, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.107.3" href="/passage/?search=Ps.107.3">Ps. 107:3</a>. See <a class="bibleref" title="Deut.30.4,Ezek.34.12" href="/passage/?search=Deut.30.4,Ezek.34.12"><span class="bibleref" title="Deut.30.4">Deut. 30:4</span>; <span class="bibleref" title="Ezek.34.12">Ezek. 34:12</span></a>. God knows those that are his, and where to find them. 3. They were bewildered, had no road to travel in, no dwelling place to rest in, <a class="bibleref" title="Ps.107.4" href="/passage/?search=Ps.107.4">Ps. 107:4</a>. <i>When they were redeemed</i> out of the <i>hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands</i>, they were in danger of perishing in their return home through the dry and barren deserts. <i>They wandered in the wilderness</i>, where there was no trodden path, no company, but <i>a solitary way</i>, no lodging, no conveniences, no accommodations, no inhabited city where they might have quarters or refreshment. But <i>God led them forth by the right way</i> (<a class="bibleref" title="Ps.107.7" href="/passage/?search=Ps.107.7">Ps. 107:7</a>), directed them to an inn, nay, directed them to a home, <i>that they might go to a city of habitation</i>, which was inhabited, nay which them themselves should inhabit. This may refer to poor travellers in general, those particularly whose way lay through the wilds of Arabia, where we may suppose they were often at a loss; and yet many in that distress were wonderfully relieved, so that few perished. Note, We ought to take notice of the good hand of God’s providence over us in our journeys, going out and coming in, directing us in our way, and providing for us places both to bait in and rest in. Or (as some think) it has an eye to the wanderings of the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years; it is said (<a class="bibleref" title="Deut.32.10" href="/passage/?search=Deut.32.10">Deut. 32:10</a>), <i>God led them about</i>, and yet here <i>he led them by the right way</i>. God’s way, though to us it seems about, will appear at last to have been the right way. It is applicable to our condition in this world; we are here as in a wilderness, have here <i>no continuing city</i>, but dwell in tents as strangers and pilgrims. But we are under
|