O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever.
Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
✙ Ps 107:1-2a
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Psalm 107 calls on the faithful to thank God, whose love is both constant and never-ending. "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!" the psalmist wrote. But, in fact, the redeemed of the Lord are more likely to say, "So?"
Yesterday I talked about how God calls me from diaspora into the body of Christ, and this morning's psalm might be interpreted the same way. God's redeemed are brought together from all points of the compass to experience community—proof that God's constant love is eternal. And if the Holy One has made me whole, I should say so!
I like to think of myself as unique. Different, even. But in this I'm like everyone else. I am far too likely to respond to God's grace by saying, "So? What have you done for me lately?" It's as though on Thanksgiving, instead of expressing my gratitude, I stuff myself and ask for more without giving a thought to the God who created the earth, and my neighbors who planted my food, tended and harvested it, transported it, and stocked the shelves of my local grocery store.
Yesterday I talked about how God calls me from diaspora into the body of Christ, and this morning's psalm might be interpreted the same way. God's redeemed are brought together from all points of the compass to experience community—proof that God's constant love is eternal. And if the Holy One has made me whole, I should say so!
I like to think of myself as unique. Different, even. But in this I'm like everyone else. I am far too likely to respond to God's grace by saying, "So? What have you done for me lately?" It's as though on Thanksgiving, instead of expressing my gratitude, I stuff myself and ask for more without giving a thought to the God who created the earth, and my neighbors who planted my food, tended and harvested it, transported it, and stocked the shelves of my local grocery store.
Though I know better, I think I need amazing phenomena to transport me into an attitude of praise. But the fact of the matter is that God's grace is always amazing, because it's always at work both visibly and invisibly. I am never without a reason to say, "Thank you."
You have shown me grace upon grace, Lord. Every day. Forgive my thoughtlessness and ingratitude; in the Name of him who taught me to pray: Our Father...
