Psalm 107:1-16
The calendar has turned over into a new month, which means that I am back to “first comments”. Thank you, John, for your efforts on our behalf – in opening the Psalms to us the past few days, shedding light on verses and passages that we had not considered. Well done!
So now, October – I daresay my favorite month of the year. And as we begin a new month, you may have noticed at the beginning of today’s reading that we also begin a new “Book” in the Psalter, “Book Five”, the last “Book” in the Psalter. What’s that all about? For reasons unknown to us and to Biblical scholars throughout the ages the Psalms were broken down years ago into five “Books”. The first “Book” ended at Psalm 41, the second at Psalm 72, the third at Psalm 89, and the fourth at Psalm 106. There is no pure and simple accounting for how the Psalms are organized or how the “Books” were decided, but it’s what we have today. As we begin Book Five it’s interesting to note that Book 5 contains the longest Psalm in the Psalter, Psalm 119 at 176 verses, and the shortest Psalm, Psalm 117 two Psalms earlier at only two verses. Interesting. So today we begin Book Five.
Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. (vv. 6-7) As we have seen before, some Psalms are straightforward in their application to particular events or times in Israel’s history, while others are intentionally general, possibly written for all time, or lost to us in their historical context. So it is with today’s Psalm 107 and these verses in particular. It could easily be read in the context of Israel returning to Jerusalem from its Babylonian exile. Or it could be read as one sinner repenting and turning back to God, possibly returning to the Temple to ask God’s mercy and to offer sacrifices through the Levitical priests.
But I saw a very different application – in the very founding of St. Andrew’s. We are all blessed from those 80 or so people who had the courage to leave St. John’s and call David Brannen as their Rector. But also in those early days of St. Andrew’s founding people were coming from “everywhere” to worship at this new “faithful” church. They came from Shelbyville in the west, from Frankfort and Georgetown in the north, from Winchester and Richmond in the east, and from Danville and Harrodsburg in the south. For seven years Carol and I traveled 45 minutes to get here, until we finally moved 18 minutes away in 2015. We were all crying to the Lord, seeking to worship Him in fellowship with His faithful people. And we are still doing that today – people continue to make the journey from many miles distant to worship at St. Andrew’s. As we move forward as a St. Andrew’s body, seeking a new vision for our church, for this new time in which we find ourselves, let’s remember to pray regularly for our leadership – for Ben and the staff and vestry – and for all of us as we seek the Lord’s will for St. Andrew’s. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death… Let them thank the LORD for His steadfast love… (vv. 14a, 15a)