Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy. (Psalm 107:22, NIV)
By now, the picture of Tiger Woods’ victory shout on the eighteenth green at Augusta National is likely implanted in your head. And you can be sure you’ll see it many more times before the Masters returns next April. Not that Tiger is the first. Again and again we have seen Phil Mickelson’s leap and Adam Scott’s “C’mon, Aussie!” The hallmark of our memorable champions is common: exultation.
Maybe as a staid person, you’ve thought to yourself, That would never be me. But you haven’t endured the pressure of a Sunday afternoon stretch at a major championship after years of pouring into this dream. Who knows what would become of your decorum then? Then again, decorum is measured by the context around you, and if 10,000 fans are exploding with noise, no one finds it unseemly that you should join them.
Is today a day of crying out for you, or a day of thanks and exalting? Jesus taught that the repentant belief of just one sinner sets off a celebration among the angels. For all that a sinner has endured, the day of salvation brings unmitigated rejoicing.
The psalmist who put down the words of Psalm 107 understood all this quite well. Like a song and its verses, the psalm takes on a pattern of new words and refrains. Four times over, we are given the picture of a defeated people; four times over they cry for help; four times over they are granted salvation; four times over they are called to give thanks.
First, we see the impoverished, wandering without a home, their lives ebbing away. But “they cried out to the LORD in their trouble” and found rescue. “Let them give thanks,” the psalmist directs.
Next come the prisoners, chained up for their rebellion and spite of God. But when the weight of their sin became too much to bear, “they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,” and God broke their chains. “Let them give thanks,” the psalmist charges them.
Third, we are introduced to the fools, who pay for making the same sinful mistakes over and over. But when they drew near to death, “they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,” and God plucked them from the grave. “Let them give thanks,” the psalmist urges.
And fourth, there are those whose fear overwhelms them when they are caught in a storm. At their wits’ end, “they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,” and God stilled the tempest. “Let them give thanks,” the psalmist compels them. “Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people.”
Is today a day of crying out for you, or a day of thanks and exalting? Don’t hold back. God can do so much. God has done so much!
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Jeff Hopper
April 29, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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