Psalm 107 10Men sat in darkness and gloom, as prisoners in misery and iron chains 11because they rebelled against the words of God, and scorned what the Most High had planned. 12So He made them weary with work to humble them, and when they fell there was no one to help them. 13Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. 14He took them out of the darkness and gloom and tore off the ropes that bound them. 15Let them thank the LORD for His goodness, for doing wonderful things for men, 16for smashing the gates of bronze and cutting the iron bars in pieces.
The psalmist is most likely looking back at their time in Babylon. The Jews had rebelled against the LORD by worshiping other gods and not living according to His commands, precepts and laws. Everyone followed the lust of their hearts. Sinning causes us to become slaves to sin. He made the Jews slaves to the people whose gods they served and/or emulated in their lives.
God does this to us as well. God punishes sin with more sin. He gives us up to the very thing we give ourselves to serve. He does this in hopes that we would recognize our hopeless estate and cry out to Him for help. In some circles it is called hitting our bottom. If we cry out to our LORD Jesus Christ for help, if we turn to the Father of lights, He will save us in our distress. He will take us out of the darkness and gloom. He will tear off the ropes that bind us.
We see with the Jews with their captivity in Babylon, the LORD sent Cyrus the Persian to break the gates of bronze at Babylon’s city gates. He used Cyrus to free His people and to send them back to Judea. The LORD may very well send people into our lives with His good news of salvation to free us from our sins, to break the ropes of bondage with the forgiveness of sins for Jesus’ sake. The Gospel of Jesus is the light that disperses the darkness and gloom of our sins. We should thank and praise Him for His goodness and for doing these wonderful acts of salvation in our lives.
17Fools suffer for their wicked ways and the wrongs they do. 18They detest every kind of food, and come near the gates of death. 19Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress. 20He sent His Word and made them well and rescued them from the grave. 21Let them thank the LORD for His goodness, for doing wonderful things for men. 22Let them bring sacrifices to thank Him, shouting happily as they tell what He did.
Our sins often come down upon us and cause us great distress. We should probably pity the man who doesn’t experience this because of his sins. He will never learn his need for salvation. Yet some of us are fools enough to suffer greatly for our sins that it brings us to the point we cannot eat and we approach death’s door. Such fools, if they are so blessed, have someone the LORD sends with His Word which makes them well and rescues them from the grave. The LORD send prophets to the Jews in and after their captivity to Babylon. They comforted the people and strengthened them. We have at the very least the pastors the LORD has given us to hear our confessions, absolve us from our sins and bring us to the Table of the LORD that our faith may be strengthened and our spirits refreshed. The LORD may send other Christians into our lives who will strengthen and build us up in our walk with Christ. We should pray the LORD not let us get so wrapped up in our sins that we get to this point. We should pray that we repent quickly to not let our sins enslave us again. Finally we should give thanks to the LORD who hears our cries for mercy, gives us the power and the Spirit to overcome our sins when we cry to Him and tell others joyfully how the LORD Jesus Christ has delivered us.
Heavenly Father, we give You thanks and praise for sending Jesus Christ, You Son, to deliver us from our bondage to sin and death. Always hear our cries for help and give us Your Holy Spirit that we not give ourselves as slaves to sin again. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.