“O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever. ² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, those he redeemed from trouble ³ and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.⁴ Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to an inhabited town; ⁵ hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them. ⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; ⁷ he led them by a straight way, until they reached an inhabited town. ⁸ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind. ⁹ For he satisfies the thirsty, and the hungry he fills with good things.” Psalm 107:1-9

The overriding message for Psalm 107 is radical – and that message is that there is ultimately no such thing as self-sufficiency. The Psalmist is suggesting that all human life depends on G-d. The good news is that we can depend on G-d. G-d is good, all the time, and all the time G-d is good. And G-d wants to share G-d’s goodness all the time. In the bible, when G-d says that something is to happen, it happens. “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The idea that self-sufficiency is anti-G-d is one of the many secularist messages that we usually hear from our society. Take care of Number 1…G-d helps those who help themselves ( I don’t know that this is even biblical) – these are the phrases we hear from our society. We, as Lutherans, know however that we have an utter dependence on G-d. All things come from G-d – the same G-d who can turn a desert into pools of water, and a fruitful land into a salty waste.

Do you doubt that G-d is omni-present? I would ask that you simply look around –how can you not see G-d in all things?

Pastor Dave