OUR FATHER TOWARDS WHOM WE SHOULD BE SINCERELY GRATEFUL

Psalm 107 verses 3 - 5, speaking of the redeemed of the Lord, says this;

those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 

They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.

This passage speaks of some of those that the Lord had saved who wandered in the wilderness unable to connect to a civilization into which they could settle.

In this wandering state, the redeemed were malnourished and their lives faded as their spirits weakened.

This was when they cried out to God in their trouble and the Lord heard them and relieved their anguish as Psalm 107 verses 6 - 9 says;

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

The Lord, hearing the cries of His redeemed in the wilderness, led them to His civilization where they were revived and sustained and they became a people full of gratitude towards the Lord having seen His lovingkindness intervene in their lives.

This story is mirrored in the story of the ten lepers whom Jesus healed in Luke chapter 17 verses 12 - 19 which reads this way;

 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

The lepers cried out to the Lord and he healed them and told them to go to the priests to show themselves and they were cleansed from leprosy as they went.

One of the ten men, seeing that he was cleansed, returned praising God and fell down before Jesus because he recognized the profound importance of what Jesus had done for him.

Jesus asked, "Where are the other nine?"

This question brings home the point that ingratitude for the Lord's salvation will keep us from finding our way to God and we will miss His call to us to rise and go forward on our journey of faith.

Without that, we may wander in the wilderness till we finally cry out to the Lord to deliver us.

Let us always be sincerely thankful towards our Lord who is our redeemer and who paid so great a price to save us.

Amen.

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