Psalm 107:10-11

Psalm 107:10-11

It doesn't pay to rebel

The redeemed of the Lord do indeed have a story to tell (v2), we have heard the stories already, in the Psalm, of those who wandered in desert wastelands and who the Lord led to a city where they could settle, now we are going to hear from ex-prisoners! Throughout the history of mankind there have been many thousands of men and women who have been incarcerated in prison cells and dungeons, living in total darkness, and chained up like animals. Our ancestors had no compunction about detaining their enemies in these ways and it seems that such practices were common enough in Bible times. The cause of the imprisonments mentioned here are two-dimensional, verse 11 tells us that men were imprisoned because “they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the plans of the Most High.”  The other side of the story is that some foreign power was presumably involved in taking and holding prisoners. This is another of those occasions when God allowed the rebellious Israelites to be overwhelmed and taken captive by their enemies .

We need to understand God’s anger here and His methods for carrying out judgement. There is no question that He loves us, that He loves the world and that He loves the Jews. He is also a God who is “slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.” Exodus 34:6. The judgements described here are not aimed so much at the world in general but at His chosen people. They are the ones who have rebelled against His commands and despised His plans. When God’s patience eventually runs out, He does not act out of revenge, nor is He vindictive, in truth His wrath is usually passive. Instead of lightning strikes or plagues or destructive natural disasters the Lord uses passive means to judge the rebellious. In other words, the perpetrators suffer the consequences of their actions, in this case it is probable that a foreign army invaded, and the Lord God simply withdrew and let it happen.

A similar scenario is presented in Romans 1:18-32 where the ignorance and wickedness of men is described in detail. Does God lash out in fiery anger? No, the text says again and again, that “God gave them over”. V24, v26, v28. The end result is that wicked people end up in a prison of their own making and they suffer the darkness and the iron chains brought about by their sin and rebellion. 

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