Скачать или смотреть STORMS AND STILLNESS: GOD'S POWER IN PSALM 107 |PASTOR SAMUEL WAMBUGU

UCAN SUNDAY SERVICE SERMON
27 JULY 2025
TITLE: “STORMS AND STILLNESS: GOD'S POWER IN PSALM 107"

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: PSALM 107
INTRODUCTION:
ARE YOU FEELING LIKE YOU HAVE REACHED YOUR END? WHERE YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO, WHEN YOU HAVE HIT ROCK BOTTOM, AND YOU FEEL AS IF THERE IS NO WAY TO GET OUT OF THE MESS YOU HAVE MADE? DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE GOING THROUGH STORMS, AND WONDERING HOW AND WHEN THINGS WILL CALM DOWN?
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN IN MOMENTS WHERE YOU HAVE HAD VISIONS AND HAD DREAMS, WHERE YOU HAVE HELD THEM IN YOUR HANDS, BUT THOSE DREAMS SLIPPED THROUGH, AND YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW AND WHY?
HAVE YOU GONE THROUGH THAT MOMENT AS A BELIEVER YOU FELT LIKE YOU ARE BATTERED DUE TO THE RAGING SEAS AND STORMS OF LIFE? YOU WANTED TO GIVE UP; BUT A SMALL AND STILL VOICE SPEAKS TELLING YOU TO HOLD ON THAT FAITH; NOT TO GIVE UP INSPITE OF THE STORMS…THAT YOU WILL PULL THROUGH?
GOD'S WORD HAS THE ANSWERS TO THE PROBLEMS THAT FACE US WHEN WE ARE AT OUR LOWEST END. THE PSALM WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT THIS MORNING, PSALM 107, IS PARTICULARLY WRITTEN FOR PEOPLE AT THEIR LOWEST END. IT IS A PSALM OF RESTORATION, A PSALM OF HOPE, A PSALM OF TESTIMONY.

PSALM 107:
THE FIRST THREE VERSES OF PSALM 107 CONSTITUTE AN INTRODUCTION, GIVING US AN OVERALL THEME. THEN THERE ARE TESTIMONIES FROM FOUR GROUPS OF PEOPLE:
• THERE ARE TESTIMONIES FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE FRANTIC AND RESTLESS.
• THERE ARE TESTIMONIES FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE BOUND IN SLAVERY.
• THERE ARE TESTIMONIES FROM PEOPLE WHO ARE DISCOURAGED AND HOPELESS.
• THEN TESTIMONIES FROM THOSE WHO ARE HIT BY STORMS.
AS WE EXAMINE THESE TESTIMONIES, YOU WILL NOTICE THE FOLLOWING:
• THE PEOPLE WHO HURT
• THE PEOPLE WHO CRY OUT
• THE GOD WHO HEARS
• GOD'S PEOPLE WHO WORSHIP.
THE PEOPLE WHO HURT
THE PSALM TELLS OF FOUR DIFFERENT TYPES OF PERSONS, ALL OF WHOM ARE HURTING: -
THE FIRST CATEGORY OF PEOPLE WHO GIVE A TESTIMONY HERE, BEGINNING IN VERSE 4, ARE THOSE WHO "ARE WANDERING IN A WILDERNESS, IN A DESERT REGION." THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A CITY OF HABITATION OR "A PLACE TO SIT." ONE OF THE WORDS THAT IS TRANSLATED "THIRSTY" HERE COULD ALSO BE TRANSLATED "FRANTIC." THESE ARE FRANTIC PEOPLE, SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING TO PUT THEIR TRUST IN, SEARCHING FOR SOMETHING TO HOLD ON TO.
THE SECOND CATEGORY IS DESCRIBED BEGINNING IN VERSE 10, THOSE WHO ARE DWELLING IN DARKNESS, IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH, PRISONERS IN MISERY AND CHAINS BECAUSE THEY HAD REBELLED AGAINST THE WORD OF GOD. THESE PEOPLE CLEARLY ARE SUFFERING THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR REBELLION. THEY HAVE HEARD GOD'S WORD, THEY HAVE HEARD IT SPOKEN, THEY HAVE SEEN IT WORK, PERHAPS IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS. BUT THEY HAVE REJECTED IT, AND THEY INSTEAD HAVE CHOSEN TO SEEK OTHER WAYS OF FINDING FULFILLMENT IN THIS WORLD. AND WHERE DO THEY FIND THEMSELVES? THEY FIND THEMSELVES PRISONERS IN CHAINS.
THE THIRD CATEGORY OF PEOPLE IS DESCRIBED BEGINNING IN VERSE 17. THESE ARE FOOLS; THEY ARE INVOLVED IN SINFULNESS; IT SAYS THEIR INIQUITY HAS CAUSED THEM TO BE AFFLICTED. THESE PEOPLE ARE DISCOURAGED AND HOPELESS. IT SAYS THAT THEY ABHOR ALL KINDS OF FOOD: WHAT COULD GIVE THEM SUSTENANCE THEY NOW REJECT. THEY HAVE BOUGHT THE DEVIL'S LIE THAT THERE IS NO HOPE FOR THEM. THEY ARE READY TO GIVE UP AND DIE.
THE FOURTH CATEGORY IS DESCRIBED IN VERSES 23 TO 32. THESE ARE PEOPLE WHO ARE DOING BUSINESS ON THE SEA, AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THEIR BUSINESS THEY ARE GOING OUT AND ENCOUNTER A TERRIBLE STORM. NOW IT DOES NOT INDICATE THAT THESE PEOPLE HAVE DONE ANYTHING WRONG; THEY ARE SIMPLY ENGAGED IN THE NORMAL ACTS OF LIFE. BUT IN THE MIDDLE OF THOSE ACTS, A STORM COMES UP. GOD SENDS A STORM INTO THEIR LIVES NOT IN CONSEQUENCE OF SIN BUT PERHAPS TO GET THEIR ATTENTION. SO, THESE PEOPLE ARE THOSE WHO ARE INVOLVED IN CAREERS, IN WORK, OR ANYTHING IN THE NORMAL COURSE OF LIFE. AND A TRAGEDY HITS; A TRIAL COMES UPON THEM THAT THEY CANNOT HANDLE.
THESE ARE THE FOUR CATEGORIES OF PEOPLE WHO HURT: THE FRANTIC AND RESTLESS, LOOKING FOR SOME SECURITY; THOSE WHO ARE CHAINED AND BOUND IN SLAVERY TO SOME TYPE OF SIN; THOSE WHO ARE DISCOURAGED, WHO FEEL HOPELESS, AND ARE READY TO QUIT; AND THOSE WHO THINK EVERYTHING IS GOING WELL, AND THEN SUDDENLY ARE HIT WITH A TRAGEDY OR A STORM, OR SOME UNEXPECTED OCCURRENCE THAT DRIVES THEM TO THEIR KNEES.
THE PEOPLE WHO CRY OUT
IN THIS PSALM, WONDERFULLY, ALL FOUR CATEGORIES OF THESE PEOPLE RESPOND TO THEIR CRISES IN THE SAME WAY. THE PEOPLE WHO HURT BECOME THE PEOPLE WHO CRY OUT. THEY CRY OUT TO THE LORD IN THEIR TROUBLE, THE PSALMIST REPEATS FOUR TIMES, AND GOD ANSWERS THEM, AND REACHES OUT TO THEM, DRAWS THEM OUT OF THEIR DISTRESS. SOMETIMES WE NEED A TRAGEDY, WE NEED SLAVERY, WE NEED TO COME TO OUR LOWEST END FOR US TO CRY OUT TO GOD. AND THAT IS WHY GOD SENT THIS STORM FOR THE PEOPLE ON THE SEAS, SO THEY WOULD COME TO THEIR END, SO THEY WOULD SEE THEIR UTTER DEPENDENCE ON HIM, AND THEY WOULD TURN FROM THE PEOPLE WHO HURT TO THE PEOPLE WHO CRY OUT.