May 22, 2011 The Word of Life

The Word of Life
Psalms 106 – 107

Psalms 107:10-13, 20 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress…20 He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.

THE PSALMIST paints a dark picture. God’s people are chained down in a dark cell, bent over by the labor of their sin. The only sound is the cry of despair. They have no hope for release.
What is their crime? They have deliberately sinned. And they have passively sinned, failing in all ways to seek God’s Word for their lives and their nation. They have rebelled and exchanged God’s words of freedom for the Satan’s enslaving lies.
Those lies locked them down. Their heart, soul and mind are bound in despair. Freedom is an empty hope.
But then, miraculously one day, God’s sent forth his Word to a people in darkness.:

John 1:1-5 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness

The Word tells of God’s great love and compassion. The Word fills their souls with hope. Shackles loosen. Prisoners are free from darkness. Life returns.


Pause and Consider: how light breaks into the darkness. Darkness never breaks into the light.