Daily Manna · Day 313 · November 9
Enduring Mercy
“O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Most of us find gratitude hardest on the days we need it most, and we know it. A list of good things made at bedtime after a good day is closer to bookkeeping than to thanks, and it falls apart the moment a day goes badly.
Psalm 107 asks for something more specific, and it shows you what it means by doing it four times. Some "wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in." Some "sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron." Some are "Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities," and the psalm says that plainly. And some "go down to the sea in ships," where in the storm "their soul is melted because of trouble." The psalm says, "They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit’s end." That makes four groups and four disasters, and the psalm admits that some of that trouble was their own doing. After each one comes the same turn, in almost the same words: "Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses." And each time the psalm adds, "Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"
That is what the opening line is asking for. It wants testimony from the particular hole you were in, which is much more than a pleasant mood. Verse two says it plainly: "Let the redeemed of the LORD say so." To say so means to say it out loud, where somebody can hear it.
So the psalm leaves a space for you, and nobody is going to check whether you fill it. You know which of the four you were in. If you were among the fools whose trouble was their own fault, the psalm has already said that word, so you do not have to. Somewhere in your house, or at the other end of a phone call, is a person who has never heard your story. They do not know where you were, what you cried out, or what God did about it. You can tell them whenever you are ready. His mercy "endureth for ever," and that is what makes the story safe to tell at all.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 313 is Lay Down Our Lives (1 John 3:16).