There are some nights of preaching that feel smooth and unhindered, and there are other nights when the moment feels heavy, difficult, and disrupted. This message at the Chattanooga Rescue Mission was one of those difficult nights.
While preaching from Psalm 107 on “The Lovingkindness of the Lord,” I was reminded again that the Word of God does not depend on perfect circumstances. The chapel was not without distraction. The message was interrupted more than once. One interruption came near the very end, right as I was trying to bring the sermon down toward the invitation. It caught me off guard, and I did not feel that I handled the moment as well as I would have liked.
But after the service, several men came to me and shared that God had helped them through the message. That was a mercy to my own heart. It reminded me that the power is not in the preacher’s ability to control the room, answer every question perfectly, or land every moment the way he intended. The power is in the Word of God, carried by the Spirit of God, to the hearts of men who need the grace of God.
Psalm 107 is a song filled with salvation stories. It speaks of wanderers in the wilderness, prisoners in bondage, fools brought low by sin, and frightened men tossed on the sea. Again and again, the pattern is the same: “Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.”
That is the lovingkindness of the Lord.
It is not a weak sentiment. It is not merely a pleasant religious thought. It is the driving force behind God’s saving intervention. His lovingkindness is the reason He hears the cry of the distressed. It is the reason He breaks chains, satisfies hungry souls, heals ruined lives, and calms raging storms.
And that lovingkindness has not diminished since the writing of Psalm 107.
It is the reason God saved me over thirty years ago. It is the reason a man can walk into a rescue mission with a full belly, a troubled past, a weary heart, and still be a prime candidate for God’s saving grace. It is the reason any of us have hope at all.
I pray this message will point you away from yourself and toward the Lord Jesus Christ, where the lovingkindness of God is most clearly seen.
“O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.”
Psalm 107:1
