TODAY’S SCRIPTURE Psalm 107:1-3
Do you like a good secret? I am not talking about secrets that damage a person’s reputation, but a secret that is good news. The part that we do not like about good secrets is that in its very nature we cannot tell another person. However, my mom always says, “If two people know it, then it is not a secret.” How many of us have failed to keep secrets? For the most part it is hard to keep good news a secret. Good news is meant to be shared, especially in our society where bad news is on every television channel and social media page.
Psalm 107 is written for the Israelites returning from their period of exile. It is a wonderful psalm that extols the everlasting, covenant love that God has for His chosen people Israel. The psalmist commands the exiles and all of God’s children to give thanks to Him because of His goodness and His “steadfast love” which “endures forever” (vs. 1). In verse 2, the psalmist explicitly says it is the “redeemed of the Lord” who are supposed to raise their voices because they have witnessed firsthand God’s goodness and steadfast love. They have been “redeemed from trouble” and brought back into the Promised Land from all four corners of the world. Why not praise God for that and tell others about what He has done? For the rest of Psalm 107, the psalmist provides a brief history of Israel and the troubles from which God has redeemed them.
As Christians, we have the greatest news ever, and it is not a secret. We are commanded throughout Scripture to go and tell others about this news (See Matthew 28:18-20). Israel was not a missional people, yet this text commands them to tell what God has done for them. There is no magical script that one must recite when speaking to others about God. The best way to evangelize is to begin with your story. Tell the world where God has brought you from, how He did it, and that God can do it for them.
Today, I will…read Matthew 28:18-20 and pray that God will bring souls into my life today who need to hear the good news of Jesus. I will also read 2 Timothy 1:7 and pray that God will give me the courage to speak to those souls He brings into my life.