During 2025, Peachtree Church is focusing on the Book of Psalms with a series called Dwell, through which we seek to deepen our conversation with God and open ourselves to hearing his response. The practice of praying three times each day will unite the voices of our hearts and souls as we seek the day when we will see the full realization of the Kingdom of God, promised in Revelation 21:3: “…Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”
We will email devotionals twice weekly with Monday’s providing an overview of the Psalm as a whole, and Wednesday’s focused on that week’s Daily Dwell.
Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—
Psalm 107:2
Devotional
For most Christians, we read the word “redeemed” and we immediately think of redemption as part of our salvation from the powers of sin through the grace provided by Jesus Christ. In the eyes and ears of the Jewish people, the word has different connotations, most of which are connected to freedom from the slavery of the Israelites’ time in Egypt or the return from the captivity of the exile at the hand of the Babylonian Empire and its successor states. This contrast of perspective reflects the difference between a temporal and an eternal understanding of being “redeemed.”
For the Israelite people to tell their story of redemption was to tell the history of their people, showing the ways in which the Lord continued to bring a remnant people out of the punishments that they endured for turning against the Law that they had been given by Him through Moses. Redemption also meant that they should walk the walk as well as talk the talk by living in accordance with the Law. (This was part of the reason for the rise of the Pharisees as a dominant power following the return from the Exile, as that sect worked to codify and make it possible for all people to follow the Law.)
At the height of their power, the Pharisees faced a different understanding of what it meant to be redeemed: the grace of Jesus. The redemption offered by Jesus is one that is less concerned with legalistic adherence to a code of conduct and cares more about the willingness to live a faithful life that seeks to draw closer to God. As the redeemed of the Lord through Jesus, we are called to righteousness. Living a righteous life can be challenging; more often than we would like to admit, we turn towards self-righteousness, which finds itself grounded in the legalistic code that the Pharisees worked to establish.
As the redeemed of the Lord, we are called to tell the story of Jesus, of grace, and ultimately of the overwhelming love that God shows us each and every day, not because of anything that we have done but given to us freely nonetheless.
For Discussion
- What does redemption mean to you?
- How do you show your redemption in the manner in which you live your life?
- Is it easier to live a righteous life or a self-righteous one?
Prayer
Lord God, the story that we often tell others of redemption is not the story that you desire that we would tell, for it is not your story. Help us to see the work that you have done and continue to do in our lives, to see the redemptive love that you give to us each and every day, and to share that grace with those around us. In Jesus’ name we pray; amen.
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Devotionals