在我居住城市的波爾街上，一座名為宏願的花園與縣監獄並排相連。我的朋友瓊恩喜歡這兩個地方。她喜歡坐在花園裡思想上帝的美善，思想她對上帝的愛和感謝，因上帝改變了她的生命。她也熱愛與監獄裡的女囚犯分享她的經歷，告訴她們上帝如何在她做了許多錯誤的抉擇，遠離上帝之後，仍然救贖她的生命。她常常對我說，她心中有一個熱切的夢想，盼望有一天，監獄裡所有的女囚犯都能親身體會並經歷上帝對她們的愛。

撰寫詩篇107篇的詩人呼籲他的以色列同胞，要「這樣稱謝」上帝，訴說上帝從他們敵人的手中救贖他們（2節，新譯本）。他們曾經「在曠野荒地漂流」，「又飢又渴，心裡發昏」（4-5節）。有時他們違背上帝，祂就管教他們（10-12節）。但每當「他們在苦難中哀求耶和華；祂從他們的禍患中搭救他們」（6節）。他們有許多事要感謝上帝，也有許多事能與別人分享。這是以色列百姓所學到的，同樣我們也能認識到上帝對我們的愛，祂永遠不會放棄我們。

我們也能把握機會，「思想耶和華的慈愛」（43節），向祂獻上感謝，並向人述說我們個人蒙祂拯救的經歷。

They sit side by side on Ball Street in my city—the Grand Ideas Garden and the county jail. My friend Joann loved both places. She loved to sit in the garden, thinking about the goodness of God and her love for Him because of what He’d done in her life. She also loved to share with the women in the jail and tell her story of God redeeming her life after many bad choices and wandering far from Him. Often, she would tell me of her passion: her dream that all the women there would someday understand and experience the love of God for them personally.

The psalmist told his fellow Israelites to “tell their story” of how God redeemed them from their enemies (Psalm 107:2). They had “wandered in desert wastelands,” “they were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away” (vv. 4-5). At times they rebelled against God, and He disciplined them (vv. 10-12). Yet every time “they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, . . . he delivered them from their distress” (v. 6). They had much to give God thanks for and to talk about with others. As the Israelites learned, and we can learn also, He has a love that will never let us go. 

We too can take opportunities to “ponder the loving deeds of the Lord” toward us (v. 43), give thanks to Him, and tell our own story of His rescue.