Psalm 107

Psalm 107:1–43 (ESV)

1Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

2Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble

3and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

4Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in;

5hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.

6Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

7He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.

8Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

9For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons,

11for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High.

12So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help.

13Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.

15Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

16For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.

17Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;

18they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.

19Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

20He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.

21Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

22And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

23Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;

24they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep.

25For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.

26They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight;

27they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end.

28Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

29He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

30Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

31Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

32Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

33He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground,

34a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants.

35He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.

36And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in;

37they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield.

38By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish.

39When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow,

40he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes;

41but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks.

42The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth.

43Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

Title – Consider the Steadfast Love of the LORD

Scripture – Psalm 107

Psalms - Psalm 107 A, D, E, etc. Psalm 119 H, etc.

Introduction

Review Steadfast Love Info and Intro from Synod Sermon.

Thanks re/ Prayer for Synod Devotions

Today, - Consider another Passage about the Steadfast Love of the Lord – Psalm 107

Notice Opening and Closing Admonitions!!!

Verses 1,2 -“1Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

2Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble”

Verse 43 “Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.”

New Bible commentary

One of the enduring delights of this psalm is repetition—repeated descriptions of threatening situations (4–5, 10, 17–18, 23–26), repeated recourse to prayer (6, 13, 19, 28), repeated divine response (6–7, 13–14, 19–20, 28–29), repeated calls to thankfulness (8, 15, 21, 31). Who are these people? It is quite common to link the psalm with the return from exile in Babylon but this does not accord with the worldwide view the psalm takes of the gathered people (3). Others find a wider review of Israel’s history: from the wilderness to Canaan (4–9), from Egypt and Babylon into the promised land (10–16), from the ‘death’ (17–22) and ‘storm’ (23–32) of the exile into life and peace. But, again, the stance of the psalm is deliberately worldwide and we may allowably ask what about a gathering from the west? Indeed, the Hebrew of v 3 actually says (not and south but) ‘and from the sea’ (presumably meaning ‘and from overseas’).

Another point of translation is also important: some … some … some … others (4, 10, 17, 23) is interpretative, assuming that four different groups are intended. The Hebrew rather suggests that the same people are being described from four different angles—the typical hazards out of which divine redemption (2) and love (1, 8, 15, 21, 31, 43) have brought us, the Lord’s people. This is how the psalm should be understood. The psalmist is meditating upon one of the great ‘pilgrim’ feasts of the pre-exilic church (Ex. 23:14–19). He sees people come together from scattered locations and remembers that the promises to Abraham (Gn. 12:1–3; 18:18; 22:18; 28:14; Ps. 47:9), now focused in the house of David (Ps. 72:8–11), pledged a gathering from the whole world. Though for him—as for us (Rev. 7:9–17)—the realization is still future, yet every individual and every generation of the people of God can enjoy the reality of belonging to the gathered people, adoring the love which redeemed (1–2) and rescues (8, 15, 21, 31) and must ever be the focus of our thoughts (43).

Note the concept of “redeemer” in the OT. The close relative who comes alongside the one who has lost his protector… eg. Wife whose husband has died. Cf. book of Ruth. Boaz is the close redeemer.

The ESV Study Bible

107:2 God’s acts of redemption in the OT prefigure final redemption in Christ (Col. 1:13–14). 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Charles Spurgeon wrote that the theme of the psalm is “thanksgiving and the motives for it.”

As we can see, Thanksgiving called for in the opening verses as well as in the refrain of verses 8–9, 15–16, 21–22, and 31–32.

I.Lost and Wandering

Verses 4-9 those who wandered in Barren places.

Often the pilgrim is lost in his way, not knowing which way to turn. But in the end we can discover that the LORD knows the way, He delivers, He leads, even by a straight path to the city where we can dwell.

Rev. Boice in his commentary on the Psalms tells the story of the Pilgrims landing and apparently referencing Psalm 107 regarding their dangerous journey…

“As anyone who knows anything about the Pilgrims is aware, Psalm 107, more than any other portion of the Bible, aptly describes the many dangers, toils, and snares they experienced prior to, during, and after their courageous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to found America’s Plymouth Colony. Did they recognize this description themselves? There is reason to think they did, since Governor William Bradford in his account of the founding of the Plymouth Plantation explicitly referred to Psalm 107 in his well-known summation of their achievement:

May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: “Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice and looked on their adversity,.… “Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good: and his mercies endure forever.” “Yes, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord his loving kindness and his wonderful works before the sons of men.”1

Those words are based on Psalm 107, which suggests that the psalm was often in the Pilgrims’ minds. Since the Pilgrims came ashore on Monday, December 11, 1620, after having spent the prior day worshiping God, it is even likely that Psalm 107 was the basis for that Sabbath’s meditation.”

When these Lost and Wandering souls cried to the LORD, He answered them, He delivered them, He led them, even by a straight path to the city where we can dwell.

He indeed satisfied their longing souls, and filled them with good things!

II.Prisoners in Bondage – verses 10-16

The second picture is that of those who are slaves to sin. In particular they are described as those who have “rebelled against the words of God, they spurned the counsel of the Most High”.

Satan in the garden, persuaded Adam and Eve, that God’s word was not trustworthy. He didn’t really mean what He said…

Mankind has ever since been inclined to follow this path of rebellion which leads to darkness, prison and death… unless we cry to the LORD

Notice “He” v. 12, that is God “bowed their hearts down…”Because His Steadfast Love never ends or fails, He brings us to repentance so that “they cried to the LORD”… and He delivered them!

See the refrain again, v15… “Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love…”

III.Foolish Rebels - verses 17-22

The third picture is of the foolish rebels who because of their sinful ways and iniquities become ill so severe that they were even near the point of death.

This foolishness is not that of the intellect, but of their ethics and their spirituality. They were committed to their own sinful ways…

I am reminded of the description in Psalm 32 of the afflictions that David experienced when he tried to hid his sin see Psalm 32, verses 3,4

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Notice God’s method for healing … v.20, “He sent out his word and healed them.” So it was with David as well, God sent Nathan the prophet to bring the Word of God to bring repentance. Then comes deliverance and thanksgiving and worship (v.22 – “sacrifices of thanksgiving”)

These redeemed souls are now ready to “tell of his deeds in songs of joy” - cf. verse 2!!!

IV.Storms of Life – verses 23-32

Finally the fourth picture is one of travelers and business persons who run into various storms in life.

If you have ever been in a boat or ship in the open water, whether on a lake or the ocean, in a violent storm, you will recognize how accurate and frightening this description really is.

You may have experienced an entirely different kind of storm where you were at a total loss as to how to deal with your problem…, perhaps facing a serious financial problem, a personality conflict, or some kind of trouble in your family.

Then you cried to the Lord and were delivered. He made the storm be still and calmed the waves. This was just what Jesus did when on the sea

Jesus Calms a Storm - Mark 4:35-41

35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Other OT Scriptures

Jeremiah 9:24 (ESV)

24but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”

Joel 2:13 (ESV)

13and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

V.Providential, caring love

In these verses two contrasting pictures (33–34 and 35–36) are interpreted in reverse order as two contrasting experiences of life (37–38, 39–40). The psalm ends by noting that here is a truth that the upright see (42) and a thought on which the wise concentrate (43). The pictures are respectively of the fertile becoming infertile (33–34) and the infertile changed to support life and afford security (35–36). This is so often true: there is covetable prosperity when everything succeeds (37–38), but also times of recession when calamity follows trouble (39) and leaders can offer no solution (40); but then again, prosperity is recovered and the needy given security (41). What is it in all this that the upright (those who are right with God and committed to rightness of life) see? First, that every circumstance is directed by the Lord who is not a watcher from the sidelines but an executive director. It is he who works transformations in both directions. The most practical course in life is to be right with the One who directs all. Secondly, his providences are moral. If fruitful land becomes a waste, it is a judgment on sin (34); therefore the upright should determine on holiness. Thirdly, when prosperity comes it is not a reward for good behaviour but a sheer act of divine concern for the needy (41). For this reason, true wisdom (43) will always fill its gaze with the great love, (lit.) ‘the loves’ of the Lord—that changeless, ‘ever-unfailing’ love which is so many-faceted that within it (in answer to prayer) there lies the solution to every need.

New Testament references to the Love of God

Romans 5:8 (ESV)

8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:28,31-32,35-39 (ESV)

See scripture reading

1 John 4:7–11 (ESV)

7Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Psalm 107 – Commentary Notes

Psalm 107. The Song of the Redeemed - Pfeiffer, C. F.

Psalms 105, 106, and 107 constitute a trilogy of praise and thanksgiving, in spite of the book division here. The different character of verses 33-42 has suggested to many that this passage was added later. The differences in content and style make this suggestion plausible although not mandatory.

1-3. The Call to Thanksgiving. O give thanks unto the Lord. The recipients of this call are the redeemed of the Lord. Isaiah 62:12 uses this term to apply to the captives returning from Babylon, but a wider usage of the term may well be meant.

4-32. The Reasons for Thanksgiving. They wandered ... cried unto the Lord ... and he led them forth. The psalmist uses four vivid illustrations of God’s deliverances to reinforce his call to thanksgiving. After each incident he repeats the call in the form of an interjection. This fourfold refrain keeps central the theme of thanksgiving. God’s care over lost travelers (vv. 4-9), over captives (vv. 10-16), over the sick (vv. 17-22), and over seafarers (vv. 23-32) calls for thankful remembrance. In each instance, the author describes the helpless condition of those in trouble, their cry to God, and the deliverance He gives.

33-42. The Providence of God. He turneth rivers into a wilderness ... wilderness into a standing water. These verses describe the blessings and curses apparent in God’s rule of nature and mankind. They may serve as a general conclusion drawn from the more particular situations described in verses 4-32. However, the illustrations given are quite different from those of previous passages. This fact, plus the lack of any note of thanksgiving, the didactic purpose, the emphasis upon wisdom in the closing verse, and the lack of any refrain, certainly suggests that these verses were designed for a separate occasion.107 A Hymn of Corporate Thanksgiving

God’s Goodness to the Upright In calling for global thankfulness to God, the psalmist uses four metaphors to illustrate divine goodness, which he describes in terms of deliverance. The parched and hungry desert nomad finds sustenance in the city (vv. 4–9). The doomed prisoner gains freedom (vv. 10–16). The deathly ill receive healing (vv. 17–22), and the sailor tossed about by the sea reaches safe haven through divinely calmed waters (vv. 23–32). Verses 33–42 use the imagery of water to describe God’s transformation of ideal circumstances into disastrous straits for the wicked and his redemption of potentially catastrophic situations for the needy upright. The wise person will take a lesson from these observations and live a life of righteousness, so as to enjoy God’s everlasting loving-kindness (v. 43).

Psalm 107. With this psalm the members of the community call one another to give thanks for God’s enduring “steadfast love,” which he has shown not only to the people as a whole but to the particular members as well. The distinctive feature of this psalm is its four accounts of people in distress (“some,” vv. 4, 10, 17, 23), whom God rescued. Because the psalm concerns gratitude for Judah’s return from exile (v. 3), it is likely that these four accounts describe the activities of members of the tribe of Judah in their exile. Some scholars think that these are four descriptions of the same group, but the activities of the groups are different enough to make it easier just to take these as four ways in which God’s people have been scattered away from their Promised Land, to which God has now brought them back. Key repetitions in the psalm include: after the initial invitation to “give thanks to the Lord” (v. 1), the psalm describes how each of the four groups cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28), and it calls on them to thank the Lord (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31). The theme of God’s “steadfast love”—his enduring kindness toward his people and his willingness to forgive them even in the face of their rampant unfaithfulness—recurs throughout as the topic of thanks (vv. 1, 8, 15, 21, 31) and meditation (v. 43). With this focus on the restoration of the exiles, the psalm is at first glance more concerned with the thanks of the whole community than of any individual; at the same time, the persons who sing this have themselves received the benefits of the deliverance, so that the individual gives thanks as a member of the community. Even though this psalm begins a new book of the Psalter (see note on 106:48), there are clear connections with Psalms 105–106. For example, in 105:44 the Promised Land is the place God gave to his people that they might serve him there faithfully; 106:27 brings in the prospect of exile from the land for the people’s unfaithfulness, and the prayer of 106:47, “gather us from among the nations,” is presented as being answered in 107:3. More broadly, all three psalms reflect with praise and hope on aspects of sacred history.

107:1–3 Let the Redeemed of the Lord Give Him Thanks. The opening section states the purpose of the psalm (to call the congregation to give thanks to the Lord, v. 1) and the theme (his steadfast love endures forever). The specific occasion is that God has redeemed his people (i.e., rescued them from their trouble) and gathered them in from the lands (i.e., from exile, cf. 106:47; Deut. 30:3).

107:2 redeemed. See note on Isa. 1:24–28. In Ps. 106:10, God “redeemed” his people from their enemy, Egypt (cf. 74:2; 77:15); the return from exile is like a second exodus.

107:2 God’s acts of redemption in the OT prefigure final redemption in Christ (Col. 1:13–14).

107:3 The mention of the four points of the compass (east, west, north, south) suggests the ways in which the people had been scattered; for a similar description of the return from exile, see Isa. 43:5–6.

107:4–9 First Group: Those Who Wandered in Barren Places. This is the first group of those who were banished from the land as a result of the exile: some of the exiles wandered in desert wastes, such as the Sinai Desert (cf. 106:14; Deut. 32:10). finding no way to a city to dwell in. Their proper home was the Promised Land, but God had sent them away. When they cried to the Lord, God delivered them, bringing them to a city to dwell in (Ps. 107:7, which answers v. 4). The proper response is for them to thank the Lord for his steadfast love. The Lord has done wondrous works for his people in the past (cf. 105:2, 5; 106:7, 22), and the restoration of Judah to Jerusalem after exile is a crowning achievement. Even as this applies to the whole community, God also satisfies the longing soul, i.e., the particular members of the restored community who recognize God’s grace in their own lives.

107:10–16 Second Group: Those Who Sat in Darkness. The next group of exiles sat in darkness and in the shadow of death. The second line (prisoners) indicates that these people suffered as captives and forced laborers (v. 12, hard labor) because they had rebelled against the words of God. But even though they rejected God’s covenant by their rebellion, God still heard them when they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death (v. 14; cf. v. 10). They too should thank the Lord for his steadfast love.

107:17–22 Third Group: Those Who Suffered for Their Own Folly. Some of the exiles were fools through their sinful ways: their own folly (the stupidity that results from turning away from God) brought on their affliction, so that they loathed any kind of food. Nevertheless God heard and relieved them when they cried to the Lord in their trouble. In context, healed them is not simply the relief of bodily ailments (v. 18) but also their return to the Promised Land. These people should thank the Lord, specifically with sacrifices of thanksgiving (see note on 50:7–15; cf. 116:17), using songs of joy in their worship to tell of God’s deeds.

107:23–32 Fourth Group: Those Who Went Down to the Sea in Ships. The fourth group consists of sailors caught in a storm; if these are exiles, they are sailing in the service of a foreign king (Israelites rarely went to sea on their own). As the storm increased in its fury, threatening them with shipwreck and drowning, they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and God made the storm be still. These people should thank the Lord for his steadfast love; they have returned to the Promised Land, where they can extol God in the congregation.

107:33–42 The Lord Vindicates Himself through Reversals. This section moves on to reflect more generally about the reversals that God accomplishes in order to display his own righteousness. God may take a pleasant and prosperous land and turn it into a waste if the evil of its inhabitants calls for it (vv. 33–34), and he may reverse this judgment and make the land fruitful and pleasant again, in his mercy to the hungry (vv. 35–38). Verses 39–41 look at this from another angle: when people are diminished and brought low, God can humble their oppressors and raise up the needy. This psalm celebrates how God has fulfilled this pattern in restoring Judah after the exile. The upright (here, the faithful among God’s people) see it and are glad, because God has vindicated his faithfulness to his people; and all wickedness (i.e., whatever repudiates God’s covenant) shuts its mouth for the same reason.

107:43 Let the Wise Attend to These Things. The final verse closes by inviting whoever is wise (i.e., those who genuinely seek to be skillful in godly living; see Introduction to Proverbs: Character Types in Proverbs) to attend to these things, specifically, to the many ways in which God has displayed his steadfast love. Such a meditation will increase one’s wisdom.

New Bible Commentary

Psalm 107. Everybody can pray

One of the enduring delights of this psalm is repetition—repeated descriptions of threatening situations (4–5, 10, 17–18, 23–26), repeated recourse to prayer (6, 13, 19, 28), repeated divine response (6–7, 13–14, 19–20, 28–29), repeated calls to thankfulness (8, 15, 21, 31). Who are these people? It is quite common to link the psalm with the return from exile in Babylon but this does not accord with the worldwide view the psalm takes of the gathered people (3). Others find a wider review of Israel’s history: from the wilderness to Canaan (4–9), from Egypt and Babylon into the promised land (10–16), from the ‘death’ (17–22) and ‘storm’ (23–32) of the exile into life and peace. But, again, the stance of the psalm is deliberately worldwide and we may allowably ask what about a gathering from the west? Indeed, the Hebrew of v 3 actually says (not and south but) ‘and from the sea’ (presumably meaning ‘and from overseas’).

Another point of translation is also important: some … some … some … others (4, 10, 17, 23) is interpretative, assuming that four different groups are intended. The Hebrew rather suggests that the same people are being described from four different angles—the typical hazards out of which divine redemption (2) and love (1, 8, 15, 21, 31, 43) have brought us, the Lord’s people. This is how the psalm should be understood. The psalmist is meditating upon one of the great ‘pilgrim’ feasts of the pre-exilic church (Ex. 23:14–19). He sees people come together from scattered locations and remembers that the promises to Abraham (Gn. 12:1–3; 18:18; 22:18; 28:14; Ps. 47:9), now focused in the house of David (Ps. 72:8–11), pledged a gathering from the whole world. Though for him—as for us (Rev. 7:9–17)—the realization is still future, yet every individual and every generation of the people of God can enjoy the reality of belonging to the gathered people, adoring the love which redeemed (1–2) and rescues (8, 15, 21, 31) and must ever be the focus of our thoughts (43).

1–3 Redeeming love. Throughout the psalm the love referred to is the committed, un-changing, loving determination of the Lord who will never give up those whom he has chosen for himself. This love expressed itself in redemption (2)—the work of the ‘next-of-kin’ who took as his own all the needs of his threatened kinsfolk, himself bearing their burdens and rescuing them from their dangers.

4–32 The four pictures. The first picture of deliverance from danger by land (4–9) is balanced by the fourth, danger at sea (23–32). The contrast indicates deliverance in and from every problem in earthly life. The second (10–16) and third (17–22) pictures focus on spiritual problems—rebels against God (11, 17) bringing upon themselves bondage (10) and self-destruction (17), i.e. the fact that sin makes us enemies of God, deprives us of the liberty it promises and corrupts our natures. The four pictures taken together offer an assurance that redeeming, unchanging love can deal with every circumstance and every condition and that it is in answer to prayer that the loving Lord does so (6, 13, 19, 28). The Lord’s earthly people are ever under redemptive care, ever buffeted by circumstances, outside and within, and constantly need the resource of prayer.

4–9 Lost in a wide world: the love that brings us home. The redeemed often do not ‘know which way to turn’ (4) and long for the settled security of a true city. Like Abraham, experiencing the insecurity of tent-life, longing for ‘the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God’ (Heb. 11:9–10). We also often come to the point where ‘we can’t take any more’ (5). But we can pray (6). Often on earth we find, in retrospect, that what we thought was a winding pathway became the straight road of divine direction (7) and certainly it will be so if, in heaven, we are allowed hind-sight. What seemed, as we lived through it, to be a veritable corkscrew-road or a maze will then be seen in truth as a direct, undeviating path from conversion to glory. This is the ‘super-natural’ (wonderful, 8) work of God who (even now—how much more then, Rev. 7:16–17) satisfies.

10–16 Hemmed in a narrow world: the love that makes us free. In the garden (Gn 3) it was the purpose of the serpent to make the word of God seem unnaturally restrictive, an unwarranted denial of human liberty. Too late the man and his wife discovered that it was only by binding themselves to obey God’s word that they enjoyed liberty (cf. Ps. 119:45). Rebelling against the word brought bondage. This explains our condition (10–11). With v 12, cf. Gn. 3:16–19. How often divine mercy protects us from the results of our own false choices we shall never know, but sometimes, with equal love, the barrier is allowed to fall and we experience the bitter bondage we have brought on ourselves. But even then we can pray (13) and find that—in measure now but in full reality then (Phil. 3:20–21)—grace responds to prayer in deliverance (14–16).

17–22 Damaged in a sinful world: the love that makes us whole. Within our own natures, sin is our all-time ‘own goal’, (lit.) bringing us low (17) and ‘right up to the gates of death’ (18)—the double disaster of self-destruction now and eternal loss ahead. In v 11, rebelled reflects the stubbornness of the rebel; in v 17, wilfulness. But even so we can pray (19). Through prayer comes the great antidote to sin’s poison, the healing word (20). Just as the source of our spiritual plight is rejection of the word (11), so the return to spiritual wholeness (20) is through the return of the word into our lives.

23–32 Beaten in a hostile world: the love that brings us peace. Seafaring is a perfect picture of our experience in this life: getting on with our lawful business (23) when, ‘out of a clear blue sky’, comes the storm that upsets all our calculations, destroys our cherished comforts, leaves us helpless in the grip of totally overmastering forces (25–27). Every storm is a summons to trust, for it is not a chance happening or a satanic ploy: it is his storm (25) and in due course the same hand that roused the storm will still it (29). Every storm is a call to prayer (28a) which will avail even against the mightiest opposing forces. The door of prayer will prove to be the entrance to peace (29–30). In vs 21–22 the response of thankfulness was Godward, in the offering of a sacrifice that both expresses our gratitude and reaffirms our dedication. In vs 31–32, thankfulness leads into participating membership of the worshipping community.

33–43 Providential, caring love. In these verses two contrasting pictures (33–34 and 35–36) are interpreted in reverse order as two contrasting experiences of life (37–38, 39–40). The psalm ends by noting that here is a truth that the upright see (42) and a thought on which the wise concentrate (43). The pictures are respectively of the fertile becoming infertile (33–34) and the infertile changed to support life and afford security (35–36). This is so often true: there is covetable prosperity when everything succeeds (37–38), but also times of recession when calamity follows trouble (39) and leaders can offer no solution (40); but then again, prosperity is recovered and the needy given security (41). What is it in all this that the upright (those who are right with God and committed to rightness of life) see? First, that every circumstance is directed by the Lord who is not a watcher from the sidelines but an executive director. It is he who works transformations in both directions. The most practical course in life is to be right with the One who directs all. Secondly, his providences are moral. If fruitful land becomes a waste, it is a judgment on sin (34); therefore the upright should determine on holiness. Thirdly, when prosperity comes it is not a reward for good behaviour but a sheer act of divine concern for the needy (41). For this reason, true wisdom (43) will always fill its gaze with the great love, (lit.) ‘the loves’ of the Lord—that changeless, ‘ever-unfailing’ love which is so many-faceted that within it (in answer to prayer) there lies the solution to every need.

Book Five of the Psalter

Psalm 107

The Pilgrims’ Psalm: Part 1

Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say this—

those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

those he gathered from the lands,

from east and west, from north and south.

Some wandered in desert wastelands,

finding no way to a city where they could settle.…

Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom,

prisoners suffering in iron chains.…

Some became fools through their rebellious ways

and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.…

Others went out on the sea in ships;

they were merchants on the mighty waters.…

verses 1–23

It may seem strange to anyone who knows anything about the English Puritans to speak of Psalm 107 as “The Pilgrims’ Psalm,” not because they did not know, frequently read, and greatly cherish it, but because being people of the Book they loved and cherished the other psalms too. In fact, they cherished the entire Bible.

But that is not the whole story. As anyone who knows anything about the Pilgrims is aware, Psalm 107, more than any other portion of the Bible, aptly describes the many dangers, toils, and snares they experienced prior to, during, and after their courageous crossing of the Atlantic Ocean to found America’s Plymouth Colony. Did they recognize this description themselves? There is reason to think they did, since Governor William Bradford in his account of the founding of the Plymouth Plantation explicitly referred to Psalm 107 in his well-known summation of their achievement:

May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: “Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voice and looked on their adversity,.… “Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good: and his mercies endure forever.” “Yes, let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, shew how he hath delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of the way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord his loving kindness and his wonderful works before the sons of men.”1

Those words are based on Psalm 107, which suggests that the psalm was often in the Pilgrims’ minds. Since the Pilgrims came ashore on Monday, December 11, 1620, after having spent the prior day worshiping God, it is even likely that Psalm 107 was the basis for that Sabbath’s meditation.

In its own setting Psalm 107 is a praise song of the regathered people of Israel after their Babylonian bondage. Thus Psalms 105, 106, and 107 form a trilogy. Psalm 105 recounts Israel’s experience from the time of God’s covenant with Abraham to the people’s entrance into the promised land; Psalm 106 tracks their unfaithfulness during that same time period and reflects the years of their exile to Babylon; and Psalm 107 thanks God for their deliverance from that exile. Still, the psalm was aptly used by the Pilgrims and may be loved by us as well, since the examples it gives of the perils from which the people of God are delivered are at once common, varied, and suggestive. We can see ourselves in each of these situations.

The psalm has three parts: an opening (vv. 1–3), the main body (vv. 4–32), and a closing grateful reflection on God’s sovereignty in human affairs (vv. 33–43, the subject of our next chapter).

A Call to Praise God

Charles Spurgeon wrote that the theme of the psalm is “thanksgiving and the motives for it.”2 Thanksgiving is the note struck in the opening verses as well as in the refrain of verses 8–9, 15–16, 21–22, and 31–32. The opening says,

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

his love endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say this—

those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,

those he gathered from the lands,

from east and west, from north and south.

This call should cause us to ask a probing, personal question, namely, Am I among the redeemed? meaning, Am I one who has been delivered from sin and so been gathered from my aimless secular wanderings to be a part of God’s well-loved, well-grounded, and well-established covenant people? If you have been redeemed from your sin by the death of Jesus Christ, you should thank God for your deliverance and tell others that God is indeed “good” and that “his love endures forever,” as the psalm says. This is its first lesson. According to the first chapter of Romans, it is a mark of the unregenerate that “they neither [glorify God] as God nor [give] thanks to him” (v. 21).

Pictures of Peril

The main body of Psalm 107 is comprised of verses 4–32, which fall into four clearly marked sections. Each is a poetic picture of some deadly peril common to mankind but from which God regularly delivers his people. These pictures may be images of the Babylonian captivity or possibly even literal descriptions of the conditions from which the Jews of that time were rescued, but they also picture our own spiritual condition apart from Jesus Christ. In each of these sections, after describing our peril and God’s deliverance, the psalmist reminds us how much we should be thankful.

1. Homes for the homeless. Homelessness or perhaps just being lost in the wilderness is the first picture of peril (vv. 4–9). It is described in touching tones:

Some wandered in desert wastelands,

finding no way to a city where they could settle.

They were hungry and thirsty,

and their lives ebbed away.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress (vv. 4–6).

It is easy to understand why these words would have appealed to our Pilgrim fathers as describing their experiences. These poor people had been driven from their homes and were virtually hounded from place to place, at one time escaping England for Holland, until at last they set sail for the American continent. According to William Bradford, they “were hunted and persecuted on every side.… Some were taken and clapped up in prison, others had their houses beset and watched night and day, and hardly escaped their [enemies’] hands; and the most were fain [constrained] to flee and leave their houses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood.”3

These were the problems they faced in the early 1600s. So when they finally came to America and were settled in their own homes from 1620 on, however rustic these rude shelters may have been, the Pilgrims felt enormous gratitude to God. As the psalmist says,

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

He led them by a straight way

to a city where they could settle (vv. 6–7).

In our congregation at Tenth Presbyterian Church we have many people who have been homeless but who have cried out to the Lord and been given homes to live in. They are thankful for their homes. Even if you have never been homeless and have always had a home, should you not be even more grateful than those who have only been given homes recently? One of the greatest blessings of my life was the Christian home in which I was raised, where I was taught that Jesus is my Savior from sin, learned my first Bible verses, and was trained in such sound habits of Christian piety as prayer, regular church attendance, and joyful fellowship with God’s people. If you had a good home or have one now, then do what the psalm says:

Give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men,

for he satisfies the thirsty

and fills the hungry with good things (vv. 8–9).

I have looked at this image as part of the Pilgrim’s experience and as our having literal homes today, but we are all homeless without God, who is our only true home. Apart from God we are like the prodigal son, who left his father’s home to squander his substance in a far country. Salvation began when he came to his senses, confessed his sin, and returned to his father. Have you returned to God, crying, “Father, I have sinned against you!”?

2. Freedom for captives. The second image of this central section of the psalm (vv. 10–16) describes the distress of prisoners. The Pilgrims’ leaders were often put in prison for dissenting from the established religion of the time, and when small groups tried to escape the persecution by sailing across the English Channel to Holland or elsewhere, they were frequently arrested on that account too.

Bradford tells of several such incidents. In one, the men were separated from their wives and children. “Pitiful it was to see the heavy case of these poor women in this distress; what weeping and crying on every side, some for their husbands that were carried away.… others not knowing what should become of them and their little ones; others again melting in tears, seeing their poor little ones hanging about them, crying for fear and quaking with cold. Being thus apprehended, they were hurried from one place to another and from one justice to another, till in the end they knew not what to do with them.”4 Bradford recounts how eventually they all nevertheless did manage to get to Holland, where they thanked God.

There are not many among us who can speak of being delivered from prison literally—though there are some—but all who are Christians can speak of being delivered from the prison house of sin. This prison is what Jesus seems to have had in mind in the synagogue at Nazareth when he spoke of having come “to proclaim freedom for the prisoners” (Luke 4:18; cf. Isa. 61:1–2). Jesus did not free anyone from a literal prison, as far as we know, but he has freed everyone who has ever believed on him from sin’s shackles. We have been slaves to sin, but by his atoning death we have been forever liberated.

Each of us can say that we have “rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High,” as the psalmist does in verse 11, and that God “brought [us] out of the darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away [our] chains,” as he does in verse 14. Shouldn’t we thank God for that deliverance? The refrain says (with appropriate variation from verses 8–9),

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men,

for he breaks down gates of bronze

and cuts through bars of iron (vv. 15–16).

John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress and a Puritan, saw verse 16 as a description of Christ’s breaking through the bronze gates and iron bars of Bunyan’s tightly closed-up heart to save him. He resisted Jesus, but Jesus proved all-powerful.5 Has Jesus shown himself to be all-powerful for you? Shouldn’t you be thankful he is?

3. Healing for the sick. The third image (vv. 17–22) pictures people who “suffered affliction because of their iniquities” (v. 17). It describes illness so severe that it brought those afflicted “near the gates of death” (v. 18). This section describes the Pilgrim experience too. Four of the original small band of 102 passengers died before they even reached America, one just before the ship landed. Most terrible of all, half of the remainder died in that first cruel winter, which Bradford called “the starving time.” Only twelve of the original twenty-six heads of families and four of the original twelve unattached men or boys survived, and all but a few of the women perished.6 As for the rest, there was much sickness.

You may have experienced God’s deliverance from a serious illness, just as the psalmist describes and the Pilgrims experienced. The psalm is also depicting deliverance from spiritual sickness, since it refers to “affliction” caused by “their iniquities” and God’s “word” as the agent of our healing (v. 20).

God’s Word is the only thing that heals our spiritual sicknesses, for it is the only thing that has life. As the Bible pictures it, our condition apart from Christ is far worse than merely being sick. We are actually dead, so far as any ability to respond or come to God is concerned: “dead in [our] transgressions and sins” (Eph. 2:1). When God speaks his Word from the mouth of the preacher to our hearts, we experience a spiritual resurrection, just as Lazarus did when Jesus called him from the tomb (John 11:43–44). Using another image, Peter spoke of our being born again “not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God” (1 Peter 1:23).

If you are a Christian, God has saved you “from the grave” (v. 20) by that same life-giving Word. The psalm says you should be thankful for that salvation.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men.

Let them sacrifice thank offerings

and tell of his works with songs of joy (vv. 21–22).

4. Safety for those at sea. In the opinion of many commentators the most beautiful, most poetic, and certainly the most stirring section of Psalm 107 is the part that describes the peril of God’s people while at sea (vv. 23–32). Although it was not, it might have been written as a description of that difficult sixty-five-day, late-fall crossing of the turbulent North Atlantic by the Pilgrim fathers and their families.

Others went out on the sea in ships;

they were merchants on the mighty waters.

They saw the works of the Lord,

his wonderful deeds in the deep.

For he spoke and stirred up a tempest

that lifted high the waves.

They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths;

in their peril their courage melted away.

They reeled and staggered like drunken men;

they were at their wits’ end.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,

and he brought them out of their distress.

He stilled the storm to a whisper;

the waves of the sea were hushed.

They were glad when it grew calm,

and he guided them to their desired haven (vv. 23–30).

A person needs to have been on the ocean in a violent storm to appreciate how accurate those frightening words are.

Forget the ocean. Perhaps you have been in a situation of an entirely different nature but in which you have also been at your wits’ end and cried to the Lord and were delivered. Perhaps you were facing a serious financial problem, a personality conflict at work, or a battle within your family. If you were delivered, listen to what the psalm says.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love

and his wonderful deeds for men.

Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people

and praise him in the council of the elders (vv. 31–32).

There is nothing so becoming the children of God as public acknowledgment of his unmerited favors and unfathomable goodness to them.

Thanks, Exaltation, and True Praise

In the next chapter we are going to look at this psalm’s last section, in which the psalmist makes observations about God’s acts. Before we do so, let us consider the refrain ending each of the preceding sections as they deal with God’s rescue of the homeless, his deliverance of the prisoners, his healing of the sick, and his preservation of those who go to sea.

The refrain occurs four times. In each of these occurrences the first two lines are the same—“let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men”—but the next two lines vary. In the first two cases there are reasons for giving thanks to God: because God “satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things” (v. 9), and because “he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron” (v. 16)—that is, because of God’s salvation. The last two cases suggest ways we can give God thanks: by offering him “thank offerings” (v. 22), and by exalting “him in the assembly of the people and prais[ing] him in the council of the elders” (v. 32).

How can we sacrifice thank offerings to God today? The only possible answer is by offering God ourselves. The apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship” (Rom. 12:1). Nothing less than the offer of our complete selves is adequate. Nothing else is demanded. Having done that, we must then also speak about God’s mercies to other people, as the psalm commands.

Psalm 107

The Pilgrims’ Psalm: Part 2

Grace Has Led Us Home

He turned the rivers into a desert,

flowing springs into thirsty ground,

and fruitful land into a salt waste,

because of the wickedness of those who lived there.

He turned the desert into pools of water

and the parched ground into flowing springs;

there he brought the hungry to live,

and they founded a city where they could settle.

They sowed fields and planted vineyards

that yielded a fruitful harvest;

he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased,

and he did not let their herds diminish.

Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled

by oppression, calamity and sorrow;

he who pours contempt on nobles

made them wander in a trackless waste.

But he lifted the needy out of their affliction

and increased their families like flocks.

The upright see and rejoice,

but all the wicked shut their mouths.

Whoever is wise, let him heed these things

and consider the great love of the Lord.

verses 33–43

John Newton was a Puritan. He was also a pilgrim in one sense, though he lived a hundred years after the Pilgrims we have been talking about (in the previous chapter). In the third stanza of his best-known hymn, “Amazing Grace,” he has given a summary of the Pilgrims’ experience as well as an outline of the Pilgrims’ psalm.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,

I have already come;

’tis grace has brought me safe thus far,

and grace will lead me home.

In the first two parts of Psalm 107, the introduction (vv. 1–3) and the overview of the diverse deliverances of God’s people (vv. 4–32), we have seen how God delivers his people from the many dangers, toils, and snares of this life. Now we will see how he also brings us home, anchoring our souls in a safe harbor at last.

Swiss psychiatrist Paul Tournier wrote a book entitled A Place to Be, which claims that a place to belong, a home, is what we all most deeply desire. Tournier says we long for it all our lives and are restless until we find it. Psalm 107 tells us that God provides just such a home for his people. We have a home in God here and now, a home enriched by our having Christian brothers and sisters. Even more important, we have the assurance of a happy, eternal heavenly home hereafter.

The Experience of the Pilgrims

The Pilgrims were dispossessed of their homes in England. They left their temporary homes in Holland. While making their perilous three-month crossing of the Atlantic Ocean they were without a home; even the Mayflower did not belong to them. When they reached the shores of Massachusetts Bay at what came to be called Plymouth Colony, they had a home of their own at last. During that first desperate winter they constructed rustic shelters for themselves and thus established the first permanent English settlement in North America.

They suffered terribly that winter, but in the spring the few healthy men planted crops, the sick recovered, and in the fall they gathered in their first harvest. What American does not know the story of that harvest and the first Thanksgiving? William Bradford tells of an abundance of fish and wild game that were added to the harvest celebration that November. It is not from Bradford that we learn the details of that thanksgiving celebration; they are found in a letter written by Edward Winslow to a friend in England in December 1621. Winslow tells of a three-day feast attended not only by the Pilgrims but also by the local Indians, the great chief Massasoit himself arriving for the feast with ninety men.1

Well might these hearty survivors have said, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men” (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31), for “there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle” (v. 36). We also should always thank the Lord for similar blessings.

The Other Side of the Story

There is another side to this story: The good times were succeeded by hard times again. The Pilgrims suffered anxiety over divisions caused by new colonists from other places, distress at being cheated by ship captains, and fear of war with distant Indian tribes. Then the crops sometimes failed or did poorly, and sicknesses returned.

Have you noticed how Psalm 107 acknowledges this pattern? It is not talking about the Pilgrims, of course, but it tells how in other cases God gave a fruitful harvest and increased the numbers of the people and their livestock but then also allowed the harvests of these same people to fail and their numbers to decrease. In fact, it repeats this cycle twice in the last section: hard times (vv. 33–34), blessing (vv. 35–38), hard times again (vv. 39–40), and blessing again (vv. 41–42).

At verse 33 there is such an abrupt change in tone and even (to some extent) in subject matter that some of the more liberal writers imagine the psalm was put together from two otherwise unrelated poems. The first half of the psalm rejoices in the deliverances accomplished by God and calls on the people who were delivered to praise and thank God for it. The final section reflects in a distant, settled way on God’s sovereign workings by which his people are sometimes lifted up and sometimes brought low. The first few verses use images, noting how God “turned rivers into a desert” (v. 33) and “the desert into pools of water” (v. 35), “fruitful land into a salt waste” and “parched ground into flowing springs” (vv. 34–35). As far as the people were concerned, the psalm says God “blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased” but also that “their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow” (vv. 38–39).

The difference in tone and content is only a case of the psalmist’s honesty, depth, and spiritual sensitivity being greater than our own. He is acknowledging that not everything the people of God experience can be described as a deliverance and be received with utter joy. Life has its pain and tragedies, even for Christians. Yet in spite of them, we can and should praise God for his wisdom and goodness, as the Pilgrims did.

We can do this by seeing God’s wise, loving, and sovereign hand even in hardships. The psalm ends with a humble acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty over all things and all circumstances, reminding us that even the bad things of life are in God’s hands. The late Lutheran commentator H. C. Leupold calls this the psalm’s important general truth: “The up’s and down’s, the success and the failure, the prosperity and calamity in the lives of individuals and nations are entirely in the control of and brought about by the will of the Almighty. None are brought low or raised on high unless he wills it.”2

Here are two biblical confessions of that truth.

King Nebuchadnezzar had been struggling against the claims of the sovereign God, refusing to recognize that even his own destiny was in God’s hands. When he took the glory of God to himself, claiming, as he looked out over the magnificent city of Babylon, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan. 4:30), God punished him with insanity. He was driven from human company and lived among animals for seven years.

Later, when he acknowledged God to be “the Most High” God and had his sanity restored, Nebuchadnezzar praised God:

His dominion is an eternal dominion;

his kingdom endures from generation to generation.

All the peoples of the earth

are regarded as nothing.

He does as he pleases

with the powers of heaven

and the peoples of the earth.

No one can hold back his hand

or say to him: “What have you done?”

“Everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble” (Dan. 4:34–35, 37). As I am fond of saying, not only is God able to humble people, he does humble them. In fact, Psalm 107 says this even of the righteous: “Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow” (v. 39).

The second biblical confession that none are brought low or raised on high unless God wills it is in the New Testament, in the psalm of the Virgin Mary that we know as the Magnificat.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones

but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things

but has sent the rich away empty (Luke 1:52–53).

Probably Mary was thinking only of the lifting up of the righteous and the debasing of the wicked, but we learn from Psalm 107, as well as from other passages of Scripture, that the righteous are sometimes brought low also.

Uses of This Doctrine

Since we are talking about the Pilgrims, who were Puritans, I want to do what the Puritan preachers often did. If you read their sermons, you will find that often, after having stated what they call “the doctrine,” they give what they call “uses” of it. I suggest four uses of the doctrine that even for the righteous God sends sorrow as well as joy, hardship as well as material blessing—yet is not arbitrary.

1. Reverence for God. Since God’s ways are not our ways and his ultimate purposes in life are usually beyond our finding out, we must revere him and be humble.

The apostle Paul ended the third section of Romans by explaining God’s choice to bypass the majority of Jewish people in order to bring the gospel to the Gentiles but one day to work among the Jews again so that “all Israel will be saved” (Rom. 11:26). This is one of the most profound passages in the Bible, one that has proved difficult even for the most astute commentators. Paul seems to be probing the mind of God as only an inspired apostle could. Yet when he has finished his explanation of God’s sovereign purposes in history, he does not boast in his understanding, as if he were saying, “Look what I have figured out.” Instead he breaks into a doxology, writing,

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments,

and his paths beyond tracing out!

“Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counselor?”

“Who has ever given to God,

that God should repay him?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever! Amen (Rom. 11:33–36).

There is nothing wrong with trying to understand the judgments, paths, and mind of God. We are encouraged to do so. But we should never forget that God’s ways will always be beyond our full understanding and that many times we will simply have to clap our hands over our mouths and wait to see what God will himself do or say, if anything.

Habakkuk tried to understand why God was raising up the Babylonians to overthrow his people, but he could not. So he concluded,

I will stand at my watch

and station myself on the ramparts;

I will look to see what he will say to me,

and what answer I am to give to this complaint (Hab. 2:1).

When God did speak he gave Habakkuk one of the greatest revelations in the Bible—“the just shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4 kjv)—the words that meant so much to Martin Luther.

2. Looking for things that are eternal. Looking beyond the seen to the unseen and eternal is faith. Abraham is one example of those with faith. He was called out of his home city of Ur to go to a land that God would give him. He never actually owned that land, except for the small part he purchased as a burial plot for his wife, Sarah, and his life was not easy even when he was living where God had told him to go. There were famines, disagreements with his nephew Lot, danger from marauding desert tribes. Difficulty was all right with Abraham because he knew that the best blessings he was promised were not to be enjoyed in this life but in the life to come. Hence the author of Hebrews sums up Abraham’s lifetime walk of faith by saying, “He was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (Heb. 11:10).

Although there are ups and downs in this life, the end of all things for God’s people is not down but up. We can know this and look for it because we know that God is both good and sovereign. God loves us, and because he does he comforts us, preserves us, and brings us through even the hardest experiences of life. Psalm 107 ends on this note, for it calls us to “heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord” (v. 43, italics added).

3. Calling sinners to repentance. Although the ways of God in this life are not always within our understanding, nevertheless we do discern some important patterns, and one of them is that arrogance, strife, self-love, greed, and other forms of wickedness are generally punished, while virtue is frequently rewarded. This fact enables us to argue that we inhabit a moral universe governed by a moral God and to warn sinners against persisting in behavior that will eventually result in their eternal condemnation by God. The psalm’s last verse is telling not only the righteous but also everyone to wise up and consider how things actually are.

4. Thanksgiving. Believers should thank God for being what he is and acting as he does—and not only when things are going our way or we have it easy.

The apostle Paul suffered enormous hardships in his efforts to take the gospel throughout the known Roman world, including an imprisonment at the end of which he was beheaded. But it was this very apostle who wrote, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Phil. 4:12) and who told the Philippians, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (vv. 6–7, italics added).

Heeding and Considering

Alexander Duff was an eloquent pastor and missionary pioneer, the first sent to India by the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. On October 14, 1829, he and his wife set out for the Indian subcontinent on a ship called the Lady Holland, and four months later, at midnight on the 13th of February 1830, the ship ran aground while attempting to navigate the Cape of Good Hope. The pounding surf soon destroyed the ship, washing everything it held away, but miraculously all the passengers and crew made it safely to land.

Nothing remained of their belongings, but as one sailor walked along the shore looking for food and fuel, he came upon two books, a Bible and the Scottish Psalm Book. He found the name of Alexander Duff in both of them, so he brought them to the missionary. Duff had been transporting eight hundred books to India, where he hoped to (and later did) establish a college, but of those eight hundred books only these two remained. In spite of this loss, Duff at once opened the Bible to Psalm 107 and read it to the other survivors, concluding with the words,

Whoever is wise, let him heed these things

and consider the great love of the Lord (v. 43).3

Can you do that? What matters most in life is not the number or severity of the perils from which we are delivered, but whether we are actually in the hands of that greatly loving God. If we are in his hands, we can “heed these things,” “consider the great love of the Lord,” and then praise him as Psalm 107 does. By this praise it has been a blessing to God’s people throughout the ages.

Casper Bulletin

Morning Worship – July 29, 2018

Call to Worship - Psalm 107:1-3

Praise - Psalm 107 A

Prayer of Adoration

Praise - Psalm 107 D

Scripture Reading – Romans 8:18-39

Tithes and Offerings

Prayer of Thanksgiving & Intercession

Praise - Psalm 119 H

Scripture Reading: Psalm 107

Sermon:

“Consider The Steadfast Love of the LORD”

Praise - Psalm 107 E

Benediction

Outline

Review Steadfast Love Info and Intro

Thanks re/ Prayer for Synod Devotions

Consider another Passage about the Steadfast Love of the Lord – Psalm 107

Intro – an Opening and Closing Admonition!

Vv 1,2 “Give Thanks!” “Redeemed… Say So!”

Vv 43 “Whoever is wise… attend… consider S.L.

I.Lost and Wandering

II.Prisoners in Bondage

III.Foolish Rebels

IV.Storms of Life

V.Providential, caring love

New Testament references to the Love of God

Psalm 107 – With references and notes

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

1 gOh give thanks to the Lord, hfor he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

2 Let ithe redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has jredeemed from trouble1

3 and kgathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

4 Some lwandered in desert wastes, finding no way mto a city to dwell in;

5 hungry and thirsty, their soul nfainted within them.

6 Then they ocried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by pa straight way till they reached ma city to dwell in.

8 qLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

9 For he rsatisfies the longing soul, sand the hungry soul he fills with good things.

10 tSome sat in darkness and in uthe shadow of death, prisoners in vaffliction and in irons,

11 for they whad rebelled against the words of God, and xspurned the counsel of the Most High.

12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, ywith none to help.

13 zThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of adarkness and the shadow of death, and bburst their bonds apart.

15 cLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

16 For he dshatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.

17 Some were efools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;

18 fthey loathed any kind of food, and they gdrew near to hthe gates of death. 19 iThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

20 He jsent out his word and khealed them, and ldelivered them from their destruction.

21 mLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

22 And let them noffer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and otell of his deeds in psongs of joy!

23 Some qwent down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;

24 they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep.

25 For he rcommanded and sraised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.

26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage tmelted away in their evil plight;

27 they reeled and ustaggered like drunken men and vwere at their wits’ end.2

28 wThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

29 He xmade the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

30 Then they were glad that the waters3 were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

31 yLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

32 Let them zextol him in athe congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

33 He bturns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground,

34 ca fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants.

35 He dturns a desert into pools of water, ea parched land into springs of water.

36 And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish fa city to live in;

37 they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield.

38 gBy his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish.

39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow,

40 hhe pours contempt on princes and imakes them wander jin trackless wastes;

41 but khe raises up the needy out of affliction and lmakes their families like flocks.

42 mThe upright see it and are glad, and nall wickedness shuts its mouth.

43 oWhoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

Psalm 107 - Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!

2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble

3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

4 Some wandered in desert wastes, finding no way to a city to dwell in;

5 hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted within them.

6 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

7 He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in.

8 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

9 For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons,

11 for they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High.

12 So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help.

13 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart.

15 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

16 For he shatters the doors of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron.

17 Some were fools through their sinful ways, and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;

18 they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.

19 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

20 He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.

21 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

22 And let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, and tell of his deeds in songs of joy!

23 Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;

24 they saw the deeds of the Lord, his wondrous works in the deep.

25 For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.

26 They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight;

27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end.

28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.

29 He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

30 Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

31 Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!

32 Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

33 He turns rivers into a desert, springs of water into thirsty ground,

34 a fruitful land into a salty waste, because of the evil of its inhabitants.

35 He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water.

36 And there he lets the hungry dwell, and they establish a city to live in;

37 they sow fields and plant vineyards and get a fruitful yield.

38 By his blessing they multiply greatly, and he does not let their livestock diminish.

39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, evil, and sorrow,

40 he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes;

41 but he raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families like flocks.

42 The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth.

43 Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.