The psalmist exhorteth the redeemed, in praising God, to observe the different forms of his mercy. He views the chosen people as travelers, captives, sick men, and seamen, and in each of these classes he exhorts them to praise the Lord.
Psalms 107:1. O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good:
He is essentially good. His name God is only a shorter form of good. Yet, if we were to lengthen it, there could be no more goodness found in it than is found in the three letters, «God.»
Psalms 107:1. For his mercy endureth for ever.
That is the form which his goodness takes in relation to us, his sinful creatures; as we deserve nothing, everything that he gives us is a gift of mercy, and what a range his mercy takes! «His mercy endureth for ever.»
Psalms 107:2. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
If nobody else will say that God is good, let his redeemed ones say it. If others are silent, let them speak to his praise, if others are doubtful, let them declare positively that the Lord is good, and that his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalms 107:3. And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.
We were scattered in various directions by our own folly and sin;-« Each wandering in a different way, but all the downward road;-and he gathered us unto that blessed Shiloh of whom Jacob said, «Unto him shall the gathering of the people be.»
Psalms 107:4. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way;
Ah, the way of a sinner, convinced of sin, is indeed a solitary way; he has a sorrow which he cannot tell to anybody else, a stranger intermeddleth not with his grief
Psalms 107:4. They found no city to dwell in.
There are no cities in the wilderness for people to dwell in. We look for a city that is out of sight at present, « a city which hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.» Here, in this fleeting world, we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
Psalms 107:5-19. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
They were a long while before they prayed to the Lord, but it was not a long while before he answered their prayer. When they were brought to that then, that is to say, when they were so hungry, and so thirsty, and so faint that they could do nothing else but cry, then, the moment that they cried unto the Lord, « he delivered them out of their distresses.»
Psalms 107:7. And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.
«He led them... that they might go.» The leadings of divine grace do not destroy the activities of the human will. God does not treat us as if we were blocks of wood or stone, but he treats us as reasonable beings.
Psalms 107:8-19. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
We hardly looked for that verse to follow the preceding one. We might have thought that the psalmist would have written, «for he brings them to a city of rest.» God always exceeds our expectations. He not only brings his wandering people home, but he feeds them bountifully when they are there. He holds high festival within Zion's gates, and the citizens of the new Jerusalem are fed with the finest of the wheat. Surely souls so blessed must praise Jehovah for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Now comes another picture, the picture of the captives:-
Psalms 107:10-11. Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the most High:
They «sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,» for they have lost all energy. They sit down in dumb despair, for at last their sins have found them out. They rejected God, and he has left them to suffer the consequences of their sin: « being bound in affliction and iron «
Psalms 107:12-13. Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble,-
This seems to be always the last thing that people in trouble do; until they hunger, and thirst, and their soul faints, as in the former case, or until they fall down utterly helpless, as in this case, they will not pray. But «then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble,»-
Psalms 107:13-16. And he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
All glory be to the great Liberator's name! Now comes the picture of sick men, which is also the portrait of ourselves:-
Psalms 107:17. Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Perhaps affliction comes to their bodies, but more especially it attacks their hearts,-they have heart disease, a mortal tremor within, or a terrible fever of fear.
Psalms 107:18. Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat;
You cannot comfort them, they cannot or will not receive the truth that would sustain them, they have lost all appetite for spiritual food.
Psalms 107:18. And they draw near unto the gates of death.
They seem to come close to those great iron gates that shut out all hope for ever, they can hear them grind upon their massive hinges; they begin to realize what the wrath of God means.
Psalms 107:19. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble,
Fools though they are, they have sense enough to do this.
Psalms 107:19. And he saveth them out of their distresses.
So that a true prayer from one who is near unto the gates of death is a prevailing prayer. We earnestly urge all to repent long before they come to a dying bed, but if they are on a dying bed, if they are literally near unto the gates of death, here is evidence that, if they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, he will not close his ears or his heart to their prayer.
Psalms 107:20. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
The Word of God has a sort of omnipotent power in it. By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and by the Word of the Lord are sick souls healed. That Word can do anything that God purposes. «Where the word of a king is, there is power;» but where the Word of God is, there is omnipotence.
Psalms 107:21-22. Oh that man would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Now we come to the seafaring men:-
Psalms 107:23-24. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
These words apply not only to seamen literally, but also to others who are called to endure great storms while sailing across the sea of this mortal life,
Psalms 107:25-26. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
For even he who has his « sea legs « on finds them of little use to him when such a storm as this is tossing everything in a dreadful hurly burly. «They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths,» and this experience is repeated, perhaps, hundreds of times, day and night, sometimes for weeks together.
Psalms 107:27. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end.
But, oh! when souls are caught in a storm of conviction of sin, this is a true description of their spiritual distress,-they are at their wits end, and do not know what to do. Everything about them is shaking, and they themselves are reeling to and fro, sometimes this way and sometimes that;-staggering, scarcely able to believe anything, seeing some things double, and everything out of place.
Psalms 107:28. Then they cry-
Yes, then, when they are reeling and staggering; that is a queer condition-is it not?-in which to be praying, reeling to and fro, and staggering like a drunken man: «Then they cry.»-
Psalms 107:28. Unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Then God will hear the prayer of a staggering man, and the prayer that has not any sense in it because the man who prays is at his wit's end. By «sense» I mean not following the consecutiveness of an orderly petition; the prayer itself seeming to reel to and fro. The suppliant is so overpowered by sorrow that he might be thought to be drunken, as she was to whom Eli so harshly spoke bidding her put away her wine from her, whereas she was overcome by sorrow. God hears us when we cannot hear ourselves pray, and when we cannot put the words of our supplication in proper order, God knows what we mean to say, and gives us what we really need.
Psalms 107:29. He maketh the storm a calm,-
What a change! And what a blessing it is to get into one of God's calms, for they are far beyond the ordinary calm of nature; then do we enjoy « the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.»
Psalms 107:29-32. So that the wave thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.