"Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures for ever!
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 labour;
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."
Psalm 107
The Psalmist's first picture (4-9) is that of lost travellers being restored to the way and being brought through the perils of their journeyings. The reference to the wilderness wanderings of Israel is very eloquent, because Israel wandered because they sinned. This is a graphic picture of life apart from God. One thinks of the secularisation of our society today, its lostness and its emptiness and its need. We should not miss the force of the 'they' in 6, 7 - it was a nation that was delivered out of its distresses. This is something God can do for nations that have lost the place and are floundering in a morass, unable to find the way forward. The second picture (10-16) is that of the prisoners being set free. Here, the captivity is explicitly related to rebellion against God and the despising of the divine counsel (11). There is a price that nations have to pay, as well as individuals, for such an attitude - darkness, toil and bondage, with no way out. And when a nation is in bondage to its own greed and materialism, its politics of envy and bitterness, it is time to be crying to the Lord for deliverance. The third picture (17-22) is that of the sick being restored to health. This is a still more graphic picture than the previous one: in addition to the bondage, a great and grave sickness is afflicting the nation, a sickness unto death (18b). But a word of hope in 20! 'He sent His word, and healed them'. One thinks of the time of apostasy and faithlessness at the end of the period of the Judges, when 'the Lord appeared again in Shiloh' (1 Samuel 3:21). The coming of the word of the living God into a national situation is fraught with infinite hopefulness. The fourth picture (23-32) is that of the rescue of the storm-tossed. The graphic words of 27 say it all - nation staggering from one crisis to another, from one winter of discontent to another, 'at their wits' end'. Does not this Psalm speak to our own national situation today?