Four Kinds of Trouble, One Kind of Rescue

Psalm 107 opens with a command to give thanks, and it gives the reason flatly: the Lord is good, and his lovingkindness endures forever. That refrain will return four times, each time after a specific kind of distress has been described and resolved. The psalm is not a single story but a collection of four tightly drawn scenes, each showing the same pattern: human trouble, a cry to the Lord, deliverance, and a call to praise.

The first scene shows people wandering in a wilderness, finding no city to live in. They are hungry and thirsty, and their soul faints within them. There is no explanation for how they got there; the psalm simply presents them as lost and desperate. They cry out, and the Lord delivers them, leading them by a straight path to a city where they can dwell. The response is a call for men to praise the Lord for his lovingkindness and his wonderful works to the children of men, because he satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good.

The second scene shifts to prisoners sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, bound in affliction and iron. The psalm gives the cause: they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. So the Lord brought down their heart with labor; they fell, and no one helped. But when they cried out, he saved them, brought them out of darkness, and broke their bonds. The call to praise repeats, and the reason is specific: he has broken gates of brass and cut bars of iron in sunder.

The third scene involves fools who are afflicted because of their transgressions and iniquities. Their soul abhors all food, and they draw near to the gates of death. Again they cry out, and the Lord saves them. This time he sends his word and heals them, delivering them from their destructions. The call to praise follows, and the instruction is to offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with singing.

The fourth scene takes place at sea. Those who go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. He commands a stormy wind that lifts up the waves; the sailors mount up to the heavens and go down again to the depths, their soul melting away. They reel and stagger like drunken men, at their wits' end. Then they cry out, and the Lord brings them out of their distresses. He makes the storm a calm, the waves are still, and they are glad because they are quiet. He brings them to their desired haven. The call to praise repeats, and the instruction is to exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the seat of the elders.

After these four scenes, the psalm turns to a broader reflection. The Lord turns rivers into a wilderness and fruitful land into a salt desert because of the wickedness of those who live there. But he also turns a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into watersprings. There he makes the hungry to dwell, so they can prepare a city, sow fields, plant vineyards, and get fruits of increase. He blesses them so they multiply greatly, and he does not let their cattle decrease.

Yet the psalm does not end on a note of settled prosperity. It acknowledges that people are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow. The Lord pours contempt on princes and causes them to wander in a waste where there is no way. But he sets the needy on high from affliction and makes them families like a flock. The upright see it and are glad, and all iniquity stops her mouth.

The final verse is a direct address: whoever is wise will give heed to these things and will consider the lovingkindnesses of the Lord. The psalm has not offered a single abstract lesson; it has shown four concrete kinds of trouble—wilderness wandering, imprisonment, sickness near death, and storm at sea—and in each case the rescue came when the people cried out. The pattern is the point. The call to praise is not a sentiment; it is a response to what the Lord has actually done in each situation. The wise person is the one who sees the pattern and recognizes the lovingkindness behind it.