Ps 107 – Whoever is wise will observe these things….

Ps 107

This is a profound psalm, and I’ve taught on it several times. It’s 43 verses, with the last verse teasing you to go back and read the first 42. Actually, I believe the author (some think David, some think it was after the return from captivity) probably simply wrote the psalm line by line, but for our purposes reading the 43rd verse is a good place to start.

43 Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
(NKJ)

The psalm is all about God’s amazing and merciful deliverances of four different groups – wanderers (v4), rebels (v11), fools (v17), and “those who go down to the sea in ships” (v23) – the last group representing folks who theoretically have their act together.

It doesn’t take excessive wisdom to conclude that pretty much any rescuer is exhibiting mercy and kindness to someone in peril, as the rescue-event occurs. But it does take a wise man to read this psalm and go deeper, and see that God, in His heavenly mercy, will even send trouble, as necessary, to get folks to cry out to Him. Ps 25:8 tells us He teaches sinners in the way. Good God.

V 5 has the Wanderers hungry and thirsty, without any one else to help (they must have looked elsewhere first), and their last resort is crying out to a good God.
V 12 shows us that GOD is the one Who brought the Rebels low, taking them to the place of utter desperation.
V 18 has the Fools at the point of death, despairing of life, prior to their shout-out.
V 25 has God once again bringing the trouble on the Got-It-Together folks, until after all their efforts fail, they realize they do not have it together, and they finally get humbled enough to cry out for help.

V 8 is V15, is V21, is V31 – whoever receives the mercy of God ought to bring forth the same response – give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men.

So what do we have here? An amazing revelation of wisdom (V43) that God loves people so much He will send them trouble, so they can cry out to Him after all the silly pseudo-rescue plans of earth, fail. God is God. And His exercise of wisdom begins early, because He loves mankind so much that He will never affirm bad or destructive behavior.

Yes indeed – His mercy endures forever, but “enduring” means His mercy never gets completely exhausted. There are times when, God being God, it might not appear to some parties that His mercy (which is cloaked in righteousness) is actually being displayed. Proof-text might be Ps 136, where EVERY verse ends proclaiming “His mercy endures forever”, and meanwhile there’s a recounting of the drowning of the entire Egyptian army. It is good to know God as God. And that is the beginning of wisdom.

Ps 107:1-43
1 Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,
3 And gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desolate way; they found no city to dwell in.
5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 And He led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city for a dwelling place.
8 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
9 For He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness.
10 Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, bound in affliction and irons–
11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and despised the counsel of the Most High,
12 Therefore He brought down their heart with labor; they fell down, and there was none to help.
13 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces.
15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For He has broken the gates of bronze, and cut the bars of iron in two.
17 Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses.
20 He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters,
24 They see the works of the LORD, and His wonders in the deep.
25 For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea.
26 They mount up to the heavens, they go down again to the depths; their soul melts because of trouble.
27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses.
29 He calms the storm, so that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because they are quiet; so He guides them to their desired haven.
31 Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!
32 Let them exalt Him also in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the company of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground;
34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35 He turns a wilderness into pools of water, and dry land into watersprings.
36 There He makes the hungry dwell, that they may establish a city for a dwelling place,
37 And sow fields and plant vineyards, that they may yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He also blesses them, and they multiply greatly; and He does not let their cattle decrease.
39 When they are diminished and brought low through oppression, affliction and sorrow,
40 He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in the wilderness where there is no way;
41 Yet He sets the poor on high, far from affliction, and makes their families like a flock.
42 The righteous see it and rejoice, and all iniquity stops its mouth.
43 Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the LORD.
(NKJ)

On a personal note, there were some seriously sketchy times in my life, pre-Jesus. God, in His mercy, caused me to get desperate, feel chained, sniff at death, get my boat rocked, etc.

At different junctures, I can look back and see myself in all four of those groups of folks. I now give thanks to the Lord for His goodness. And I humbly suggest you can too. We have much to be thankful for.