Benefits of sailing (Psalm 107:23-32)

We tend not to think of the Israelites and the sea, probably because most details in their biblical history occur on land. The country had a lengthy shore on the Mediterranean and no doubt the towns and cities on the coast would be fishing communities as well as having other maritime interests (v. 23). Solomon had a navy based near modern-day Eilat and ships sailed from there to the far east trading in various commodities. Inevitably, they would have good journeys and hazardous ones. The psalmist describes one of the latter kind here (vv. 24-25).

It would not be surprising for anyone in a storm to start praying. That was the case when a storm rose when Jonah was trying to escape from doing the Lord’s will and took a boat from Joppa to Tarshish. The pagan sailors prayed to their gods and maybe eventually turned to pray to the true God after listening to what Jonah had to say.

The obvious point of the psalmist is that God arranged the storm. It was all under his control, and a recognition of his sovereignty is essential when it comes to meaningful prayer, whatever the crisis. It seems that in the psalm another point is also being made, which is that often prayer is a last resort (v. 28).

Despite crying for help coming late, the Lord showed his grace by listening to their requests and brought the storm to an end. So they observed, often perhaps, the wonder of him controlling the rising, the continuation and the cessation of the storm, each of which expresses his amazing power.

The author also stresses that God was in control after the storm was over. Even when the waters were calm, they needed the Lord to bring them to their destination. This is still the case even although we have greater navigational aids that they had.

No doubt, the sailors were glad to get to land and may even have expressed their gratitude then to the Lord. But more was required of them. Given the scale of the deliverance, it was appropriate for them to make public acknowledgement of his goodness by going to the temple and offering suitable sacrifices.

Such a method encouraged others about the ways God answers prayer. After all, if those who experience them don’t share what happened, how will others be encouraged to pray in similar situations?