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?

Psalm 107:10-16 - From a cell to celebration

The second picture of spiritual experience in this psalm is that of deliverance from imprisonment because of rebellion against the Lord and his word. Those who were delivered found themselves in a very dark dungeon, with the shadow of death hanging over them, and no prospect of escaping. Indeed, their confinement only became worse as they realised that their imprisonment included the prospect of ongoing hard labour, without anyone coming to their aid after they collapsed from the unending demands made on them. Or so it seemed.

Why were they in prison? Because they had rebelled against God. Why did they suffer hard labour? Because the One who had imprisoned them wanted them to cry to him for help. What is meant by the dark dungeon and the hard labour? The dungeon pictures the enslavement of sin that people find themselves in, and the hard labour describes the pointless, monotonous experiences that sinners engage in day after day, all of which don’t bring them an inch closer to deliverance from their chains.

What was the remedy? The remedy was for them to cry to the One who imprisoned them and to ask him for mercy. They could, as it were, sing the sad song:

I tried the broken cisterns, Lord,                                                                                            But, ah, the waters failed!                                                                                                    E’en as I stooped to drink they fled,                                                                                     And mocked me as I wailed.

What happened when they did? He set them free and brought them into the bright liberty of salvation. They tasted that the Lord was gracious and experience his power in his deliverance of their souls from spiritual bondage. The freedom that they received was not a kind of half-deliverance. Rather they were taken out of the cell, and its doors and bars were shattered by him so that they could never be used again against the prisoner that he had set free.

What should they do? They are to engage in praise of the Lord, especially for the way that he revealed his love to them. Moreover they can rejoice in realising that the deliverance that they had known was also being experienced by others. After all, the Lord’s prisoners are eventually set free by him when they are led by him to confess their sins to him.

Psalm 107:1-9 - Taken to a city

In this psalm, we have several pictures of the spiritual life. The theme of the psalm is in verse 1 where God’s people are called to give thanks to the Lord for his display of divine goodness in revealing the steadfastness of his love and mercy.

Those addressed in the psalm are those rescued by the Lord from trouble. They were in trouble perhaps because of their sins, or perhaps they had become poor because of circumstances, or maybe they were enslaved by oppression. Only the Lord could come to their rescue.

The author identifies some who wandered in a desert, without provision, and unable to find a city where their needs could be met. In their desperation, they cried to the Lord. No one else could respond to such a cry of desperation but the Lord. In a sense, he as the sovereign Lord had arranged their dire circumstances so that they would call on him. When they did, he answered their requests and led them as a guide to a city.

God is described here as a shepherd who is willing to guide them from the place of abject poverty to the city that is full of supplies to meet their needs. In the city, there are no negative consequences of longing and hunger because God meets their needs and satisfies their longings. The outcome is that they are exhorted to praise the Lord for his steadfast love, for the expressions of his covenant commitment to them.

We, as God’s people, were rescued by him from the consequences of sin and guided by him to Mount Zion, the city full of divine provisions through the means of grace, provisions that meet the longings and hunger of our souls. 

Psalm 105 - God and his promise

This psalm is a call to give thanks to God, to pray to him and to witness about him (v.1). They are to sing to him and speak to one another about his amazing activities on behalf of his people (v. 2). Their boast is only to be in the Lord, and it must come from their hearts. The seeking here is not the seeking of lost sinners for a Saviour, but the seeking of saints for his favour, his strengthening and his presence; and they are to seek for this continually because it is always available (vv. 3-4).

What are the wonderful things he has done for them? He chose them and made a covenant with their ancestor Abraham which would last for ever (a thousand generations), a covenant that he does not forget, and he revealed his commitment to it by renewing it with Isaac and Jacob. In that covenant he promised them a special land, even although they were only powerless nomads at the time. Because he protected them, not even powerful rulers could harm them (vv. 5-11).

God continued to keep his covenant by raising up Joseph and did so at an unlikely time – a time of global famine. His way to a position of authority was the opposite of how a promotion is usually achieved, but we are told elsewhere that our ways are not God’s ways. During the imprisonment of Joseph, he was tested by God until what had been revealed to him by the Lord through dreams took place (vv. 12-22).

After their ancestors went to live in Egypt, they increased greatly in number by God’s blessing and became powerful. But it was not God’s intention for them to remain indefinitely in that land. So he worked to bring them to his land; yet it would not be accomplished by their power, but by his. First, he turned the Egyptians against them. Second, he raised up Moses and Aaron and through them performed his campaign against Egypt as expressed in the ten plagues. Third, despite what had been done against the Israelites in Egypt, he arranged for them to leave with a great amount of wealth (vv. 23-38).

On their journey from there to the promised land, he provided them with supernatural signs of his presence and with miraculous provisions to meet their needs because he remembered his covenant promise for them to have the special land. Eventually, they reached the land and obtained it by his help against powerful tribes. He had kept his promise to give it to the seed of Abraham and they knew that they were given it in order to serve him by obeying his requirements (vv. 39-45).

It is obvious that the author does not refer to the failures of Israel during the period covered by his song. The point of the song is not to give a detailed history lesson but to show that God kept his promise to Abraham about the promised land, and to remind the Israelites how God had worked in his providence to get them there. The writer also indicated to them why they had been given the land. It was to be their place of service, where they would be a witness to other peoples about the true God and what he had done for them. Their worship would be about him and others should see that was the case. Did they do so? Sometimes, but often they forgot.

Psalm 104 - God and Creation

In this psalm, the author focusses on the greatness of God as revealed in his creation. He imagines the sky has a big tent and the light of the sun as God’s clothes – as Calvin observed, ‘although God is invisible, yet his glory is conspicuous enough.’ The seas are the foundation of this building, and the clouds are the chariots that convey him throughout it as they are blown along by the wind. The psalmist uses those illustrations to highlight the bigness of God, that he can do what humans cannot do. Even the angels are his servants. The planet is like a large temple in which God reveals himself so that he can be worshipped and served (vv. 1-4).

In verses 5-9, the psalmist considers what happened when God made all things at the beginning. It is interesting to compare these verses with what Genesis 1 says. Initially it was all water (v. 6), but God used his power to change things so that valleys and mountains appeared. The waters are now prevented from moving from their place. (It is possible that the author has the flood of Noah in mind here.)

In verses 10-12, the author notices how God gives water to animals and birds; in verses 13-15, he mentions how God sends water (rain) so that grass and other vegetation and trees will grow for the blessing of humans and provide for their needs; in verses 16-17, he waters the trees so that birds build their nests on them; the mountains and rocks on which the rains fell are the place where wild animals can live (v. 18).

In verses 19-23, he considers how the sun and the moon control life, whether animal or human. The darkness is when wild animals roam and hunt and are provided for by God. Daylight is when humans work and then return home for the evening. His conclusion about what happens on land is that the Lord has wisely ordered how his creatures will live, even although there are great differences between the various kinds (v. 24)

What about the sea? It is full of small and great creatures, and the psalmist notices that some of them frolic (maybe he has whales in mind). Nevertheless, ships can sail. Both humans on the ships and creatures of the sea need God to provide for them, and he does so abundantly by opening his hand (vv. 25-28).

Nevertheless, over it all is the dark shadow of death on all his creatures, even although the Lord is the source of life in all generations, whether that life is human, animal or vegetable (vv. 29-30). This is a reminder that the earth is under God’s curse as well as God’s care.

The psalmist praises God for his works in creation. He desires that the Lord would have pleasure in his creation through all the activities in which he engages. But he knows that before there can be true harmony in creation, a great change must take place. Therefore he prays for the time when sinners will be no more. He does not pray like this because he desires divine judgement on them. Rather he prays for a world in which all things, including humans, will live in harmony forever, and his longing will be fulfilled in the new heavens and new earth yet to come.

As Spurgeon said about this psalm, ‘It is every way our sweetest consolation that the personal God is still at work in the world — leviathan in the ocean and the sparrow on the bough may be, alike, glad of this, and we, the children of the great Father, much more!

Psalm 103 - Blessing the Lord

The psalm begins with what can be called a self-exhortation by the psalmist to worship the Lord in as full a way as he can. Such a worship style would involve his mind, his affections, and his energy. It includes his speech. The idea of blessing here is to speak well about the person, and here that person is the One who is holy, infinitely superior to and separate from all his creatures (v. 1).

David mentions some of the ways that he has personally experienced the blessings of God (vv. 2-5). He lists them because he knows he might forget them. They include pardon of his sins, healing from illnesses, protection from death, abundant provision for his needs, inner satisfaction and ongoing renewal that kept him young and fresh in heart. He may have been young when he wrote the psalm (although a person of forty could be called young at that time).

In verses 6-14, David thinks of some ways God has helped his people as a nation. He defends those who need justice, he revealed his will to Moses, he showed kindness and patience and covenant commitment to them, he did not persist in expressions of anger, and he did not deal with them according to what their sins deserved. Instead his displays of grace were incredible, greater than the distance between heaven and earth. The distance between a forgiven people and their sins is immeasurable, like the east from the west. He treats his people, those who fear him, with the compassion of a father. His provision is not haphazard, or merely hoping for the best. Rather since he knew them, he provides for them according to what they need.

In contrast to God, all men are frail and short-lived (vv. 15-16). The best of them cannot do very much for others, especially regarding the future. But God can because of his faithfulness to those who keep the covenant and express loyalty to him in their lives (vv. 17-18).

David then looks at what happens in heaven. There he knows that the angels serve the Lord and praise him. He would like everywhere in creation to bless the Lord by acknowledging his sovereignty, including himself (vv. 19-22).

Psalm 101 - Resolutions

​Jonathan Edwards is well-known for many things, but one of them is a set of resolutions that he composed about how he should live day by day. In this psalm, David does something similar when he lists several intentions that he wants to fulfil. Some of them are connected to his role as a king about how he intends to govern. Others are personal characteristics that he intends to develop.

David begins by stating his estimation of covenant love and justice (v. 1), two matters that are revealed primarily and perfectly in God himself. Any desires that David has for such are because of the way God has worked in his life. He is working out what the Lord has worked in him. Therefore he acknowledges by his song that all such personal progress is a result of divine grace, and he praises the Lord for bringing it about.

In verse 2, David mentions what he will think about, which is how to live a blameless life. He does not mean a perfect life because such a standard is impossible for a sinner. But it is useful to reflect on how we live in order to attain to a level that no-one can find fault with. An example of such a person can be seen in Psalm 15, and the way to become such a person is found in Psalm 1. David knows that he will need divine help in order for his desires to happen. In particular, David intends to be upright in his home life, and it is often the case that we can let our guard down there. We don’t know when David wrote this psalm, but we know that some of his biggest problems came from what went on within his house.

In verse 3, David probably has idolatry in mind – idols were worthless things. We know that Solomon was led astray by accepting idols, but here we see that his father resolved not to get involved with such practices. In fact, David hated any activity connected to such practices. Idolatry has many shapes, but David determined that he would have nothing to do with such practices. As the king, he would have wanted to be a good example in this regard.

Verses 4 and 5 point to the kind of counsellors or local leaders that David would appoint. He would not promote those who advocated evil schemes or promoted themselves at the expense of others. Instead, he would employ those he describes as the faithful in the land, those with godly hearts and aims (v. 6). Obviously, there is also an application in these verses about the kind of friends we should have.

In verses 7 and 8, he describes how he will rule. Truth will be paramount, and he will protect God’s city from evildoers. Here we have a description of David as the man after God’s own heart and the aspirations he had regarding his personal walk with God and his determination to fulfil his special calling as best he could with the Lord’s help.

One lesson for us from the psalm is to pray for righteous rulers. Another lesson is to note that it might be a useful practice for us to write out our intentions and then use them as a guide regarding how we are getting on in the spiritual life.