The Song of the Saved

The psalm before us today takes a very direct approach, and so will I. Seemingly, the person or persons addressed have forgotten the great motives that we have to worship. What is the right and proper response to all that God has done We too have a tendency to forget God’s mercies that have been shown to us. I didn’t plan it this way, but several of the men up here have already alluded to some of these things, that we ought to observe what is going on, what God is doing, and give thanks for it. Psalm 107, the psalmist reminds us of God’s abundant mercies and of the appropriate response to him. It is the song of the redeemed.

Psalm 107 opens the fifth book of the Psalms. It is a halal or praise psalm. The word halal in Hebrew is taken from the word halu, which means literally to praise, praise Jehovah. It is the source of the Greek term hallelujah and the form of our anglicized word hallelujah. And so this psalm, Psalm 107, is a psalm of praise to God, a song of gratitude to Him for His abundant mercies.

Now, the theme of this psalm could be stretched to cover the redemption of God’s people from captivity, the Israelites. There is that consolation here. But this psalm addresses the common difficulties of fallen humanity. the goodness of God in rescuing them. And the most common of all difficulties is that of spiritual distress. Typically, people are brought to repentance for their sin because of some great life crisis. Troubles will vary, but the only way out of them is to call out to God.

But even after conversion, God’s people often require a summons to praise, a pointed reminder to thank God for all of his kindnesses. And so the Psalm is an exhortation to thankfulness, to gratitude, together with the motivation behind it. Psalm 107. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary and gathered from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region. They did not find a way to an inhabited city. They were hungry and thirsty. Their soul fainted within them.

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. He delivered them out of their distresses. He led them to also by a straight way to an inhabited city. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. For he has satisfied the thirsty soul and the hungry he has filled with what is good. There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains, because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. Therefore He humbled their heart with labor. They stumbled and there was none to help. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.

He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and he broke their bands apart. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. For he has shattered the gates of bronze and cut bars of iron asunder. Fools. because of their rebellious way and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all kinds of food, and they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. He saved them out of all their distresses and delivered them from their destructions.

Let them give thanks to the Lord for his lovingkindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and tell of his works with joyful singing. There were those who go down into the sea in ships, who do business on great waters. They’ve seen the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep.

For he spoke and raised up a stormy wind which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens and went down into the depths. Their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits end. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he brought them out of their distresses.

He caused the storm to be still so that the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they were quiet. So he guided them to their desired haven. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. Let them extol him also in the congregation of the people and praise him in the seat of the elders.

He changes rivers in the wilderness and springs of water into a thirsty ground, a fruitful land into a salt waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He changes the wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water. And there he makes the hungry to dwell so that they may establish an inhabited city. and sow fields and plant vineyards and gather a fruitful harvest. And he blesses them and they multiply greatly and he does not let their cattle decrease.

When they are diminished and bowed down through oppression and misery and sorrow, he pours contempt upon princes and makes them wander in pathless waste. But he sets the needy securely on high away from affliction and makes his families like a flock.

The upright see it and are glad that all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things and consider the loving kindness of the Lord. It’s the song of the redeemed, and what the psalmist gives us here is perspectives of the Lord’s goodness. He uses that word loving-kindness over and over and over again. If you would, track back to verse 1, where we see the first perspective of the Lord’s goodness, the response to the goodness. That’s how the psalmist begins his psalm. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting.

Psalms 105, 106, and 107 all begin with the same admonition to render gratitude to the Lord. Oh, give thanks to the Lord, they all say. And we might think of these Psalms as a trilogy of gratitude. The opening of Psalm 106 includes the exact pair of sentences that we have here in 107.

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. So the psalmist begins his powerful summons to God’s people to bring the Lord what is his due, wholehearted praise. Although this opening line is not repeated verbatim in this psalm, we could almost consider it the chorus or the refrain of this psalm.

We have an echo of it in verse eight, verse 15, verse 21, verse 31, And at the end, in verse 43, give thanks to the Lord for His loving kindness. The first thing that our psalmist does in this psalm is issue a call to gratitude to God for His mercies.

What more can we give Him? What more does He desire than the heartfelt praise of His people? To accomplish this, we must not only pray in earnest, but watch and recollect with the same degree of earnestness what God is doing. How empty it must be for God to hear our prayer, respond to our pleas, only to have our lips fall silent in our failure to acknowledge those kindnesses.

The Jewish nation was no less forgetful, and so the psalmist issues a familiar call to remembrance and to praise. The reason that God’s people are to express their gratitude is very simple. The psalmist provides two parallel reasons for this thanksgiving. He is good, and his loving kindness is everlasting.

We need to be reminded of these things. At times we begin to believe the devil’s lies that God is against us, or that God is not fair, or that God is not caring enough of us, or that God is indifferent to our circumstances. None of those things are true.

God is inherently good and therefore does only good. God is the standard of what is good. God not only possesses the attribute of goodness, he is, in essence, goodness. Everything about God and everything that comes from him is good. And that goodness is exhibited in creation by his loving kindness. This is enjoyed in measure by all of creation in the pleasures and bounties of life. Loving kindness is the expression of God’s goodness. Ultimately, this loving kindness is seen in God’s work of salvation. God’s loving kindness is the very theme of this song, and this is our motivation to praise God.

Thomas narrows his address in verse two. It’s not to the masses of humanity that he calls, but to the redeemed of the Lord. To those whom God has shown a special favor or kindness, effectively purchasing them out of captivity. He has redeemed us from the hand of the adversary, gathered them from the East and the West, the North and the South. Far and wide, he has redeemed them. and to those who are ransomed and redeemed, the psalmist calls to declare their praise. This is the response of the redeemed, who know that God alone has saved them. All of God’s people have a just cause to render grateful praise to Him. But they were not all saved in the same manner.

God uses many different things to get people’s attention. And beginning in verse four, the psalmist provides general reminders of his loving kindness. And he does so by four specific examples. Wilderness wanderers, the humbled prisoners, the repentant fools, and sailors at sea, each of those four examples I’ll point out ahead of time, they all contain the same elements. You can listen for them. They all present a person or persons in particular difficulty, very specific. They all present the effects of their plight.

All four examples present a reaction to trouble, a universal cry for help, All four of them issue God’s answer to their cries, His practical goodness in providing relief. And all four of them present the humble response to God’s mercy. Let’s look at the four examples that the psalmist provides. As we come into the second perspective of the Lord’s goodness, the many expressions of the Lord’s goodness. Let’s look at the wilderness wanderers in verses four through nine. That first example of God’s loving kindness is that which he has shown to those lost in the wilderness.

This was their particular difficulty. Verse four, they wandered in the wilderness in a desert region. They did not find a way to an inhabited city. Now, no doubt Israel wandered in the wilderness. The Jews would naturally have thought of this immediately. But this does not refer to that exclusively. Otherwise, the other three examples lack context. The Jews weren’t looking for an inhabited city. They were looking for a wide open, uninhabited land of Canaan.

Idea communicated is not so much the 40-year wandering, but lostness in general. lost in the desert, lost in the woods, lost in the city. In fact, in our present day, depending on the particular city, I would say that that’s far worse to be lost in a city than to be lost in the woods. But the psalmist is speaking of lostness in general here. The reference is to the common plight that many have experienced in being lost.

In verse five, we see the effects of their plight. They were hungry and thirsty. Their soul fainted within them. When you’re lost and overmatched by the circumstances, unprepared for what lies in front of you, no food, no water, hunger and thirst immediately set in. But as bad as their situation was, at least they know where to turn. Look at verse six. The reaction to the trouble, they cried out to the Lord in their trouble.

What else can a child of God do in such circumstances but pray? Unfortunately, we do not often call out to God until our situation and until our circumstances are extreme. We think that we can tough it out, make it on our own. God knows this and often brings us into these conditions for this very reason. And when He does, we cry out. We pray. And God responds.

In the case of those who are lost, God delivered them out of all their distresses. He led them by a straight way, a clear path to an inhabited city. This is what God does. This is what the psalmist’s entire point in this psalm is. This is but one illustration of four showing that God rescues and delivers his children from manifold troubles. Bottom line is that God heard and responded to their pleas for help. And that raises the obvious question, what is the response of those who are helped by God? And this is that common refrain.

We have it in verse eight and nine. The humble response to God’s mercy is that, let them give thanks to the Lord for their loving kindness. And for his wonders to the sons of men. The psalmist issues a response to God’s mercy as a call to thankfulness. God has exhibited his goodness in a display of his loving kindness by saving those who were lost, thirsty, and hungry. The only fitting response is that of gratitude. Would you look at the second group? The Lord saves the humbled prisoners. The psalmist presents another case here, the particular difficulty being captured and imprisoned, verses 10 and 11. Those dwelling in darkness, in the shadow of death, misery in chains.

They’ve been thrown into a dungeon, effectively. But please note that this is a chastisement issued by God himself. Their imprisonment is brought about, verse 11, because they had rebelled against the words of the Lord, spurned the counsel of the Most High. These are the people that have no room for God, no time to think about Him. We didn’t necessarily gather this from those who were lost, that this was God’s doing, but it’s unmistakable here. God had them thrown in prison. The plight is a rebuke from the Lord.

In verse 12, the psalmist tells of the effect of their circumstances. He humbled their heart with labor. They were worked to the point of exhaustion. Even when they collapsed, when they stumbled, there was no friend to help. They were at the end of themselves. What could they do?

Verse 13 records the now familiar reaction to trouble. They cried out to the Lord. because this was trouble that they had brought upon themselves, that makes this a prayer of repentance. They appealed to God for mercy, salvation. And in that same verse, we have the rapid response from God. He saved them out of their distresses, bringing them out of darkness in the shadow of death, breaking their bands apart. God rescued them. because of their cries. Like Peter and John and Daniel before them, God set them free from their respective prisons. Here in this psalm, there is an extra measure of mercy because the imprisonment here was mentioned was a punishment from God.

And the expected response to God’s mercy is presented again in verses 15 and 16. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. What more reasonable thing to do? But to erupt in praise and worship for his saving mercy.

There’s a third example. presented to us in verses 17 through 22. And if you’ve never been lost or imprisoned, this one surely speaks to most of the rest of us. The Lord saves repentant fools. Thomas now zeroes in on another particular difficulty, verse 17.

Fools, because of their rebellious way and because of their iniquities, were afflicted. He’s speaking here about the destructive effects of sin. Just as with those in prison, those mentioned here are under the Lord’s discipline because of their rebelliousness, ultimately seen in their sinfulness, their iniquity. This mindset and this behavior renders them as fools in God’s eyes. And he’s chastising them for it.

The particular difficulty pictured here seems to include physical illness or disease. They are afflicted, says the psalmist, but observe the effect of their plight. In verse 18, their soul abhorred all kinds of food. We don’t typically think of our appetite or lack thereof as a function of our soul. But here the sinner is so troubled in his innermost being that food has lost its appeal.

And it’s so bad that he’s drawing near to the gates of death. King David knew this rebuke. In Psalm 31 10, he says that his life is spent with sorrow, his years with sighing, his strength has failed because of his iniquity, and his body has wasted away. Here, the stubborn fool has been brought to the edge of death. It’s as bad as it can be.

But even for such sinners, there is a glimmer of hope. The reaction the psalmist mentions is no different here than in the other circumstances of life. They cried out to the Lord in their trouble. They knew all along where to turn. And their stubbornness has finally run its course, and even these stubborn fools receive the same gracious response from God.

He saved them. He saved them out of their distresses. Whether by recovery or by some miraculous healing, He delivered them from their destructions. God’s messenger, this sickness, has done its job. It’s brought the sinner to repentance. The psalmist’s refrain is familiar. Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness and for his wonders to the sons of men. There’s a fourth and final example of those whom God saves. We find it in verses 23 through 32, storm-tossed sailors. The Lord even saves imperiled sailors. This is the fullest and most graphic of the four examples.

We almost find ourselves getting seasick just by reading it. The particular difficulty is the fearful experience of being imperiled on the sea. For those who go down into the sea in great ships, it’s nothing but a happy little boat ride until a fierce storm arises. And this, please observe, is also brought about by God himself. Just a word from the Lord is all it took to make the sea rage, to lift up the waves. And while the storm is still building, their plight becomes obvious.

Look at verse 26, if you would. Rising up to the heavens, rolling down into the depths. I love the psalmist’s description of their demeanor. The end of verse 26, their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled and staggered like a drunken man. They were at their wit’s end. They were caught in a particularly nasty storm, so bad that they cannot even stand on their feet, let alone navigate the ship. Their response is natural. Verse 28, they cried to the Lord in their trouble.

Just as Jesus himself calmed the sea with just a word, so also does God hear for these ancient mariners. From a raging tempest to just a gentle breeze. Just as he did with the lost, the prisoners, the sick. God answered the sailors’ cries as well. He brought them out of their distresses. Caused the storm to be still and brought them into their desired haven. God brings them calm and quiet into a little quiet cove. What relief.

The psalmist declares the obvious response in verses 31 and 32, the humble response to God’s mercy, let them give thanks to the Lord for his loving kindness. And people, that is just four examples. If we went around the room and took testimonies, that’s just four examples of the many means that God has used to bring sinners to repentance. There are many other tools in God’s arsenal that may be used to gain people’s attention, to bring them to humble repentance, to an acknowledgement of himself. Think of it here. Wanderers, prisoners, fools, and sailors. Every one of us fits perhaps into one of those categories. But if not, God has other means.

And that’s essentially what the psalmist addresses in verse 33 and following. Here we see the third perspective of the Lord’s goodness, not only the response or the many expressions of the Lord’s goodness, but here the consequences of the Lord’s goodness. Suddenly there’s a third major section in verse 33. There’s a change in style and character of this psalm.

He strikes a different chord here because not all people are saved. That doesn’t render God’s loving kindness irrelevant. There may be some who boast obnoxiously, I don’t need the Lord’s goodness. I can manage life on my own. This section sets forth the consequences of the Lord’s goodness. The psalmist presents both extremes of the value of God’s goodness, his treatment of the sinful and his treatment of the righteous. Would you look at verses 33 and 34?

He changes rivers into a wilderness and springs of water into a thirsty ground. He changes a fruitful land into a salt waste because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. He describes God’s response here to the unrighteous in three ways. He changes rivers. He changes springs of water. He changes a fruitful land. God is the God of change. He’s the agent of change.

A nation has embraced wickedness, and God responds by sending them extreme drought, simply by withholding life-giving rain. Same God that created everything in heaven and earth, still sovereignly rules over all, changes rivers into a wilderness. God controls El Nino. God steers the jet stream. God controls the weather. God sends or does not send rain. Likewise, the springs of water, the same God that directs the cloud overhead, controls the underground aquifers.

And once you remove water from the land, you have a desert wasteland. The eventual result, as the writer describes, is as no more than a wilderness, a thirsty ground, a salt waste. On such land, no crops will grow. No cattle can be raised. Such land is completely worthless. Fruitful land, it turns into a salt waste. And famine and disease are sure to follow. But the devastation here is not complete.

Notice the impact of this on individuals versus 39 and 40. When they are diminished and bowed down through oppression and misery and sorrow, he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in a pathless waste. The context of God’s recompense here is people’s wickedness, their sinfulness, and the result is devastating. They are diminished, bowed down through oppression, misery, and sorrow, a nation being judged, and the effects are acutely felt down to the individual members of that nation, all of them. Not even powerful leaders are beyond the reach of God’s chastisement. Even princes feel God’s contempt. In the venting of his just wrath, God is able to strip someone of wealth, of influence, of power, of opportunity, of health, of family, friends.

Look at the way that the unrighteous respond to such chastisement. They’re in the middle of verse 42. All unrighteousness shuts its mouth. The boasting is ended. They’re basically rendered speechless. They have nothing to say. brought the Lord’s judgment upon themselves. They have no legitimate argument before the King of Kings. They can lodge no complaint.

But in the same way, as we see the consequences of the Lord’s goodness for those who reject it, would you notice the consequences of the Lord’s goodness for the righteous? What about the righteous? The righteous nation, the righteous individual. The psalmist speaks to that as well in verse 35. Would you go back there?

He changes a wilderness into a pool of water and a dry land into springs of water. This is God’s doing. God sends the water. God opens the springs. And the remarkable thing about this is that this appears to be the same land. once lush and flourishing, which God judged and turned into wilderness, thirsty ground, a salt waste. But now look, God is able to turn that same land once again into something beautiful and beneficial and productive, a wilderness into a pool of water, dry land into a spring of water. This land is not just beautiful to behold, it becomes a fruitful place, a place of habitation, not only for individuals, but for entire nations. Would you look at verse 36?

There he makes the hungry to dwell, so that they may establish an inhabited city. These are not nomads. Finding a small oasis here and there in the desert, this is now a luxurious and thriving land capable of supporting a great many people. Look what God has done with the ground itself. He has restored its capability of producing food. No longer is it worthless, unproductive salt waste. If you look at verse 37, the settlers there are now able to sow fields and plant vineyards and gather a fruitful harvest. It can truly be said of this land that the Lord has blessed it. It almost summarizes this reality in verse 41.

He sets the needy securely on high from affliction, and he makes his families like a flock. He gathers them close to himself. God protects them and provides for them simply because they look to him. The response of the righteous is that of humble gratitude. Verse 42, the upright see it and are glad. They rejoice before God in thankfulness.

So as we look at the perspectives of the Lord’s goodness, we see not only the response to the Lord’s goodness, the many expressions of the Lord’s goodness, the consequences of the Lord’s goodness, and finally, the appeal to gratitude for the Lord’s goodness.

Would you look at verse 43? Who is wise? Let him heed give heed to these things, and consider the loving kindness of the Lord.” Who is wise, the psalmist asked, and his point is, what is the wise and prudent response to these things? To God’s goodness and loving kindness. The wise individual will carefully observe and joyfully acknowledge God’s benevolence, his goodness. I assure you, the more we pause to look, the more we’ll see. God is constantly pouring forth his goodness. The wise person will listen and learn, observe and respond accordingly.

He or she does just exactly as the psalmist exhorted in the opening verse and throughout this entire psalm. Oh, give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. So you’ve never been lost in the woods, never been held captive, perhaps never been laid low by sickness because of your sin or endangered at sea. I would suggest to you that there is one more general episode that every believer has already endured, bringing us to thankfulness.

And you can find a good picture of it in Titus chapter 3. Would you turn there? Titus chapter 3. And in verse three, Paul writes, we also once were foolish ourselves. Does that sound familiar? Even if not from our psalm, that would basically be the description of most of us outside of Christ. We also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness, the expression of God’s goodness in loving kindness, of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us. We have that same experience. The same as the wilderness wanderers. The same as the imprisoned. The same as the sick fools. The same as the humbled sailors.

He saved us. Not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy. by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. We’re saved. We’re saved because of God’s doing. We have so much for which to give thanks.

Would you humble yourself before him? Our merciful God, we come before you and even this morning we heard of yet two more ways that you rescue wayward sinners. Our own conscience bears witness against us at even the slightest sin. And then as we see others living their lives, obediently to your word, Lord, that is convicting to us. Father, with each one of us as believers, you have particulars and subtleties that you use to draw us to repentance.

Father God, every one of us who knows the Lord Jesus Christ knows that you have done a mighty work that you’ve spared nothing in seeking to get our attention and draw us to yourself because of what Jesus finished on the cross. Lord, we love the way Titus 3, 5 says it. It isn’t on the basis of deeds. Paul was quick to point out that we are only saved by our faith, our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. by no effort of our own. And Father, for all of us who know that, Lord, we are eternally grateful. We will always sing your praises because of what you’ve done in our life in drawing us to yourself through what Jesus accomplished on the cross.

Lord, if there are any here who do not know that simple truth, that God isn’t looking for more effort. He’s looking for humble reception of what his son accomplished on the cross by paying the price for sinners. Lord, we pray, do your work. Do your work of salvation in the life of those who are here who do not know your son. We thank you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen.