Psalms 107:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is a general call for everyone to give thanks to God (Psalm 107:1). Anyone who sings this psalm, or prays through it, should set their heart on praising the Lord. Even those who do not feel they have a special reason to praise him can find enough in God’s wide goodness to fill their mouths with thanks. God is good at the source, and in all his gifts his mercy lasts forever and never runs out.

The redeemed of the Lord are called to praise him in a special way. This can also be applied spiritually to those who belong to the great Redeemer, Jesus Christ, and who are saved by him from sin and hell. Of all people, they have the strongest reason to say that God is good and his mercy lasts forever. They are the children of God scattered abroad, whom Christ died to gather into one, from every land (John 11:52; Matthew 24:31). But here the psalm seems to speak of a rescue in this life, given when they were in distress and cried to the Lord (Psalm 107:6).

If anyone is afflicted, let that person pray. And when anyone prays, God will surely hear and help. When trouble becomes severe, that is the time when people cry out most honestly, and that is God’s time to save. On the mountain he will be seen. They were in an enemy’s land, but God brought them out of the enemy’s hand (Psalm 107:2). He did this, perhaps, not by force or human strength (Zechariah 4:6), and not by paying a price (Isaiah 45:13), but by the Spirit of God working in human hearts.

They had been scattered like outcasts, but God gathered them from all the countries where they had been scattered in the cloudy and dark day, so they could be brought together again (Psalm 107:3). See also (Deuteronomy 30:4; Ezekiel 34:12). God knows who belongs to him, and he knows where to find them. They were also lost and unsure of their path, with no road to follow and no place to rest (Psalm 107:4).

When they were redeemed from the enemy and gathered from the lands, they still faced danger on the way home through dry and empty deserts. They wandered in the wilderness, with no marked path, no company, no lodging, no comfort, and no inhabited city where they could rest or recover. But God led them by the right way (Psalm 107:7). He guided them to an inn, and more than that, to a home, a city of habitation, a place that was settled and that they themselves would inhabit.

This may refer to poor travelers in general, especially those whose journey took them through the wilds of Arabia, where they often had little help. Yet many in such distress were wonderfully relieved, so that few perished. We should notice God’s kind care over us in our travels, when we go out and when we come in, as he directs our steps and provides places to eat and rest. Or, as some think, this also looks back to Israel’s wandering in the wilderness for forty years. It is said that God led them around, and yet here he led them by the right way (Deuteronomy 32:10). God’s way may seem roundabout to us, but in the end it will prove to have been the right way.

This also fits our life in this world. We are here like people in a wilderness, with no lasting city, but living in tents as strangers and pilgrims. Still, we are under the guidance of God’s wise and good providence, and if we trust ourselves to it, he will lead us in the right way to the city that has foundations. They were also near to starving (Psalm 107:5). Their strength failed because of the hard journey, and they were ready to fall down for lack of refreshment.

Those who always have plenty and are fed every day cannot fully know how awful hunger and thirst are when there is no supply. That was sometimes the case for Israel in the wilderness, and perhaps for other poor travelers as well. But God’s providence finds a way to satisfy the longing soul and fill the hungry soul with good things (Psalm 107:9). Israel’s needs were met in good time, and many others have been wonderfully helped when they were close to death.

The same God who has led us has fed us all our lives until now. He has given us the food we need, and he has also provided food for the soul, filling the hungry soul with goodness. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for God, the living God, and for fellowship with him, will be richly filled with the goodness of his house, both in grace and in glory.

For all this, those who receive mercy are called to give thanks (Psalm 107:8). Oh, that people, especially those whom God has so kindly rescued, would praise the Lord for his goodness to them in particular, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! God’s works of mercy are wonderful works. They show wonderful power, because the people helped are weak. They also show wonderful grace, because the people helped are unworthy. It is fitting that those who receive mercy from God should return praise to him. And we must acknowledge God’s goodness to all people, as well as to his own people, to others as well as to ourselves.