Psalms 107

Psalms 107:1-9

The psalmist having in the non-foregoing psalms celebrated the wretches, power and goodness of God in his dealings with his church in par-

tics or, here observes some of the influences of his providential care of the children of men in general. 1. He influences in some of the most common calamities of human life; and shows how God favors; those that labour under them, in answer to their prayers. (1.) Banishment and disbarfism, ver. 2-3. (2.) Captivity and imprisonment, ver. 10-16. (3.) Sickness and distemper of body, ver. 17-22. (4.) Danger and distress at sea, ver. 23-32. And these are put for all the like perils, in which these that are not to God have ever found him a very present help. 2. He influences in the varieties and misgivings of recent concerning nations and families; in all which God’s hand is to be eyed by his own people with joyful acknowledgments of his goodness, ver. 33-43.

1. O Give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good for his mercy endorseth for ever. 2. Let the redeemed of the LORD say he, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy: 3. And gathered them out of the lands, from the eath and from the weft, from the north and from the south. 4. They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way, they found no city to dwell in. 5. Hungry and thrifty, their foul fainted in them. 6. Then they cried unto 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 of habitation. 8. O that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 9. For he fastifieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with gladness.

This psalm opens as the foregoing, with a thanksgiving to God, and suggests the same argument for it, drawn from the goodness and mercy of God. And the redeemed of the Lord, whether temporarily or spiritually, are bound to sing the song. We have here.

1. The state of the persons spoken of; they lie under the power of their enemies; dispersed, and outcast; wandering without a settled abode; suffering the deepest want; hungry and thrifty, and their foul fainting for want of nourishment: to such fore distresses the dearest children of God are sometimes reduced; and this is an emblem also of the state of God’s people, before the redemption of Jesus is embraced by them; they are enslaved by their sins, outcasts from God’s favour, can find no true rest for their souls in this disordered world; convinced of their misery and guilt, their soul is perched and ready to perish, nor can any thing quench their intolerable thrift, but the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ.

2. What methods they took. They cried unto the Lord in their troubles, who alone is able to deliver, and to whom the miserable and guilty dinner may fly, and find mercy and grace to help in time of need; for none ever sought his face in vain.

3. What relief they found. He delivered them out of their distresses; recovered them from their wandering, and restored them to a peaceable abode. Thus shall the poor bewildered soul that cries to God, be led by the hand of his grace to Jesus his Saviour; find him the way, the truth, and the life; and by him he conducted to an eternal mission of undisturbed repose in glory.

4. What thanks they are bound to render. O that men, redeemed souls, who experience such mercy from God, would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for the wonderful works shewn to themselves, and to the children of men in the like state of distress.

5. Such as sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron: 11. Because they rebelled against the words of God, and concerned the counsel of the most High: 12. Therefore he brought down their heart with labour, they fell down, and there was none to help. 13. Then they cried unto 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 brake their hands in sunder. 15. O that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 16. For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.

Psalms 107:10-16

God desjueth not the signing of the prisoners.

1. Their misery is described; that up in dark and dismal dungeons, loaded with heavy irons, their souls afflicted, and the shadow of death extended over them. Such is man by nature, sunk in ignorance, dwelling in the shadow of spiritual death, bound in the service of corruption, and tiring down impotent to break the bursts, or escape from the house of his prison.

2. The coals of this suffering in their sin, willed rebellion against evident commands, and neglect of the fairest warnings. God leaves not himself any where without witness, but pecu-

liarly incalculable are those who sin against the light of his re-veded will, and reject a preached gospel.

3. By his afflictive providence God made their proud spirit bend; conscious of the defensteness of their state, they fell at his feet; unless he save, they perish. Thus by affliction and deep conviction of sin, doth God break the proud spirit of fallen man; and as a lost and self-defearing sinner, force him to fall at the feet of Jesus, out of whom there is no salvation.

4. In their distress they cried unto the Lord, as their alone refuge and help, and he delivered them from their distress; he broke their hands, opened their prison-doors, and brought them to behold the light of the day, and from the shadow of death restored them to life and liberty. From chains of iron thus to be released, how great the blessing? but how much more invaluable the redemption of our souls, when Jesus, at our prayer, plucked us as from the belly of hell, loosed the bonds of corruption, rescued us from death eternal, and brought us forth to the glorious life and liberty of the sum of God. For this transcendent grace, bless the Lord, O my Soul.

5. Every rescued captive is bound to scribe glory to his great deliverers, and to praise his name, v. 15. and the redeemed sinner will not fail to render this tribute of his gratitude, and with delight to proclaim what God hath done for his soul to the children of men, that they may come and partake of the same goodness.

6. Fools, because of their transgressions, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. 18. Their soul abhoreth all manner of meat, and they draw near unto the gates of death. 19. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, he sweth them out of their distresses. 20. He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. 21. O that were would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men: 22. And let them scribe the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.

Psalms 107:17-22

In sickness also God’s mercy is proved, in answer to the prayer of the afflicted. We have,

1. Their dangerous situation. Through the power of disease their separate fails, medicine is vain, and death hovers on their eyelids, ready to close them for ever in the dust.

2. The cause of their sickness is sin; that opened the door to death, with all his train of evils, and we have only our own folly and wickedness to blame for all the better pangs we feel. Note, (1.) Every suffering of our bodies should remind us of, and humble us for the sin of our souls. (2.) However wise sinners may conceit themselves, in calling off the refraims of God’s law, and indulging their passions, they will be found at the last the most wretched souls.

3. God at their cry rescues them from the jaws of death, raises them from the bed of languishing, rebukes the disease, and by his ward restores their full health and through again. Note, (1.) Is any sick? let him pray. Prayer can do more than medicine. (2.) Sin is the sickness of the soul; but when Jesus by his word and spirit speaks to the heart, he healeth our spiritual maladies, breaks the power of corruption, restores our souls to the life of grace below, and secures to us the eternal life of glory above. Great physician, let me daily feel thy healing power!

4. Gratitude is the bounden duty of those, whose life thro’ mercy is restored. Let them acknowledge the goodness of God they have sailed, and shew forth his praises, not only with thankful lips, but by devoting to his glory the days he hath prolonged rejoicing in his salvation, and publishing to his praise the wonders of his grace.

5. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters: 24. These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. 25. For he commandeth, and raised the stormy wind, which lifeeth up the waves thereof. 26. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble. 27. They reel to and fro, and trigger like a drunken man, and are at their wits end. 28. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 29. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 30. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their deferred haven. 31. Oth that were would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 32. Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

Psalms 107:23-32

The mariners who plough the main, dwelling in the midst of dangers, and daily beholding God’s wonders in the deep, have peculiar obligations lying upon them to bless and praise him for the preservations they experience.

1. Their dangers are great and imminent. At God’s command the stormy winds rush from their hollow caverns, and with tremendous roar rails up the flaming billows. Shooting the dreadful deep, the vessel seems to climb the skies: then rushing down the horrid precipice, appears sunk within a watery grave. The affrighted sinners, unable to keep their feet, flagger on the deck; and, no longer able to guide the ship, give her up to the winds and waves, ready to abandon themselves to despair. How prepared to die ought they to be, who are in deaths so often!

2. They cry unto God. How can they do otherwise, when death in this most tremendous form stand—ghafty in their view! Then instant help appears: he who rides on the whirlwind, and directs the storm, checks with a word its fury: the winds are hushed, the waves subside, and, like a molten looking-glafs, not a dimple ruffles the surface of the last troubled ocean. Note, (1.) A seaman, above all others, should be a man of faith and prayer. (2.) He who bids the stormy waves he still, and they obey him, can as easily speak peace to the tempestuous soul, and calm the distresses of the defearing sinner.

3. With delight and joy the mariner beholds the danger past, and now the wished-for haven in view, expells self from all his toils. Thus, after toiling long on life’s tempestuous ocean, the believer, at death’s approach, deserves the happy shore, and enters the fair haven of eternal rest, where he would be.

4. For such wondrous deliverance and distinguished goodness, how can we but adore the hand that saves us, and in the great congregation offer up our thanksgiving, the expression of our lively gratitude, and the encouragement for others in the like distress to call upon the God who heareth prayer.

5. He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground: 34. A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. 35. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into water-springs. 36. And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; 37. And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. 38. He blessed them also, so that they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. 39. Again they are minified and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. 40. He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. 41. Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. 42. The righteous shall see it, and rejoice; and all * iniquity shall stop her mouth. 43. Who is wise, and will observe those sheep, even they shall understand the loving kindness of the LORD.

Psalms 107:33-43

Various and surprizing are the changes which God worketh in the earth.

1. He makes the fruitful land barren for the iniquity of its inhabitants, turning the rivers into a wilderness, as in the case of Sodom. Again, when his blessings rest on some favoured people, the wilderness changes its face, and blossoms as the rose. Plenty there satisfies the hungry, and the rising city affords a safe abode to the inhabitants. The vineyards spring, the corn flourishes, and the vintage and harvest crown the happy year. Their families multiply under the divine blessing, and their flocks and lands greatly increase. On the other hand, when he turns the current of his favour back again, they wither and decay; oppressed, afflicted, and groaning under their furrows, their numbers and strength decrease, till they become as a beacon on a hill. Thus, when princes abode their divinely delegated power, he, by whom kings reign, pours contempt upon them, hurls them from the throne, and makes them despicable in their subjects eyes; and fallen from their high estate, compels them to wander destitute, and bewildered in the trackless wilderness; whilst by his providence he sometimes raises the poor from the dunghil, setteth them on high, crowns them with dignity, blesses them with a numerous family, and puts all affliction far away from them. In all which dissertations we may admire and adore the sovereignty, justice, and power of God. Note, (1.) Sinners are the plague of the earth; for their fakes the land mourneth, whilst the righteous procure perpetual blessings on their abode. (2.) If we are provisionally exalted, or brought low, increased or diminished, let us see and acknowledge God’s hand in the matter.

2. The effects these changes will produce. The righteous will see it, and rejoice; happy to behold the humble exalted, the creek of pride fallen, and God glorified in his providential dissertations; and all iniquity shall stop her mouth; the sinner confounded shall

3. Heb. Misteth to flesh. 2. Pr. excis. 3. 4. Pr. excis. 4. 5. Heb. 6. 10. 7. Heb. All their wisdom is unclaimed of 8. Ver. 8, 9. 15. 10. Met. xii. 11. Ver. 8, 15. 12.

shall be forced to be his animals in the duft, and own the righteous judgment. When it doth not with an interrogation, who is with? Let him think it by his attention regard to these ways of providence, and observe these things, to profit thereby; and then city shall understand the loving-brouchy of the Lord, see it in all his dispensations, and experience it to their own souls.