Do you feel like you are wandering in a desert wasteland or hungry for something you can’t even put your finger on? Are you suffering in the deepest gloom, a prisoner to your own affliction? Are you at your wits’ end? If your answer to any of these questions is yes, then come, dive into Psalm 107 with me and be washed with words of relief from the Lord.
The book of Psalm is poetry filled with repetition, parallelism, and patterns. In Psalm 107, we get a pattern. The pattern is a problem, followed by what the people did, followed by what the Lord did, and ending with a plea to give thanks. The point of the pattern is to enlighten our hearts and minds to freedom that only the Lord can provide. (If you are able to, stop and read Psalm 107.)
The psalmist gives four different scenarios each with the same pattern – Curse, Cry, Cure, Command. From each scenario, we learn something new about how the Lord provides for us when we are in hard places.
First Scenario – Wandering in Wastelands
- The curse or affliction is people wandering in wastelands hungry and thirsty (v.4-5). They cannot find their way.
- “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” (v.6)
- The cure is the Lord leads them (v.7).
- The command is to “thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!” (v.8)
Second Scenario – Chained in Affliction
- The curse or affliction is people sitting in darkness, chained prisoners in affliction (v.10).
- “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” (v.13)
- The cure is the Lord brings them out of darkness and bursts their chains apart (v.14).
- The command is to “thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!” (v.15)
Third Scenario – Behaving Foolishly
- The curse is people behaving foolishly through rebellious ways (v.17)
- “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” (v.19)
- The cure is the Lord sent out his word and healed them. He delivered them from their destruction (v.20).
- The command is to “thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!” (v.21)
Fourth Scenario – Losing Courage
- The curse is people losing courage while out at sea. They were at their wits’ end. (vv.23, 26, 27)
- “Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” (v.28)
- The cure is the Lord made the storm be still. The waves of the sea were hushed (v.29).
- The command is to “thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!” (v.31)
Can you relate to one of the four afflictions mentioned? Are you wandering through life? Are you a prisoner to your affliction? Have you become a fool through your rebellion? Are you at your wits’ end? If so, then Scripture says to cry to the Lord. He knows your affliction but needs you to fall limp before him concerning it. Him knowing your affliction and you giving him your affliction are two totally different things.
Each time we hand over our trouble to the Lord, he delivers us from our distress. I believe this is an ongoing process, not a one and done deal. The more I do not feel delivered, the more I need to cry out to him.
As we keep handing him our affliction, he leads us out of our wastelands, bursts our chains apart, heals us, and calms our storms. I know all of this to be true because Christ himself came to live out his written Word in the flesh. He literally calmed storms, healed, and led people out of their afflictions. Since he delivered people when he walked on this earth before his death on the cross, he will certainly deliver his people now as the one who conquered the cross and death by rising from the grave. The resurrected Lord is still delivering. All that is required of us is to cry out to him in our trouble and then thank him for his steadfast love when he delivers us.
Call to him. Thank him.