Life’s Journey (Psalm 107:23-32)

An obvious theme of Psalm 107 is divine providence. The author describes several types of situations that occurred in his day, and how the Lord often responded to cries for help by bringing relief. It is a reminder that divine providence is active in a fallen world in which there are many problems. In the psalm, the author mentions four examples: deliverance from hunger and thirst (vv. 4-9), from imprisonment (vv. 10-16), from sickness (vv. 17-22), and from storms at sea (vv. 23-32). Each example is concluded with an exhortation to praise God for his goodness. 

From verses 33 to 42, there is a description of how God is at work in everyday life, almost in a cyclical manner, with times of distress and poverty followed by times of prosperity and plenty, and the process continues. In verses 33-38, the author highlights changes in the countryside and in verses 39-42 he describes changes in people, whether those at the top or those at the bottom of society. 

Verse 42 mentions one outcome when the prosperous times occur: ‘The upright see it and are glad, and all wickedness shuts its mouth.’ The following verse summarises what a spiritually wise person will do: ‘Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.’

Another important lesson from the psalm is the efficacy of prayer. In the four sections we have mentioned, the change in the circumstances did not occur until the people going through the problem turned to God in prayer. The kind of prayer that he mentions is crying, which is a form of prayer that includes emotion and physical effort, but which is usually very straightforward as far as words are concerned. Of course, it has to come from the heart, but prayer that comes from the heart will be full of feeling and physical movements. 

We mentioned earlier that the main theme of the psalm is providence. Verses 1-3 narrows the perspective to how the redeemed should think about providence, and verse 42 exhorts them to go around with their spiritual vision wide open. The imagery of redemption is seen throughout the psalm, and we know that in the Old Testament the idea of redemption included people and physical provisions, freedom and security in the land of Canaan. Those who have been redeemed should expect to obtain the blessings that God has promised, and therefore they prayed for them to be given, with the recognition that the problems sometimes had come from their own wrong actions. 

A picture of life

Psalm 107 uses several pictures to describe the journey of life. In the first section, the psalmist uses the example of travellers looking for a permanent destination (vv. 1-9); in the second section, he describes people looking for freedom because they have recognised the folly of their actions (vv. 10-16); in the third section, he uses the situation of sick people facing a desolate future, but wanting a recovery; in the fourth section, the author describes the experience of sailors or fishermen as they traverse different kinds of waters, and there is no doubt that many a sailor has had numerous occasions when the Lord took them through difficult storms.

As the sailors travel the seas, the Lord reveals to them his wonders. This fits in with what Paul says about the creation in Romans 1. All of it, in one way or another, continually reveals who he is. What would sailors see? They would observe how the sea is only permitted to go so far, that although it is very powerful, it is restrained by an invisible hand. Moreover, they would observe the varieties of sea creatures, each one of them the result of divine wisdom. They would stand and gaze at sunrises and sunsets, as the divine Artist fills the skies with colour.

Most of us do not traverse the sea very often, although some of us do take a journey occasionally, but often check with the weather app to see what day we should travel. But we can see God’s creation wherever we are. One of the events of the lockdown, as many have observed, is that we can see details in the creation around us that we did not have time to consider previously. Of course, it is a sin not to take note of God’s revealing of himself in creation. The psalms often use creation as a reason for praising God and telling him how amazing it all is. So maybe one consequence of the lockdown will be a new appreciation of all that God is doing around us all of the time.

It is not clear if the psalmist means deeds and wondrous works in general or if he has in mind the divine activity in the storm and the divine activity after the storm. Both options would be true. But we will now consider the storm, and then its consequences.

The God of the storm

The first detail to observe about this storm is that the psalmist does not assign this unwelcome experience to another god. In the pagan cultures around Israel, there was a belief in a storm god and that the appearance of a storm pointed to a conflict between gods who were disagreeing behind the scenes. In that scenario, it all depended on which god would win, with the obvious problem being that none of them existed.

The psalmist had a very different perspective because he acknowledged that the bringer of the storm was the living God. He is in control of all that happens within his creation, whether it happens to be a stormy or a calm scene. Moreover he does not find fault with God for bringing the storm. After all, he does not know all the reasons why God has brought it to pass. The psalmist acknowledges God’s sovereignty and wisdom even during a storm, even although the experience was very unpleasant for the sailors. 

The author does describe the effects of the storm on the sailors. We know that the severity of a storm varies in its effects on us. We can endure a storm on land easier than we can cope with one on the sea. In the details of the psalm, the storm became increasingly worse until they were unable to do anything. They could no longer control the ship and they did not know what to do. The number of sailors with their collective abilities were all bewildered. They were at their wits end.

Is such a scenario not a common experience in life? Something happens, like the rising of a wind. At that moment, it may not seem much. But the problem keeps on increasing and we discover that soon it is much to big too handle. Even if want others to help us, they cannot give any. They may problems of their own that dominate their lives, or they may be like Job’s friends, merely offering a set of pious platitudes that were not helpful in any way at all.

In the psalm, what was the reason why God sent the storm? It was not because of any particular sin that required some form of divine correction. The sailors were only engaged in their regular activities. Yet the storm came. The psalm provides the answer as to why God sent the storm. It was sent so that those experiencing it would pray to him. The storm was one of God’s ways of getting proper attention. After all, the storm did not cease until they prayed. 

This divine reason for sending storms is not limited to external ones. The Lord is able to send internal storms as well. While there are several ways in which he does this, I would mention two in more detail. The first is that God can cause internal storms when he shows our sins to us. By the work of the Spirit, he disturbs us with the ugliness and with the consequences of our sins. We scarcely realise that we are the same person that we thought we were a short time before. Why does God do this? He does it so that we will talk with him about our sins. And the storm will keep on getting worse until we do.

Another is that he may not want us to make certain decisions. The intention in itself may not be wrong in principle, but the Lord may not want us to go down that path. Perhaps we have made the decision without any real prayer for divine guidance. Instead, we have assumed that it was suitable for us. But the process does not go smoothly. God may be at work to get us to change, or he may only be at work to get us to speak to him about it. What is important is that we respond correctly to the storm that has come. I would suggest that every uncomfortable experience is a divine call to pray, and that God has brought that experience into our lives for that very purpose.

The God of answered prayer

What happened when they prayed to God in the storm? He answered their prayer and brought about a very peaceful situation. Is this not what happens when we pray to God about our sins? Obviously, such prayer has to be a request for pardon connected to the atoning work of Jesus on the cross. We discover that he went through a much bigger storm at Calvary in order for sinners like us to know the peace of the gospel. Yet what peace came to us when we repented of our sins and trusted in Jesus. We came into a situation of peace with God and enjoyed to some degree the peace of God in our hearts.

Has not peace come to us in a time of difficulty, whatever it was connected with, after we took the matter to the Lord in prayer. Sometimes we had to pray about the issue for a long time before the situation was sorted out, yet we were given a sense of peace that the prayer-answering God would eventually deal with it. We also receive peace by considering the numerous promises that the Lord has made in connection to what we go through, promises such as the fact that he is able to work all things together for good to them that love God.

The God who takes them to the harbour

We can imagine a boat setting out from Joppa, with the aim of getting to a port in north Africa or somewhere else on the Mediterranean Sea. Somewhere on the journey the crew encounter a storm so fierce that they despair of life and pray earnestly for divine deliverance. The Lord hears their cry, but they know they have not yet reached their destination. But the fact that God had heard would encourage them that he would hear them again in the next storm. Eventually they would reach the harbour they set sail for.

That is what happens to us as we sail on the journey of life. If we are Christians, we left the port of Conversion with the aim of sailing to Heaven. Along the way we go through experiences that require prayer and pleadings for divine help, and each experience gives us encouragement to continue and brings us nearer to the destination. Then, one day we will arrive there.

Why is heaven like a haven? No doubt, there are many answers to that question. One answer could be that there is no return voyage to make, which means that there will be no more storms and no occasions of desperate prayer. Yet heaven is more than a haven, it is also a desired haven. Why do we desire it? Again there are many possible answers to that question. 

We desire it because we want to go to the land of peace, and we enter it at its harbour. We desire it because we want to meet the inhabitants who have entered before us into that land after making a similar journey through this world. We desire it because we know that the Pilot of our ship, who has been invisible to our sight on the journey of life, will reveal himself in his beauty and glory on our arrival.

The God who should be praised (vv. 31-32)

We can understand why an Israelite sailor would want to go to the temple after he had returned home and thank the Lord publicly for his experiences on his recent voyage. He would have seen the wonderful works of the Creator God and he would want to testify to how he had answered the desperate prayers made by the crew in their time of danger. His statements of praise would not have been regarded as expressions of pride.

We have many reasons for thanking God on the journey of life. Every week is full of divine wonders. How many breaths did he enable us to make last week? What processes were involved in us having food on our tables? What amazing beauty we saw in the sky and what wonderful sounds could be heard in gardens from his creatures! We were able to read his Word and see the guidance he provides and the promises he makes. 

Above all, we have the wonders connected to our salvation. We have the pardon of our sins, the presence of the Spirit in our hearts, and the prospect of glory in the world to come. The redemption given to sinners not only offers blessings in this life, but cosmic blessings in the perfect universe that is the inheritance of God and his people – the eternal city, the place of real freedom, the place of perfect health, the endless haven of peace.

We praise our God for his covenant love shown towards those who recognise their need of him and who experience the fulfilment of his promises, because every fulfilment is a wonder. The final verses stress the importance of mutual praise – other believers need the encouragement of knowing what God has done in the life of their fellow worshippers.