They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters,
Psalm 107 describes people in trouble who cry to God, and He rescues them. Here they are sailors far out at sea, which raises a question: why does God send His people where the water is deepest?
The psalm belongs to the closing section of the Psalms, where a rescued people look back over everything God brought them through. One writer places the sailors inside that backward look:
The fifth book has a particular bearing, because it retells the circumstances of the remnant after their restoration. It is their look back over all that has gone by… This refers to Israel brought back, and goes back over their history in the wilderness — deliverance from Egypt; "they that go down to the sea in ships," Ps. 107:23.
Commentators read "great waters" as the mass of the nations, and the trading as Israel's long scattering among them. On that reading the storm is not weather but hostility:
Here we see another striking mark of Israel: they are among those "who do business in great waters." Israel has been scattered among the nations (the great waters) for centuries, and shows itself as traders seeking their own gain. Have they found the nations friendly? Far from it! Rather, the Lord has pursued them, and at His command the strong wind rises on the waters (v. 25). Even scattered among the Gentiles, they have not found rest for the sole of their foot. Whatever money they may make is only at the cost of a peaceful existence.
Another writer reads the same picture as one man's story:
These verses (23-30) have obvious force and beauty in their plain meaning and their general application. Besides that, I believe we have a picture of Jacob's restless trouble. Like a troubled and frightened sailor, he wandered up and down the wide sea of nations without ease (Deut. 28:65). He was a friendless pilgrim under the Lord's displeasure, until he gained the long-desired rest at last, under the faithful guidance of Him who seeks His people in the dark and cloudy day (Ezek. 34:12).
Verse 24 says the sailors see what God does. The reason is that they are somewhere no one else goes, and one writer turns that into a rebuke of our safe habits:
"They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." (Ps. 107:23-24) How true this is! And yet our cowardly hearts shrink so much from those "great waters"! We prefer to carry on our trading in the shallows. As a result we fail to see "the works" and "wonders" of our God, for we can only see and know these "in the deep."
The same writer also reads the sailors as a picture of every believer's life. The voyage has a destination:
The special application is true. Yet here is also the general lot of the people of God. By their very occupation they are, as it were, sailors, called to see the works of the Lord on the deep… The "haven" is … in the new scene, which holds in it the promise of eternity.
The turn comes when the sailors' skill runs out and they call on the Lord. One writer shows how far that deliverance reaches, and names its one exception:
I have often been struck by that psalm which speaks of those who go down to the sea and do business in great waters. They come to their wits' end and can do nothing for themselves. Then they cry to the Lord in their trouble, and He delivers them out of their distresses. He never heard a cry of need from anyone without answering it — not perhaps in our way, but in His own. There was only One who cried and was not heard, and that was Christ.
The cry assumes you know whom to call. One writer contrasts the sailors in Jonah's ship:
They did not know Jehovah, and could not call on Him. So they turned to their own solutions — throwing the cargo overboard. Their prayers, their wisdom and their works were all useless.
Commentators repeatedly connect this passage with the Gospels, where the disciples live it out:
From verse 23 to 30, I see a clear allusion to the position the disciples were actually put in, as a type. It was shown for the purpose of faith in Mark 4:37 and following, John 6, Matthew 14, and so on.
- Storm — God Himself commands the wind that lifts the waves; He sends the trouble, and it is no accident.
- Deep — the shallows are safer and emptier; you see His works and wonders only where the water is over your head.
- Cry — at their wits' end the sailors can do nothing for themselves, so they call, and the Lord delivers them.
- Exception — He has never left a cry of need unanswered; only One cried and was not heard, and that was Christ.
- Haven — the long-desired rest comes at last, in a new scene that holds the promise of eternity.
These see the works of Jehovah, and his wonders in the deep.
Psalm 107 keeps repeating one pattern: people in trouble, a cry, a rescue, a call to give thanks. Here the trouble is the open sea. The strange part is where the psalm puts God's works: not in safe harbour, but out in the deep.
These sights belong to the deep, not to the shore. One writer asks what that costs us, since the deep is the last place we choose.
Yet our cowardly hearts shrink from those "great waters"! We prefer carrying on our trade in the shallows. As a result we fail to see "the works" and "wonders" of our God. We can only see and know them "in the deep."
These writers quote an older English Bible, which reads "works" and "wonders" where the ESV has "deeds" and "wondrous works."
Why does God let His people into such conditions at all? One writer answers by looking at what we are.
The very picture of trial is found in "those who go down to the sea in ships, who have their business in the great waters." But "these men see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." We need trial because of what we are. It is suited to our condition, and in it God's governmental ways are often seen most clearly.
The storm is not the last word. One writer looks at what it yields, and at the God who is behind it.
Here the darkness and the sorrow, the night and the storm, yield their "peaceable fruits" — at least afterward. How reassuring it is to know this living God! We are not too small for His care, and nothing in our lives, no need of our souls, is hidden from Him... God does not always show Himself most in great and unusual events.
Sailors see the wonders. That does not mean they know whose wonders they are. One writer describes a crew caught in a storm sent by God, with no one to call on.
Psalm 107:23-32 gives a wonderful description of a storm at sea, commanded and sent by Jehovah, and the result is this: "Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed." These mariners did not know Jehovah, and could not call upon Him... instead of calling on Him, they called every man on his god. Since such gods could neither save nor help them, they turned to their own devices — throwing the cargo overboard. However, their prayers and their wisdom and their works were all useless.
One writer reads the trading voyage as Israel's long scattering, with the sea standing for the nations Israel lived among.
Israel has for centuries been scattered among the nations (the great waters), and show themselves as traders seeking their own gain. Have they found the nations friendly? Far from it!... The waves of the sea (Gentile opposition) mount up to heaven, then go down to the depths, their constant turmoil causing their souls to melt.
Another writer keeps that special meaning and adds a wider one. The voyage belongs to all God's people, and it has an end.
True as the special application is, yet here is the general lot of the people of God, who are, as it were, mariners by their very occupation, called to see the works of the Lord upon the deep... The "haven" is in the new scene, which has in it the promise of eternity.
The psalm's storm has a face in the Gospels. People in danger cried out to Jesus, and the answer came at once.
They come to Him saying, "Lord, save." And at once He responded to their cry. Here we see Him from the side of His Godhead, the mighty, the almighty One in majesty supreme... The blessed One seen in the four Gospels is God become Man, the Word become flesh.
- Deep — God shows His works and wonders in deep water. Trade in the shallows and you miss them.
- Trial — the storm is not wasted. It suits what we are, and in it God's ways show most clearly.
- Cry — sight alone saves no one. He brings out those who cry to Him and makes the storm calm; sailors who did not know Him could not call, and their own efforts were useless.
- Care — the storm teaches a living God. We are not too small for His care, and He shows Himself in ordinary things too.
- Haven — the voyage ends. Every believer is a mariner by calling, and the haven lies in a new scene that holds the promise of eternity.
For he speaketh, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof
Psalm 107 gives four pictures of people in trouble who cry to God, and He rescues them. This verse belongs to the fourth, where sailors far out at sea meet a gale. The wind does not just rise on its own. God commands it.
This storm is no accident of weather. Everything in nature runs on God's word.
All the forces of nature act according to divine laws. "Laws of nature" are but laws of God, the way in which all things are upheld by the word of His power. He has not given up His rights as God of providence any more than His place as Creator. He is sovereign and does according to His own will, blessed be His name. He holds the winds in His fists, and rides upon the storm. "The sea is His, and He made it;" and the stormy wind, which He commands and raises up, only fulfils His word.
If God raises the wind, the next question is why. One writer applies this verse to Jonah, the prophet who ran from God by boarding a ship.
If the servant under temptation tries to forget God, God does not forget His servant, nor can He allow him to disregard His authority. So He pursues him with His storm. He commands and raises the stormy wind. He does it surely not to destroy His servant, but to wake him up to a sense of his position and danger. Yes, the Lord loves His servants too well to let them continue in rebellion. But while He is active in pursuit of Jonah, Jonah is asleep surrounded by the signs of His presence and power. Who will not recall, by contrast, the storm on another sea, where He who had made the sea lay asleep on a pillow!
Sailors in deep water see what people in the shallows never see. That has an uncomfortable edge for us.
How true this is! And yet our cowardly hearts shrink so much from those "great waters!" We prefer to carry on our trade in the shallows. As a result we fail to see "the works" and "wonders" of our God. These can only be seen and known "in the deep."
The psalm works through several ways life brings people low. This one is ordinary working life turning violent.
Fourthly, men are put to the test by the circumstances of life. As men have to do with the business of this world, they have to meet the storms of life. Trouble meets them, and at times brings them to "their wit's end." Then they cry to the Lord. They find that He can still the storm and bring men to their desired haven, so that they may praise the Lord for His goodness and exalt Him in the assembly of God's people.
The same writer draws the four pictures together, and the pattern covers the whole of a person.
So God lets us see the way He has taken with His people. In learning their own frailty, they may discover the goodness of the Lord. God deals with men in soul, spirit, body, and circumstances. He does this so that they may find their resource in the goodness and enduring mercy of the Lord.
Another writer reads this section as Israel's history. On this view the sea is the nations, and the wind is what has followed them there.
For centuries Israel has been scattered among the nations (the great waters). They show themselves as traders seeking their own gain. Have they found the nations to be friendly? Far from it! Rather, the Lord has pursued them, and at His command the strong wind rises on the waters (v. 25). Even scattered among the Gentiles, they have not found rest for the sole of their foot. The waves of the sea (Gentile opposition) mount up to heaven, then go down to the depths, and their constant turmoil makes their souls melt (v. 26).
One writer links this power over sea and waves to the Gospels, and to how the disciples answered it.
For such power over sea and waves, compare Psalm 107:23-31. Matthew's parallel (Matthew 14:33) shows that the disciples worshipped Him as Son of God.
- Commanded — the stormy wind is not loose; it rises at a word and only fulfils that word.
- Purpose — God sends the storm to wake a man, not to destroy him; He loves His servants too well to leave them in rebellion.
- Depth — we see His works and wonders only in deep water, so staying in the shallows costs us that sight.
- Reach — God tests soul, spirit, body and circumstances in turn, so we learn our frailty and discover His goodness.
- Haven — God answers the cry and stills the storm, and the power that raised the wind brings them to the harbour they wanted.
They mount up to the heavens, they go down to the depths; their soul is melted because of trouble;
Psalm 107 paints four pictures of people in trouble: wanderers, prisoners, the sick, and sailors. Verse 26 sits in the fourth, where a storm throws a ship up and drops it down until the crew's courage melts.
Commentators read the sea scene as the last of four tests. This one is the trouble that comes from ordinary life and work.
Fourth, the circumstances of life put men to the test. Because people deal with the business of this world, they have to meet the storms of life. Trouble comes, and at times it brings them to "their wit's end." Then they cry to the Lord. They find that He can still the storm and bring them to their desired haven.
The rise and plunge of the verse is not a rare disaster. It describes how a life of faith normally moves.
Almost everyone who has taken a prominent place in the history of the Church of God has had a course marked by ups and downs. Of them, as of those who go down to the sea in ships and do business on the great waters, we may say: "They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight." They are sometimes on the mountain, sometimes in the valley; at one time basking in the sunshine, at another beaten by the storm.
The same writer adds that the roughness is chosen, not accidental, and that it trains us for what is ahead.
The path through the desert must be rough, and it is good that it is so. Every right-minded person would rather be set on a rough road than on a "slippery" one. The Lord sees that we need the training of roughness and hardness. It makes the rest at the end sweeter. It also fits us better for the place we are yet to occupy.
Commentators differ here. Others read the sea as the nations, and the traders as Israel scattered among them.
Israel has for centuries been scattered among the nations (the great waters), and show themselves as traders seeking their own gain. Have they found the nations to be friendly? Far from it! Instead, the Lord has pursued them, and at His command the strong wind rises on the waters. Even dispersed among the Gentiles, they have not found rest for the sole of their foot. What money they may make is only at the expense of their peaceful existence. The waves of the sea (Gentile opposition) mount up to heaven, then go down to the depths, their constant turmoil causing their souls to melt.
Why let the courage melt at all? One writer, quoting this passage, answers that God times His help for the moment when nothing human is left.
How often the Lord waits until all human hopes have fled, until His people have accepted the sentence of death in themselves! Then He delights to step in and deliver them. So they learn that when refuge fails them, He is their refuge and their portion in the land of the living.
One writer found himself at wit's end, and answered it with this psalm.
"Wit's end" is where I found myself this morning when I rose. But faith said, "If (Ps. 107) wit's end lies in the path, God is the One who brings us there, and He is beyond and above it."
All four scenes lead to the same discovery.
So we may see the way God has taken with His people, so that, in learning their own frailty, they may discover the goodness of the Lord. God deals with men in soul, spirit, body, and circumstances, so that they may find their resource in the goodness and enduring mercy of the Lord.
- Sent — the tossing is not random weather. It is the test that comes through ordinary work. It ends with God stilling the storm and bringing people to their desired haven.
- Shaped — mountain and valley, sunshine and storm, mark the normal course of faith. God chooses a rough road over a slippery one, and it trains us.
- Scattered — read of Israel among the nations, the rising and falling waves are centuries of hostility. They leave the soul melting and no rest anywhere.
- Stripped — God often waits until every human hope is gone. Then people learn that He Himself is their refuge when all other refuge fails.
- Discovered — He deals with soul, spirit, body, and circumstances for one end. People learn their own frailty and find their resource in His goodness and lasting mercy.
They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and they are at their wits' end
The verse sits in the middle of a storm at sea. Skilled sailors lose control of their ship, and their own wisdom gives out. Two questions follow: why does God bring people to that point, and what happens when their skill runs out?
The whole of Psalm 107 gathers cases of people ruined by their own choices and rescued when they call out. One writer sums up its subject and its cast.
The psalm goes through every kind of deliverance, and each one comes as an answer to the cry of distress from a man who has brought himself low by his own folly. The desire behind it is that men would praise Jehovah for His goodness, and for His wonderful works for the children of men.
The sailors are not unlucky. The wind that lifts the waves came at God's command, and the sea He made is the very thing that empties man of self-importance.
The great sea stretches out, and its waters, held as a heap under Jehovah's hand, reduce man to nothing before Him (Psalm 107:23-30). ... The word for "depths" here is the plural of the word in Genesis 1:2, tehom, which means the "raging deep." He keeps these depths beneath the quiet and smiling surface, in storehouses from which He brings them out whenever He has use for them, with decisive effect. So the pagan sailors who carried Jonah, and Jonah himself, were taught the folly of trying to escape from Jehovah's power.
Commentators differ on whether to read the seafarers only as sailors or as a picture of the nation. One takes the "great waters" as the Gentile world in which Israel has traded and suffered for centuries.
Israel has for centuries been scattered among the nations (the great waters), and shows itself as traders seeking their own gain. Have they found the nations friendly? Far from it! Rather, the Lord has pursued them, and at His command the strong wind rises on the waters (v. 25). ... The waves of the sea (Gentile opposition) mount up to heaven, then go down to the depths, their constant turmoil causing their souls to melt (v. 26). Reeling to and fro and staggering like a drunken man, they finally come to their wits' end (v. 27).
The staggering is not wasted. God often lets things go that far on purpose, and then steps in.
How often the Lord waits until all human hope has gone, until His people have accepted the sentence of death in themselves. Then He delights to step in for their deliverance. In this way they learn that when every refuge fails them, He is their refuge and their portion in the land of the living.
This is not a rare experience reserved for sailors. One writer, commenting on Peter sinking in the water, treats it as standard equipment for anyone who follows God.
Well, every saint of God gets brought to his wits' end. You find that in Psalm 107.
The verse also explains why prayer so often starts late. As long as we can still manage, we manage.
Prayer is the expression that the hope of the one who is praying lies outside all visible things. The meaning of prayer is that you can do nothing. The ground of all prayer is that you have lost every resource but God. I do not believe we truly pray until we realize this. As long as we can arrange things for ourselves we do not pray. We tackle the difficulties in front of us and try to deal with them; but when we have come to our wits' end, then we turn to God.
The One who made the sea later crossed it in a boat with His disciples.
The One who created the sea was in that ship on the stormy sea, and rose in His power and rebuked — what a word! — the winds and the sea. ... He had asked devotion and obedience from His disciples. Now He shows them that He is with them. In the middle of storm and waves they are secure, kept and saved by His power.
- Sent — The wind is not bad luck. God commands it, and the sea He made reduces man to nothing before Him.
- Stripped — The reeling and staggering show that their skill is gone. Their souls melt, and their wisdom runs out.
- Waited — God often delays until every human hope has gone. Then His people learn that He is their refuge when all else fails.
- Cry — Real prayer starts where resources end. As long as we can arrange things ourselves, we do not pray.
- Calm — The One who created the sea was in the boat. He rose and rebuked the winds and the waves, and His people are kept and saved by His power.
Then they cry unto Jehovah in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses;
Psalm 107 tells of people in four kinds of trouble. Four times the same line returns: they cried, and He delivered them. Verse 28 is that line for the last group: sailors in a storm God Himself sent. It raises the questions the psalm turns on. Who may cry? When does the cry come? What does God do with it?
The verse belongs to the fourth and last scene of the psalm. Here the test comes through the circumstances of life at sea.
Fourth, the circumstances of life put men to the test. Men have to deal with the business of this world, so they have to meet the storms of life. Trouble comes, and at times it brings them to "their wit's end." Then they cry to the Lord. They find that He can still the storm and bring them to the haven they wanted, so that they may praise the Lord for His goodness and exalt Him in the assembly of God's people.
The four scenes together cover the whole of a person's life.
So we may see the way God has taken with His people. His aim is that, in learning their own frailty, they may discover the goodness of the Lord. God deals with men in soul, spirit, body, and circumstances, so that they may find their resource in the goodness and enduring mercy of the Lord.
The word "then" is the hinge of the verse. The cry comes after the reeling and staggering of the verse before. One writer sees a pattern in that order.
How often the Lord waits like this until all human hope has gone. He waits until His people have accepted the sentence of death in themselves. Then He delights to step in and deliver them. So they learn that when every refuge fails them, He is their refuge and their portion in the land of the living.
The verse names who they cried to. That matters. The sailors on Jonah's ship prayed hard in the storm, but not to Him.
These sailors did not know Jehovah, the true God. He made the sea and the dry land, and Jonah knew Him. In their trouble they turned to the false gods of the nations. In Psalm 107:23-32 we get a wonderful description of a storm at sea, commanded and sent by Jehovah... These sailors did not know Jehovah, and could not call on Him.
The verse says nothing about people mending their ways. What changes is the direction of their need.
The wearied and fainting soul is in want, but this want turns into a cry to the Lord. Mercy is surely there. But this could be true even where their affliction and distress was discipline, and the fruit of rebellion... When men were daring and braved dangers, the storm of the sea brought them to their wits' end. The sea gives them no footing. Then the Lord comes in, gives peace, and leads them to the haven they longed for.
Some writers see the sea here as a picture of the nations, and the calm as Israel's future peace.
At last they cry out to the Lord. They find Him infinitely gracious in bringing them out of their distresses (v. 28). He calms the storm, which speaks of His eventually subduing the surging turmoil of the nations (v. 29)... At long last Israel will be quiet from fear of evil, and their gladness will be overflowing. So God brings them to their desired haven, the most welcome peace of the millennium.
That reading carries a caution about how far the psalm may be pressed.
Israel is the great object-lesson of man's folly and distress — in the land, out of it, and on the sea. Israel cries to Jehovah, and He hears in His unfailing mercy. At last He delivers them from the enemy and gathers them out of the lands on every side... to enjoy the kingdom. It is in no way the church blessed with Christ in the heavenly places, though the church may well profit from it all.
One writer identifies the "He" of this psalm with Jesus in the boat on the lake.
The "He" who created the sea was in that ship on the stormy sea and rose in His power and rebuked (what a word!) the winds and the sea... He had asked His disciples for devotion and obedience. Now He shows them that He is with them. In the middle of storm and waves they are secure, for His power keeps and saves them.
- Trouble — the storm is sent, not an accident. It is one of four tests in the psalm, reaching soul, spirit, body, and circumstances.
- Wit's end — God often waits until every human hope has gone, so that His people learn He is their only refuge.
- Cry — deliverance begins when want turns into a cry to the Lord Himself, not to false gods.
- Calm — the One who made the sea was in the boat, and He rebuked the wind and the waves.
- Haven — the storm ends at a destination: promised rest for Israel, and truth the church may profit from, though the psalm is not about the church.
He maketh the storm a calm, and the waves thereof are still
The psalm has just shown sailors in a storm they cannot handle — reeling, staggering, at their wits' end. Then one short line turns it all around, and it raises three questions: who sent the storm, what stopped it, and what waits on the other side?
The wind that terrified the sailors was not bad luck. It rose at God's word. One writer applies the whole passage to Israel's history:
Israel has for centuries been scattered among the nations (the great waters), and shows itself as traders seeking their own gain. Have they found the nations friendly? Far from it! Rather, the Lord has pursued them, and at His command the strong wind rises on the waters (v. 25).
The calm follows a cry. In verse 28 the sailors run out of options and call out to the Lord. One writer counts this as the fourth trial in the psalm:
Fourthly, men are put to the test by the circumstances of life. As men have to do with the business of this world, they have to meet the storms of life; they are faced with trouble, and at times are brought to "their wits' end." Then they cry to the Lord, and find that He can still the storm and bring men to their desired haven, that they may praise the Lord for His goodness, and exalt Him in the assembly of God's people.
One writer links this verse to the night the disciples were caught in a storm on the lake. The One who made the sea was in the boat with them:
"He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed." The "He" who created the sea was in that ship on the stormy sea, and rose in His power and rebuked (what a word!) the winds and the sea. How suggestive it all is. He had asked devotedness and obedience of His disciples, and now He shows them that He is with them, and in the middle of storm and waves they are secure, kept and saved by His power.
The sea in this psalm stands for the nations. So the calm reaches beyond one rescue at sea, to a peace that has not yet come:
At last, crying out to the Lord, they find the Lord infinitely gracious in bringing them out of their distresses (v. 28). He calms the storm, which speaks of His eventually subduing the surging turmoil of the nations (v. 29), which will be at the end of the Great Tribulation. At long last Israel will be quiet from fear of evil, and their gladness will be overflowing.
Another writer pictures the peace God brings after long affliction:
…who had turned their long-endured storm of affliction to the calm sunshine of lasting peace.
The verse promises calm to people who cry to the Lord. But what about people in danger who do not know Him? One writer points to the sailors in the book of Jonah:
These sailors did not know Jehovah, and could not call on Him. Scripture rightly asks, "How then are they to call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?" These men had not heard, so they could not believe in the true God. Instead of calling on Him, they each called on his own god. Since such gods could neither save nor help them, they turned to their own devices — throwing the cargo overboard.
The psalm's sailors went to sea on business. One writer says the same is true of God's people:
True as the special application is, yet here is the general lot of the people of God, who are, as it were, by their very occupation mariners, called to see the works of the Lord on the deep… The "haven" is in the new scene, which has in it the promise of eternity.
- His wind. The wind that terrified the sailors rose at the Lord's command. The storm was never out of His control.
- His ear. The calm comes after the cry; people at their wits' end are the ones He answers.
- His voice. The One who stills the sea in this psalm rose in the boat and rebuked the wind. The Maker of the sea was on it.
- His timetable. The sea pictures the nations, so the full calm is still ahead: the turmoil subdued, and Israel quiet from fear of evil.
- His haven. God's people are sailors by calling, sent onto deep water to see His works. The voyage ends in a harbour that belongs to eternity.
And they rejoice because they are quiet; and he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psalm 107 takes sailors out to sea and drives them to their wits' end. This verse ends the story: the water goes quiet, and they land. But whose harbour is it, and who steers the ship there? Commentators answer on three levels — the storms of ordinary life, Israel's future peace, and the Lord who brings the ship in Himself.
The psalm gives four pictures of trouble, and this is the fourth: men at sea, at work. One writer shows how that work becomes a test, and where the cry of tested men leads.
Fourthly, the circumstances of life put men to the test. Men have to do with the business of this world, so they have to meet the storms of life. Trouble comes, and at times it brings them to "their wits' end." Then they cry to the Lord. They find that He can still the storm and bring men to their desired haven, so that they may praise the Lord for His goodness, and exalt Him in the assembly of God's people.
A haven is a harbour. One writer traces our everyday word opportunity back to the same picture — coming in near port.
Opportunity is a wonderful word. In its derivation it means arriving at the harbour — ob, near; portus, harbour. God knows our desires to please Him, and these desires, if given by Him, He will fulfil and support, and bring us right into our desired harbour. May we not miss our way.
The verse notes the relief before it notes the arrival: they are glad first that the water has stopped raging. One writer reads that calm sea as a picture of Israel's future, when the nations stop raging too.
He calms the storm. This speaks of the day He will subdue the surging turmoil of the nations (v. 29), at the end of the Great Tribulation. At last Israel will be quiet from fear of evil, and their gladness will be overflowing. So God brings them to their desired haven, the most welcome peace of the millennium.
One writer sets this verse beside the night the disciples took Jesus into their boat. The calm and the arrival came together, with Him.
He came to His disciples, and they received Him into the ship; they heard His word; and His word stayed the storm so that there was peace at once. He took away what threatened their destruction. More than that, you will read that He brought them to their desired haven. When Jesus came to them, they found they were exactly where they wanted to go. How did all this come about? Through His power, that Almighty power that resides in the person of Jesus.
Another writer carries the same scene forward to a day still ahead.
One day He will rejoin His Jewish disciples in their unequalled trouble at the end of the age. He will call for a calm which is not the church's portion while on earth. He will bring the old ship at once into the desired haven… For heaven and for the earth, for the church as for Israel, Jesus is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.
"Desired" sounds like the traveller's own choice of port. One writer tests that word against the life of Jacob, an early father of Israel. God's harbour proved better than the one Jacob steered for.
He was a constant schemer until near the end of his career. He was always plotting, always seeking his own ends in clever ways. Alongside this we see God dealing with him in discipline. God brought him to an end of his cleverness, and at last brought him to the desired haven — that is, to the end God Himself proposed. That end went far beyond anything Jacob had in view.
God brings us to that end through the storm, not around it.
Wild winds of opposition may arise. The waters may run high, and the waves may break into our little boat. But greater is He who is for us than all that can be against us. He lets the faith of His loved ones be tested, so that their faith in Him and their knowledge of Himself may grow. As of old, when His disciples crossed the troubled sea, He draws near, and He brings us to our desired haven.
- Cry — the storm tests men in the middle of ordinary work. The turning point comes when men at their wits' end cry to the Lord.
- Calm — He stills the sea by His word; the same power that hushed the lake will subdue the raging of the nations.
- Gladness — relief comes the moment the waters are quiet, before the shore is even in sight.
- Haven — the harbour is the end God proposed, and it goes beyond the port the traveller was steering for.
- Praise — the voyage ends in thanksgiving among God's gathered people.
Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men;
Psalm 107 tells four rescue stories: wanderers, prisoners, the sick, and sailors. The same line ends each one, and verse 31 sounds it a fourth and last time — so why repeat it, and who is meant to say it?
This verse repeats an appeal already made three times. The next verse widens the circle of those who join in.
Verse 31 is therefore a repetition of verses 8, 15, and 21. What reason indeed they have for profound thanksgiving to the Lord! In fact, verse 32 brings the whole assembly or congregation of the people into the praise and exaltation of the Great Deliverer!
Another translation words the verse as mercy and wonders, and carries straight on to where that praise is to be made:
O that they might give thanks to Jehovah for His mercy and His wonders to the sons of men! And let them exalt Him in the congregation of the people, and praise Him in the meeting of the elders.
Each refrain follows a rescue, and the rescue answers a cry from someone who brought himself low.
But the proper theme of the psalm is the goodness of Jehovah. It goes through every kind of deliverance, and each one answers the cry of distress of a man who has brought himself low by his own folly. With it goes the wish that men would praise Jehovah for His goodness, and for His wonderful works for the children of men. Israel is the one in whom this can be fully learned.
One writer says that hard times are often what turn a person to God:
Now God would turn the thoughts of men to the highest good. He wants them to find their wealth and joy in Him. And we learn something that multitudes have experienced, and that the Scriptures state plainly: it is often only in hours of distress that men will turn to Him.
Verse 31 closes the fourth scene: men on a ship, at their wits' end, brought through. One writer reads the storm as the turmoil of the nations, and the calm that follows as Israel's promised peace.
At last, crying out to the Lord, they find the Lord infinitely gracious in bringing them out of their distresses (v. 28). He calms the storm (v. 29). This speaks of the day He will subdue the surging turmoil of the nations, at the end of the Great Tribulation. At long last Israel will be quiet from fear of evil, and their gladness will overflow. So God brings them to their desired haven, the most welcome peace of the millennium.
The same picture has been read of the individual believer too, in the promise that God finishes what He starts:
Opportunity is a wonderful word. In its derivation it means, arriving at the harbour — ob, near; portus, harbour. How comforting are the words, "So He brings them to their desired haven" (Ps. 107:30). God knows our desires to please Him, and these desires, if given by Him, He will fulfil and support, and bring us right into our desired harbour.
The call in this verse is wide. God's dealings with one nation teach everyone else, and this verse calls them into the praise.
Those who watch and understand these things will, as always, understand the lovingkindness of Jehovah — despite all the miseries of Israel, and even through them. But His dealings are a pattern of instruction for the children of men today. Verses 31 and 32 call them to carry out this praise in Israel, with the assembly joining them.
One writer sees the words of verse 31 taken up by Jesus Himself, in the daily work of His mercy.
During the ministry of Jesus, the works of His mercy never stopped. He spread them over land and sea alike, by night and by day. The Servant of Jehovah never grew tired of laying out the lovingkindnesses of Heaven before the dull eyes of Israel. In spirit He took up the Psalmist's words, "Let them thank the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man!" (Psalm 107:31).
- Cry — the refrain follows a cry from someone who had brought himself low. God's goodness is praised because it answered distress.
- Rescue — the words mean mercy and wonders. God stills the storm, and the calm is His doing, not the sailors'.
- Haven — God does not stop at rescue. He brings them to the harbour they wanted.
- Praise — verse 31 asks for it a fourth time. Verse 32 pulls in the whole congregation, so private relief becomes public thanks.
- Reach — the appeal goes to "the children of men." One people's history teaches everyone, and the same works of mercy appeared later in Jesus.
Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the session of the elders.
Psalm 107 tells four stories of people in trouble who cried to the Lord and found rescue: wanderers, prisoners, the sick, and sailors caught in a storm. This verse closes the fourth story, and it calls the rescued out of private relief into a public gathering — the people and their elders.
The section that ends here starts with men going out to sea on business. A storm catches them. One writer traces the path from that storm to this gathering:
Fourth, the circumstances of life put men to the test. Men deal with the business of this world, so they have to meet the storms of life. They meet trouble, and at times they come to "their wit's end." Then they cry to the Lord. They find that He can still the storm and bring them to their desired haven, so that they may praise the Lord for His goodness and exalt Him in the assembly of God's people.
The line just before this one has already appeared three times in the psalm. What is new in our verse is who is doing the praising:
Verse 31 is therefore a repetition of verses 8, 15, and 21. What reason indeed they have for profound thanksgiving to the Lord! In fact, in verse 32 the whole assembly, or congregation, of the people is to share in praising and exalting the Great Deliverer!
What comes after the storm? One writer sees rest in their own land, and reads this gathering as the calm that follows a long affliction:
So the reminder to praise that follows (verse 32) mentions the gathered people and their elders. They are now called on to celebrate, in the quiet resting places of Immanuel's land, His faithful goodness and His might. He had turned their long-endured storm of affliction into the calm sunshine of lasting peace.
Four rescues stand behind this call to praise. One writer lists them, and what each one turned into:
As wanderers among the nations they suffered, and yet they did not perish as the nation set apart. Now He has brought them back to the city where they can live, to their own land. They had rebelled against the words of God and sat as prisoners in darkness and the shadow of death. Now they are free. He brought them out of the darkness, out of judicial blindness, out of national and spiritual death, into life and light. They were fools because of their sins; but now His Word has healed them. They were the storm-tossed nation on the restless waves of the sea, and those waves stand for the nations of the world. But now the storm is past, the sea of nations is calm, and He has brought them into the desired haven. For all this they praise Him.
Why call in a crowd at all? One writer answers from what God's Name is:
A heart full of praise will look for partners in it too, and His Name will be a shared joy. For His Name is simply the revelation of Himself.
Why let the storm come at all? The same writer sums up God's design in the whole psalm:
So we are allowed to see the way God has taken with His people. He takes that way so that they learn their own frailty and, in learning it, discover the goodness of the Lord. This is how God deals with men in soul, spirit, body, and circumstances: so that they may find their resource in the goodness and enduring mercy of the Lord.
- Storm — the verse closes the fourth rescue story. Men at their wit's end cry to the Lord, and He stills the storm.
- Purpose — He lets the storm come for a reason. People learn their own frailty, and there they discover His goodness.
- Haven — one writer sees a nation's settled rest after long wandering: the long storm of affliction turned to lasting calm in their own land.
- Congregation — the thanks called for three times before now belongs to everyone. The whole assembly praises, people and elders together.
- Company — a full heart looks for partners. It says God's Name out loud, because that Name is the revelation of God Himself.