Bird's-eye view
This section of Psalm 107 provides the first of four case studies illustrating God's covenant faithfulness in delivering His people from dire circumstances. The psalmist paints a vivid picture of travelers utterly lost in a desolate wilderness, their resources depleted and their spirits broken. This physical desperation serves as a potent metaphor for the spiritual state of a person or a people alienated from God. The turning point is their cry of desperation to Yahweh, a cry which He immediately answers. God's salvation is comprehensive: He not only rescues them from their distress but also leads them to a place of stability and community. The required and fitting response to such a rescue is public thanksgiving, rooted in the recognition that God alone satisfies the deepest longings of the human soul. This is the fundamental pattern of redemption: from lostness to salvation, from desperation to satisfaction, all culminating in worship.
The central theme is God's hesed, His steadfast, covenantal love. This passage, and the entire psalm, is a summons for the redeemed to remember their deliverance and to declare God's wondrous works to the world. The journey from the wasteland to the inhabited city is the story of every believer, rescued from the aimless wilderness of sin and brought into the ordered community of the Church, the city of God. It is a story that begins with an honest cry for help and ends with a soul-satisfied song of praise.
Outline
- 1. The Fourfold Pattern of Redemption (Psalm 107:4-9)
- a. The Plight: Lost and Fainting (Ps 107:4-5)
- b. The Plea: A Cry in Trouble (Ps 107:6a)
- c. The Provision: Deliverance and Guidance (Ps 107:6b-7)
- d. The Praise: Thanksgiving for God's Goodness (Ps 107:8-9)
Context In Psalms
Psalm 107 serves as an introduction to the fifth and final book of the Psalter. It is a powerful call to worship, directed specifically to the "redeemed of Yahweh" (v. 2). The psalm is structured around a recurring refrain that details a four-step pattern: trouble, prayer, deliverance, and praise. The psalmist presents four distinct examples of this pattern: the lost in the wilderness (vv. 4-9), prisoners in darkness (vv. 10-16), the foolish afflicted with sickness (vv. 17-22), and sailors caught in a storm (vv. 23-32). Our passage, verses 4-9, is the first of these vignettes. The psalm as a whole celebrates God's active intervention in the chaotic and desperate situations of human life, demonstrating His sovereign power and His covenant love, His hesed, for His people.
Key Issues
- The Nature of Being Spiritually Lost
- The Efficacy of Desperate Prayer
- Salvation as Rescue and Guidance
- The Centrality of Thanksgiving in the Christian Life
- God as the True Satisfier of Soul-Hunger
- The Church as the "Inhabited City"
From Wasteland to City
The Christian life is a journey, and the Bible does not shy away from describing the terrain. Before we are found, we are lost. Before we are satisfied, we are starving. This psalm is for those who have been found, for those who have been fed. It is a summons to remember where we came from, not so that we might wallow in the memory, but so that we might give loud and lusty thanks to the One who brought us out. The first example the psalmist gives is that of the lost traveler, and it is a picture of every man born in Adam. We begin in a wasteland, and our only hope is a cry for a Guide.
Verse by Verse Commentary
4 They wandered in the wilderness along the way of the wasteland; They did not find an inhabited city.
The scene is one of utter disorientation. These are not people on a pleasant hike; they are wandering. The Hebrew implies a trackless, desolate waste. They are on a "way," but it is the way of the wasteland, which is to say, it is a way that leads nowhere. This is the perfect picture of a life lived apart from God. It is a life of motion without progress, activity without accomplishment. The goal of a traveler is a destination, a place of community and order, an "inhabited city." But in the wilderness of sin, there is no such city to be found. All paths lead to more of the same desolation. This is the state of fallen man: restless, aimless, and without a true home.
5 Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted within them.
The external condition of being lost leads to an internal crisis. Their supplies have run out. The hunger and thirst are literal, but they point to a deeper reality. A man made in the image of God is made to be sustained by God. When he is cut off from his source, his soul begins to fail. The word for "fainted" here describes a state of utter exhaustion and despair. The soul grows weak, overwhelmed, and gives up. This is what sin does. It promises satisfaction but delivers only a gnawing hunger and a parching thirst that ultimately crushes the human spirit. The wasteland offers no food, no water, and therefore, no hope.
6 Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.
Here is the great turning point. In the extremity of their desperation, when all self-reliance is stripped away, they finally do the one thing they should have done from the start. They cried out. This is not a polite, formal prayer. This is a raw shout for help from the depths of their being. And they cry out to Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God of Israel. The response is immediate and effective. "He delivered them." The deliverance is as total as the distress was. The Bible's testimony is consistent: God hears the desperate cry of the humble. He does not wait for us to clean ourselves up or find our own way back to the path. He responds to the cry that comes from the end of our rope.
7 He led them by a straight way, To go to an inhabited city.
God's salvation is never just a rescue from something; it is always a deliverance to something. He does not just pluck them out of the wilderness and leave them to their own devices. He becomes their guide. He leads them by a "straight way." The crooked, wandering path of the wasteland is replaced by a direct, purposeful road. God brings order to their chaos. And the destination is what they originally sought but could not find: an "inhabited city." He brings them into a place of stability, provision, and community. For the Christian, this is a picture of being brought out of the world's desolate confusion and into the life of the Church, the city of God, the outpost of the New Jerusalem.
8 Let them give thanks to Yahweh for His lovingkindness, And for His wondrous deeds to the sons of men!
This is the refrain, the central command of the psalm. What is the proper response to such a deliverance? Thanksgiving. The rescued are now obligated to become proclaimers. They are to give thanks, to confess, to publicly acknowledge Yahweh for two things. First, for His lovingkindness, His hesed. This is not a vague feeling of fondness; it is His rugged, unbreakable covenant loyalty. It is the love that promises and delivers. Second, they are to praise Him for His "wondrous deeds," His miracles, performed on behalf of the "sons of men." The deliverance they experienced was not a lucky break; it was a supernatural intervention. And this praise is not to be a private affair. It is a public testimony for all to hear.
9 For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.
The psalmist now gives the reason, the foundation, for the thanksgiving. Why should they praise Him? Because He actually solved their problem. He met their deepest need. Notice the totality of the language. He does not just give a drink; He satisfies the thirsty soul. He does not just provide a meal; He fills the hungry soul with goodness. This is not a temporary fix. This is a deep, lasting, soul-level satisfaction. All the counterfeit satisfactions of the wasteland are exposed as the garbage they are. Only God can fill the emptiness within the human heart. This points us directly to the Lord Jesus, who declared Himself to be the Bread of Life and the source of Living Water. In Him, the soul-faint find their strength, the hungry are filled, and the thirsty are satisfied forever.
Application
This passage is a mirror. In it, we are meant to see our own story. Every Christian was once a wanderer in the wasteland. We were pursuing paths that led nowhere, trying to quench our thirst with dust and satisfy our hunger with sand. Our souls were fainting within us, whether we were honest enough to admit it or not. And our story changed only when, by the grace of God, we cried out to Him in our trouble.
If you are a believer, this is your testimony. God did not just rescue you from Hell; He set your feet on a straight path and brought you into the community of the saints, the inhabited city. The application, therefore, is straightforward: give thanks. Your gratitude should not be a quiet, private sentiment. It should be a loud, public declaration of God's covenant faithfulness and His wondrous works. Your life should be a testimony that He is the one who satisfies the thirsty soul.
And if you are still wandering, if your soul is fainting within you, the application is just as clear. Your cleverness cannot find the path. Your own efforts cannot procure food and water. The wasteland has nothing to offer you but more wandering and eventual death. There is only one way out. You must cry out to Yahweh in your trouble. Abandon all self-reliance, confess your desperate need, and call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will deliver you from your distress. He will lead you home.