Lost and Found: The Gospel for Wanderers Text: Psalm 107:4-9
Introduction: The Universal Experience of Being Lost
Every man, at some point, knows what it is to be lost. You might be lost in the literal sense, having taken a wrong turn in a strange city, with the sun going down and a growing sense of unease. Or you might be lost in a more profound, spiritual sense. This is the modern condition. Our entire civilization has taken a wrong turn, wandered off the ancient paths, and now finds itself in a desolate wasteland, hungry for meaning and thirsty for truth, with its soul fainting within it. They have no map, because they burned the mapmaker's book. They have no destination, because they deny that any such thing as a "city to dwell in" even exists. They are spiritually, morally, and intellectually homeless.
Psalm 107 is a grand anthem of redemption. It is a song for the redeemed of the Lord to sing, a testimony to His steadfast love. The psalm is structured around four different kinds of trouble that men find themselves in, and the repeated pattern of their deliverance. We have here the wanderers in the desert, prisoners in darkness, fools afflicted by their own sin, and sailors tossed on the stormy seas. In each case, the pattern is the same: they get into deep trouble, they cry out to the Lord, He delivers them, and the psalmist exhorts them to give thanks. This is the basic rhythm of the Christian life. Trouble, prayer, deliverance, praise. Repeat as necessary.
Our text today deals with the first of these groups: the wanderers. This is a picture that resonates throughout Scripture. Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Hagar wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. And in the New Testament, we are described as sheep who have gone astray. This passage is not just about ancient travelers who lost their way. It is a parable for every soul who has ever been lost in the wilderness of sin and rebellion against God. It is a story about you, before Christ found you. And it is a story about how God deals with His people when they stray. He does not abandon them to the wasteland; He uses the wasteland to teach them to cry out to Him.
The Text
They wandered in the wilderness along the way of the wasteland; They did not find an inhabited city. Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted within them. Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses. He led them by a straight way, To go to an inhabited city. Let them give thanks to Yahweh for His lovingkindness, And for His wondrous deeds to the sons of men! For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.
(Psalm 107:4-9 LSB)
The Desperate Condition (v. 4-5)
The psalmist begins by painting a stark picture of utter desperation.
"They wandered in the wilderness along the way of the wasteland; They did not find an inhabited city. Hungry and thirsty, Their soul fainted within them." (Psalm 107:4-5)
Notice the layers of lostness. They are in the "wilderness," a place of testing and danger. They are on the "way of the wasteland," which means their path leads to nowhere. This is not a scenic detour; it is a dead end. They are aimless, disoriented, and without a destination. The goal is an "inhabited city," a place of order, community, and safety. But they cannot find one. This is a perfect description of life apart from God. Men wander through the wasteland of their own autonomy, seeking a home, seeking a purpose, but they find nothing but more desert. Every path they take, every philosophy they try, every idol they build, is a road to nowhere.
This external disorientation leads to internal collapse. They are "hungry and thirsty." This is not just physical hunger. Man is a spiritual being, and he hungers for righteousness and thirsts for the living God. When he tries to feed his soul on the dust of the wasteland, the result is inevitable: "Their soul fainted within them." The Hebrew word for fainted here means to be overwhelmed, to be covered in darkness. It is a state of total spiritual exhaustion and despair. This is what happens when you reject the Bread of Life and the Living Water. You starve. This is the end point of all rebellion against God. It is not freedom; it is a fainting soul in a barren land.
The Divine Intervention (v. 6-7)
It is precisely at this point of utter helplessness that the turning point comes. When man is at the end of his rope, God is ready to act.
"Then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses. He led them by a straight way, To go to an inhabited city." (Psalm 107:6-7 LSB)
The first thing they do right is "they cried out to Yahweh." Notice they do not find the way themselves. They do not pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. They do not have a moment of enlightened self-discovery. They cry out. This is the prayer of desperation, the prayer of a man who knows he is completely and totally lost. And God hears this prayer. He is not waiting for you to clean yourself up. He is waiting for you to admit you are in the gutter. As soon as they cry out, He acts. "He delivered them out of their distresses." The deliverance is immediate and effective.
And what is the nature of this deliverance? "He led them by a straight way." God does not just rescue them from the wilderness; He gives them a new path. The old way was the "way of the wasteland," a crooked, meandering path to nowhere. God's way is a "straight way." This is the path of righteousness, the path of God's law, the path that leads directly to life. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). When God saves you, He puts you on the Way, who is Christ Himself. And where does this way lead? "To go to an inhabited city." God's goal for His people is not perpetual wandering. It is to bring them into His city, the New Jerusalem, the community of the saints, the Church. He saves us from isolation and brings us into a glorious fellowship.
The Required Response (v. 8)
Given this great deliverance, what is the only appropriate response? The psalmist tells us plainly.
"Let them give thanks to Yahweh for His lovingkindness, And for His wondrous deeds to the sons of men!" (Psalm 107:8 LSB)
This is the refrain that will echo throughout the psalm. The response to redemption is always gratitude. We are to give thanks for two things. First, for His "lovingkindness." This is the great Hebrew word hesed. It means covenant loyalty, steadfast love, mercy that is faithful and unending. This is not a vague feeling of goodwill on God's part. It is His ironclad commitment to His people, sealed in the blood of His Son. He saves us not because we are lovely, but because He is loving. His love is the cause of our salvation, not the result of it.
Second, we are to give thanks for His "wondrous deeds." Salvation is a miracle. It is a wonder. For God to take a lost, starving, fainting soul from the wasteland and set him on a straight path to His city is a greater wonder than the parting of the Red Sea. We should never get over it. We should never treat our salvation as commonplace. The Christian life is to be a life of continual, grateful astonishment at the wondrous deeds of God. And this thanksgiving is not to be a private affair. "Let them give thanks." It is a public declaration, a testimony to what God has done.
The Glorious Satisfaction (v. 9)
The psalm concludes this section by explaining why God's deliverance is so wonderful. It is because He truly satisfies the deepest needs of the human heart.
"For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good." (Psalm 107:9 LSB)
This brings us full circle. The problem in verse 5 was a hungry and thirsty soul. The solution in verse 9 is a God who satisfies and fills. The world offers junk food for the soul. It offers temporary pleasures that leave you emptier than before. But God gives that which is "good." He gives Himself. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied" (Matthew 5:6). He also said, "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again" (John 4:14).
This is the heart of the gospel. You were lost, but God found you. You were starving, but God fed you. You were on the road to nowhere, but God put you on the road home. He did not give you a map and wish you luck. He became the Way. He did not give you a meal to tide you over. He became the Bread of Life. Your deepest longings, the hunger and thirst of your soul that you tried to satisfy with a thousand worthless things, can only be met in Him. He doesn't just quench the thirst; He satisfies it. He doesn't just provide some food; He fills the soul with goodness.
Conclusion: From Wasteland to City of God
This is the testimony of every redeemed sinner. We were all wanderers in the wasteland. We were all trying to live in a world without God, and we found it to be a desert. Our souls were fainting within us. But then, in our trouble, we cried out to the Lord. And He, in His infinite, covenantal lovingkindness, heard us. He delivered us. He rescued us from our aimless wandering and set our feet on the straight way, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that way leads to a city. This is where our postmillennial hope is anchored. We are not just saved out of the world to be evacuated later. We are saved to be builders of a civilization, the city of God. Christ did not lead us out of the desert just to camp on the outskirts of the promised land. He is leading us in to possess it. The gospel is not a message of retreat, but of glorious conquest. The wasteland of this world is being transformed, inch by inch, into the garden of the Lord. The hungry are being filled, the thirsty are being satisfied, and the kingdom of our God is advancing.
So, let the redeemed of the Lord say so. Let us give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness. Let us tell the story of our rescue. And let us walk confidently on the straight way He has given us, knowing that it leads to the inhabited city, the glorious future that Christ has secured for His people, a world filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.