The Lord of Reversals Text: Psalm 107:33-43
Introduction: A See Saw Providence
We have a tendency to think of God's providence as a straight line. We want our blessings to be stable, predictable, and preferably, ever increasing. We want the Dow Jones to only go up, our health to never fail, and our nation to be perpetually secure. But this is not the picture the Bible paints. The God of Scripture is a God of dramatic reversals. He is constantly turning the world upside down in order to get it right side up. He does not operate on a flat line; He governs the world on a see saw.
Psalm 107 is a grand anthem to the steadfast love of the Lord, His hesed, His covenant loyalty. The first thirty two verses give us four vignettes of God's people in distress, wanderers, prisoners, fools, and sailors, and how they cried out to the Lord and were delivered. But now, in this final section, the psalmist zooms out. He gives us the underlying principle of God's governance. He shows us the theology behind the testimonies. God's world is a place of startling transformations, and these transformations are not random. They are not the result of blind fate or impersonal economic forces. They are the direct, personal, and moral actions of a sovereign God who judges evil and exalts the humble.
This is a profoundly uncomfortable doctrine for modern man, including many modern Christians. We want a God who only builds up, who only encourages, who only makes pools of water. We are fine with the second half of this passage. But we want to quietly edit out the first half, where God turns rivers into a wilderness. But you cannot have the one without the other. The God who blesses is also the God who curses. His smile is glorious, but His frown is terrible. And both are expressions of His perfect righteousness. This passage teaches us to see the hand of God not just in the fat years, but also in the lean years. It teaches us that geography is theology. The landscape of a nation is a moral portrait of its people. And if we are wise, we will learn to read the signs.
The Text
He makes rivers into a wilderness And springs of water into a thirsty ground; A fruitful land into a salt waste, Because of the evil of those who inhabited it. He makes a wilderness into a pool of water And a dry land into springs of water; And there He causes the hungry to inhabit, So that they may establish an inhabited city, And sow fields and plant vineyards, And produce a fruitful harvest. Also He blesses them and they multiply greatly, And He does not let their cattle decrease. But when they decrease and are bowed down Through oppression, evil, and sorrow, He pours contempt upon nobles And makes them wander in a pathless void. But He sets the needy securely on high away from affliction, And makes his families like a flock. The upright see it and are glad; But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. Who is wise? Let him keep these things, And carefully consider the lovingkindesses of Yahweh.
(Psalm 107:33-43 LSB)
Sovereign Reversal: From Blessing to Curse (vv. 33-34)
The psalmist begins with the downward stroke of God's power, the de-creation that results from sin.
"He makes rivers into a wilderness And springs of water into a thirsty ground; A fruitful land into a salt waste, Because of the evil of those who inhabited it." (Psalm 107:33-34)
Notice the active verbs. God "makes" this happen. This is not a passive permission. This is not Mother Nature having a bad day. The Lord God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, personally intervenes to turn abundance into desolation. Rivers and springs, the very sources of life and prosperity in an arid land, are turned into their opposites. A fruitful land, a veritable garden, is transformed into a salt waste, a place of permanent sterility, like Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the psalmist gives us the explicit reason. This is not arbitrary. This is not a fit of divine pique. It is "because of the evil of those who inhabited it." This is the principle of covenant consequences. God ties the productivity of the land to the morality of the people. This is written all through the law of Moses. In Deuteronomy 28, God lays out the blessings for obedience, rain in its season, abundant harvests, and the curses for disobedience, the heavens becoming bronze and the earth iron. When a people collectively thumbs their nose at the Creator, He makes His creation thumb its nose right back at them.
We must not miss the polemical force of this. In the pagan world, prosperity was a matter of appeasing fickle, territorial deities. A drought meant Baal was sulking. A flood meant the river god was angry. The Bible cuts through all that nonsense. There is one God who rules all things, and He operates on a consistent, moral basis. Creation is not a haunted house; it is a courtroom. The land itself testifies for or against its inhabitants. When a nation institutionalizes wickedness, when it calls evil good and good evil, it is sowing salt in its own fields. The resulting desolation is not an accident; it is a harvest.
Sovereign Reversal: From Curse to Blessing (vv. 35-38)
But just as swiftly as God can de-create, He can re-create. The see saw goes up.
"He makes a wilderness into a pool of water And a dry land into springs of water; And there He causes the hungry to inhabit, So that they may establish an inhabited city, And sow fields and plant vineyards, And produce a fruitful harvest. Also He blesses them and they multiply greatly, And He does not let their cattle decrease." (Psalm 107:35-38 LSB)
Here is the exact opposite picture. God's creative power is put on display. He does not just find a nice spot for His people; He makes one out of nothing. He turns a wasteland into a water park. This is the story of the Exodus, where God provided water from a rock. It is the story of the promised restoration from exile, where Isaiah prophesies that "the desert shall rejoice and blossom like a rose" (Isaiah 35:1).
And notice the result. God's blessing is not just spiritual and ethereal. It is tangible, cultural, and economic. He settles the hungry. They build cities, which are centers of culture and commerce. They plant fields and vineyards, which are the basis of a stable economy. They have families and their livestock multiplies. This is the dominion mandate from Genesis 1 in action. God's intention for man is fruitful productivity. He wants us to build things, grow things, and multiply.
This is a holistic blessing. It moves from the basic need of water to the establishment of a lasting civilization. God is not interested in just keeping His people alive; He is interested in them thriving. He gives them a place, a purpose, and a posterity. He blesses them, and they "multiply greatly." This is the covenant blessing given to Abraham, now extended to all the redeemed who cry out to the Lord. When a people turn to Him in repentance and faith, He doesn't just forgive their sin; He begins to heal their land.
The Cycle of Judgment and Grace (vv. 39-41)
Now the psalmist describes another turn of the wheel. Prosperity can lead to pride, and pride leads to a fall. But even in judgment, God's grace is at work.
"But when they decrease and are bowed down Through oppression, evil, and sorrow, He pours contempt upon nobles And makes them wander in a pathless void. But He sets the needy securely on high away from affliction, And makes his families like a flock." (Psalm 107:39-41 LSB)
Here is the "but." The blessings of verses 35-38 are not automatic and unconditional. When the people, or their leaders, turn away from God, they find themselves diminished and "bowed down." The causes are listed as oppression, evil, and sorrow. This can be external oppression from enemies, or internal evil and corruption. The result is the same: sorrow and decline.
And what is God's response? He targets the leadership. "He pours contempt upon nobles." The arrogant princes, the corrupt politicians, the proud elites who thought they were untouchable, find themselves utterly humiliated. God makes them "wander in a pathless void," the very same tohu that described the unformed earth in Genesis 1. He strips them of their power, their prestige, and their sense of direction. He turns their well-ordered political landscape into a chaotic wasteland. This is the constant testimony of Scripture: God resists the proud.
But in the very same motion, He shows His grace. "But He sets the needy securely on high." While the proud are brought low, the humble are exalted. The poor, the afflicted, the ones who have no one else to turn to, are the recipients of His deliverance. He doesn't just rescue them; He sets them "securely on high," in a place of safety and honor. He gives them families "like a flock," a picture of peaceful, pastoral abundance. This is the great theme of the Magnificat, where Mary praises God who "has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate" (Luke 1:52). This is the economy of the kingdom. The way up is down. The way to be exalted is to humble yourself before the mighty hand of God.
The Proper Response: Gladness, Silence, and Wisdom (vv. 42-43)
The psalm concludes by describing two different reactions to God's see saw providence, and then issues a final call to wisdom.
"The upright see it and are glad; But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. Who is wise? Let him keep these things, And carefully consider the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh." (Psalm 107:42-43 LSB)
There are two groups of observers. First, "the upright see it and are glad." The righteous, those who are rightly related to God, are not confused or dismayed by these reversals. They see the hand of God at work, and it makes them rejoice. They rejoice because they see justice being done. They see the proud humbled and the needy cared for. They see that God is faithfully keeping His covenant promises and warnings. Their gladness is rooted in the vindication of God's character.
The second group has a very different reaction. "All unrighteousness shuts its mouth." The wicked are silenced. Their mouths are stopped because they have no answer. Their cynical worldview, which assumes that the powerful always win and that might makes right, is shattered. When God pours contempt on their nobles, when He turns their fruitful land into a salt waste, all their arrogant arguments evaporate. They are left speechless before the raw sovereignty of God. There is a day coming when every mouth that has spoken against God will be stopped (Romans 3:19).
And so, the final verse is a call to be in the first group. "Who is wise? Let him keep these things." True wisdom is not about having a high IQ or a graduate degree. Biblical wisdom is the moral skill of seeing the world the way God sees it and living accordingly. The wise man is the one who pays attention. He "keeps these things," he observes the patterns of God's dealings with mankind.
"And carefully consider the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh." (Psalm 107:43 LSB)
The ultimate goal of this observation is not just to understand the mechanics of judgment, but to "carefully consider the lovingkindnesses of Yahweh." The word is hesed, that great covenant term. All of these reversals, the judgments and the blessings, the curses and the restorations, are expressions of God's steadfast, covenant love for His people. His judgments are a severe mercy, designed to bring us back to Him. His blessings are a free gift, designed to show us His goodness. The wise man sees the hesed of God in both the wilderness and the watered garden. He sees that whether God is taking away or giving, He is always dealing with His people in faithfulness. And seeing this, he learns to praise God for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men.