PSALM 107: THE LOVINGKINDNESS OF GOD CONQUERS ALL
It is impossible to express the impact this psalm of forty three verses has had on the church of God for three thousand years. Its uniqueness is one of its strengths. As with no other song it chronicles the covenant love God has for His people by taking the reader through a literary art museum. Picture by picture it shows forth the conquering power of God’s lovingkindness by showing the reader a series of vivid scenarios that would be well known to people of the day. That God’s steadfast love is the theme cannot be doubted. The Hebrew word is חֵסֵד (chésed). It begins the psalm and ends it. It is also found (translated consistently in the ESV as ‘lovingkindness’) in verses 8, 15, 21, and 31. Every one of the four pictures have as their central theme the lovingkindness of the Lord. The word is a beautiful one in the original language. It is intended to convey a love of God for His people that is both eternal and covenantal. It is not rooted in feelings, nor does it depend on the worthiness of the object, and it is not shallow, conditional, or temporary. It is God’s burning affection for His people that can never be thwarted. This same love of God came to be expressed in the Greek language as agape. May every poor sinner who has trusted her soul into the hands of a loving Savior, feast on this gospel song.
The song introduces itself as a call for the believer to stand back and consider the lovingkindness of God. Note this is a song sung only by the redeemed (vs 2), those who have had their sins remitted by God’s grace. That this song has a New Covenant focus that includes all nations is found in verse 3. Yahweh’s lovingkindness will extend to the entire world and save the elect from every nation. This image of east and west, north and south bears the idea of being a universal salvation. We find the same imagery in Isaiah 43:5-6 and Mark 13:27.
From this point on the author will describe what the lovingkindness of God looks like. He begins with the first of 4 murals found in verses 4-9. The objects of God’s grace are described in verses 4 & 5. They are vagrants, those who have no place to call their own and who wander from town to town. They are the displaced oppressed masses who have no hope in this present world. They desire a home, but there is no place to lay their head on planet earth. They are the worthies of Hebrews 11:38 who “wandered in deserts and mountains and in the dens and caves of the earth.” No one wants them — except God. So in their misery they cry to the Lord. This motif of ‘crying’ is found throughout the song (see vss 13, 19, 28). It reminds us that salvation only comes to those who are desperate to receive it. No self-satisfied person living in the city of Laodicea with everything the world has to offer will yearn for the help of God. So the vagrants cry and what happens? God answers, and delivers them. He makes straight their path to the city of God, a city in which they will dwell forever. Their response is beautiful. They thank the Lord for His חֵסֵד, His steadfast love (vs 8). To which the author adds that God always satisfies the hungry hearts of those who have nothing here but who cry to God and are filled.
The second mural is found in verses 10-16. Here we have those who are locked in a prison house. There may be a reference here to the Israelites in Egypt although the psalm looks at humanity from a general perspective. What is important to see is that this group is in bondage because of their own rebellion against God. “They rebelled against the words of God” (vs 11). This pictures those who are in bondage to their own sins. Why would God help them? One day they wake up realizing their bondage and begin to look for a way of escape. Who has not been there; who has not felt the shackles of their own sin? Yet in His lovingkindness God does not abandon them. How does He heal them? Please take note. He makes their situation worse. Look at verse 12, “So He bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down with none to help.” God’s love for His people is so strong that He will crush any soul in order to bring it to a place of desperation so that it cries out to him. This, of course, is exactly what happened to the Israelites in Egypt. Their toils got harder and harder till finally they cried out to God and He heard them (see Exodus 2:23-25). And this is exactly what God does for all those who through their own sin and rebellion cry out to God for deliverance. Does He ignore them? Punish them further? No. He allows them to suffer more acutely so they will cry out to Him in desperation. And then and only then will God bring them out of the darkness of their spiritual prison house and save them. He walks with them through the shadow of death that David speaks of in Psalm 23. And they respond as the first group responded. They praise God because their chains have been broken and they are now free to serve Him (vs 16). What a wonderful tribute to the lovingkindness of God, the God who never gives up on His own and the One who even saves those who willingly succumb to their self-imposed bondage. Let all bound sinners take hope. Let as all see the depth of the lovingkindness of God to those who least merit it. Cry to Him, O ye bound in your sin, and He will answer.
We come now to the third picture found in verses 17-22. Here we have a people are who have been foolish all of their lives and because of their foolish choices they have brought untold affliction upon themselves (vs 17). How many do we see in this situation? Yet even here they are not abandoned by God. So how does God’s lovingkindness work in this group? He allows their bad choices to bring them to the point of death (vs 18). And it only then do they seek the face of the Lord. People do not seek the Lord when they are healthy, wealthy and wise. But when they are desperate and they cry to the Lord He delivers them from their distress (vs 19). Once again we see the depth and covenant commitment of God’s steadfast love. And what is the response of these redeemed fools? They offer sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to the God who saved them. Isn’t is a truism that those who declare the goodness of the Lord the most are those who have been saved from the lowest dregs of hell? This reminds us of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet who was “forgiven much for she loved much” (see Luke 7:36-50).
The fourth mural that will demonstrate the depth of God’s covenant, חֵסֵד, love is found in verses 23-32. Here we have a picture of those who in one way or the other find themselves in a very life-threatening, situation. Now there is no conclusive way to know if these people are there because of rash decision making (although verse 26 refers to their ‘evil plight’) or because they providentially simply fell into a difficult situation in their normal course of life. Either way, the lesson is the same. The picture is that of sailors who have embarked on a sea journey and have run into a storm that threatens to kill them. The shocking detail is that it was the Lord (Yahweh) who ordered the storm (vs 25). He commanded the waves to rise and fall; it was this ‘good’ God who ordained that which was about to destroy them. Now we all can accept a god that gets us out of trouble, but what do we do with a God who purposely puts us into trouble? The answer is clear, we worship this God. This reminds us that Yahweh is not a god who is tamed like the heathen deities. He is the God who because of His unfailing love allows suffering in order to bring sailors to Himself. The reader must see the big picture. God allows the storm so that these hardened seamen might cry out to Him (vs. 28). Remember Jonah?. And when they do that, the God who ordained the storm now becomes the God who listens and stills the storm. It is no accident that when God came to earth as a man one of the great signs of His deity was to still the waves of the sea. Mark notes that Jesus rebuked the waves and said, “Quiet!, Be still!” and the sea at once died down and was completely calm. What more proof is needed that Jesus is the God who not only stirs up the waves but calms them? And this is what Jesus does to all His children. In His steadfast love Jesus brings us many troubles in order that we might be healed. And what is the result? We extol His name in the midst of the congregation (vs 32).
The author summarizes his teaching in verses 33-42. He shows Yahweh to be the God who both takes away (vss. 33-34) and the God who replenishes (vs 35-42). To those who were thirsty He gives drink, and to the homeless He gives a city. He blesses the needy who are in affliction and all the wicked shut their mouths (vss. 41-42). This song summarizes how the God of the Bible deals with His people. All too often we forget this mystery. He takes away so that he might give again, He slays so that His people might trust Him. We often miss this. When the events of life come against us, we immediately think God is absent. But as Cowper said, “Behind a frowning providence God hides a smiling face.” In His lovingkindness God is never far from us. Better said, He never demonstrates His lovingkindness more than when He leads us through the dark places. You must believe this, dear Christian! If this lesson is forgotten your entire life will be cast into bitterness and confusion. But if you know that the God of the universe brings hard times as divine preparation for the blessed times, you will live in godly wisdom.
And this is exactly how the author concludes the psalm. The author will describe the wise man. And who is he? He is the one who ‘attends to these things,’ that is, one who understands how God works in the lives of His children (vs 43). The operative word is the one that began the psalm, chésed (חֵסֵד), God’s covenant commitment to His children. The way to be wise and to live in spiritual prosperity is by understanding the covenant love of the Lord. Not a covenant love that dwells only in the sunshine, but a covenant love that covers His children in the most horrifying circumstances possible. Understanding God’s covenant love is the pathway to peace. Reader, how do you see God’s lovingkindness in your life?