Psalm 107 Part 4

In the return from Babylon the third picture, vs17-22, is of afflicted souls needing healing and finding a physician. The verb, as well as its supporting phrases in 17-18, points to their trouble as being self-inflicted. Loss of appetite meant they were at death’s door. By spiritual analogy, when a sick soul has no appetite for God’s word, it shows that spiritual death is near. The phrase of vs6&13 is repeated to show that even when God’s people are in trouble because of their own wrongdoing, God answers when they cry out to Him. They were healed by the power of God’s word (v20), reminding us of the many times Jesus healed people simply by speaking a word. These sick and afflicted ones were ‘delivered from their destructions’ by the powerful word of God. 

The fourth vignette is of storm-tossed pilgrims on the sea needing tranquillity and a harbour. They find a storm-stiller, reminding us that Jesus can calm the storms of our journey. As you read this stanza, you can almost feel the rising and falling of the waves. 
On the seas, the returning captives see the greatness of God. They also see the great storms that raise ‘the waves of the sea as high as the heavens,’ and plunge down again ‘to the depths’. It is not surprising that the soul of the unfortunate traveller on the stormy sea ‘melted away in their misery’. The violent motion of the vessel causes them to appear intoxicated with fear (v27.) Once again, the psalmist described how God’s people ‘cry out to the Lord,’ and ‘He brings them out of their distress.’

I cannot help reflecting that there is a ship in which we are all embarked; there is a troubled sea on which we all sail; there are storms by which we are all frequently overtaken, and there is a haven which we all desire to behold and enter. God does what only God can do – calm the stormy sea by His command. This reminds us again of what Jesus did to calm the stormy Sea of Galilee by His own word and will. “Silence! be still!” (Mark4:39NLT)