Psalms 107:23-32

Psalms 107:23. They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.

The Jews were never given to navigation. To «go down to the sea in ships,» seemed a very extraordinary thing to them; they looked upon it as a going down, as it were, into a dreadful abyss. We, who are more accustomed to going to sea than they were, talk of «the high seas;» but they spoke of going «down to the sea.» They never went to sea except on business. King Solomon had no pleasure yacht. There was never one of that ancient race who cared to trust himself upon the sea except as a matter of sheer necessity, and those who did so were looked upon with wonder by their land-loving friends. «They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; these see the works of the Lord;» that is, his greatest works, both in the sea and on it. They know what storms are, and they see what omnipotence can do, and they come back to tell of the wonders of God upon the mighty deep. This verse may be read spiritually as well as literally. God calls some of his servants, as it were, to go down to the sea in ships. They are tried with poverty, with personal sickness, with temptation, with inward conflicts, with fierce persecutions; and God never calls them to these trials out of mere caprice, there is always a reason for it. They go down to the sea in ships to «do business in great waters.» There is something to be gained from their trials, and something to be learned from them. They «do business in great waters;» and «these see the works of the Lord.» Others hear about them, and believe what they are told concerning them; but these see them. They see what God has done in their case, how he sustains, how he delivers, how he sanctifies trial, and overrules it for his own glory, and his people's good: «These see the works of the Lord.» And they also see the wonders of the economy of grace. They are made to experience the heights and depths, the lengths and breadths, of that love which; passeth knowledge; they see «his wonders in the deep.» You and I need not desire to have trouble, as though we put out to sea for our own pleasure; but, if God calls us to sail upon a sea of troubles, if he sends us there upon his business, we may depend upon it that he means that business to end to our profit and his own glory.

Psalms 107:25. For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wit's end.

Here we learn something of what sailors see, and of what tried Christians experience. These great storms arise by God's commandment; not as many say, nowadays, «by the laws of nature.» The wind, which had been quiet, heard God's voice, and raiseth itself up, like a wild beast from its lair: «He commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind;» and no sooner does the great wind begin to blow than the white crests of the waves are seen, and the white horses fly before the blast which lifteth up the waves on high. Then the ship, however staunch it be, seems to have no greater power of resistance than a frail sea bird; and it is tossed up and down, up and down, from the trough of the sea to the billows' crown: «They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths;» and their very soul begins to melt. Brave men as they are, it only needs a sufficient amount of storm to make their hearts turn to water and their spirits dissolve into the turbulent element that is all round them: «their soul is melted because of trouble.» Then they cannot keep their standing: «they reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man.» What is worse, they cannot control their brains; they «are at their wit's end.» What can they do in such a case as that? There is an end to all human wit and wisdom when the great storms are out upon the sea. You who have ever had deep spiritual trials know the analogy of all this. There may come times there have come times to some of us when, at the command of God, or by divine permission, there has been a fierce blast of temptation or a fiery trial, and then all that was peaceful round about us before suddenly turns into a whirlpool of tempestuous billows, and we are tossed to and fro at the mercy of the winds and the waves. Sometimes we ascend in presumption, and then we go down into the very depths of despair. At one moment, we are joyous with hope; and, a moment later, we seem ready to give all hope up, our courage fails us, and our soul dissolves within us, If you never have known this experience, I pray that you never may know it; but some of us have had stormy times when we have seemed to have no foothold, when we have reeled to and fro like drunken men, when the best faith we have had has been little better than staggering. Still, it is better to stagger on the promise than to stagger at it; and we did still stand though we staggered, and we were at our wit's end. We could not see what to do, and we could not tell what to do, and we could not have done it if we had known what to do; we were brought to such an extremity that we seemed to have neither wit nor wisdom left.

Psalms 107:28. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

This shows that, although they were at their wit's end, they had wit enough or wisdom enough to pray. Their souls were melted, so they let them run out in prayer. It is a good thing to get the soul melted, for then it will flow out like water before the Lord. Note that these sailors cried to God when there was no one else to whom they could cry: «Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble.» Learn from this sentence that, when your soul is melted because of trouble, you can still pray. When you reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, you can still pray and when you are at your wit's end, you can still pray. Prayer is never out of season; it is a fruit of grace that is acceptable to God in autumn and in winter, in spring and in summer. Long as you live, and even when the worst comes to the worst, cry mightily unto God, for he will surely hear you. Was it not so with us when we were in spiritual trouble, and could do nothing else but cry unto the Lord? It was a poor prayer that we offered, but it was a real prayer that we presented when we cried unto God. Mark how quick God is to hear such prayer as this: «Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.» He brought them into them, and therefore he brought them out of them. It was God who took Jacob into Egypt; and, therefore, though it took four hundred years to bring Israel out of Egypt, God brought them out at last. He kills, and he makes alive; he wounds, and he heals. Rest you in this truth as a matter of absolute certainty.

Psalms 107:29. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.

At the first, God made everything out of nothing, so he can easily make a calm out of a storm; and he can make the storm a calm for you whenever he pleases to do so. Your troubled feelings, your tossings to and fro, may soon subside into «the peace of God, which passeth all understanding,» which «shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.»

Psalms 107:30. Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

And there is no music that is sweeter to the mariner's ears than the rattle of the chain as the anchor grips the bottom of the harbor, and the ship rests from all her tossings. The Lord will give you grace, my brother, my sister, to let down your anchor; or, rather, to throw it up «into that within the vail,» for that is the way that your anchor goes; and then you shall be glad because you will be quiet. I believe that there is often, a greater, fuller, deeper joy in being quiet than there is in making a noise. There are times when it is good to praise the Lord with the high-sounding cymbals and with the harp of a solemn sound; but, in the deepest joy of all, we are still before God, and praise is silent before God in Zion.

Psalms 107:31. Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Should they not do so? Those who have survived the storms at sea, or the still greater storms within their own souls, should surely take care to praise the Lord. If we know how to pray, we ought also to know how to praise. Prayer and praise ought to form the two covers of the book of our life, and our life is not well bound unless these are the two covers to it, with a good stiff back of faith to bind the two covers firmly together, and to hold every leaf in its proper place.

Psalms 107:32. Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

Let them not only praise the Lord in private, but let them also sound out their song of gratitude to God where the graybeards are gathered together, and let the men of experience, the officers of the church, the leaders of the Lord's people, help them in the expression of their gratitude.