Psalm 107 "Some Wandered..."

Psalm for Today = 107:2, 4-9

² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,

whom he has redeemed from trouble…

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastes,

finding no way to a city to dwell in;

⁵ hungry and thirsty,

their soul fainted within them.

⁶ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

⁷ He led them by a straight way

till they reached a city to dwell in.

⁸ Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

⁹ For he satisfies the longing soul,

and the hungry soul he fills with good things.

Comments:

Photo by Kasuma F. Gruber on Unsplash

The book of Psalms is made up of five collections of psalms. Psalm 107 is the first psalm in Book 5, the last collection of psalms. It is not the rehearsal of their national salvation history so much as a testimony to the Lord’s steadfast love delivering God’s people from whatever situation they had personally been in. There are at least four groups of people spoken of in the psalm. The verses above are the first group…The Wanderers. They are not of the happy..."Val-deri,Val-dera" kind of wanderers either.

Those who are described here are those who desperately hunger and thirst for more than food, longing for identity, security, and community…seeking both a place and a people where they belong. They are unable to produce what they need on their own. As they begin fade, despairing of their self-direction, they cry out to the Lord and he delivers them. He makes them a people and places them in a secure place in which they can dwell and thrive.  

The same is true of the wanderers and searchers today. Only the Lord can fully satisfy our longings. For many this is our story, our testimony, as a trophy of God’s grace. Let us thank the Lord for his steadfast love!

Yet even knowing this I know that I still fight a wandering heart at times. Robert Robinson, the 18^th Century hymn writer understood this psalm and the wandering heart when he wrote these words in the classic, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” which we still sing today:

3. Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God;

He, to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood;

How His kindness yet pursues me Mortal tongue can never tell,

Clothed in flesh, till death shall loose me, I cannot proclaim it well.

4. O to grace how great a debtor, Daily I’m constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love;

Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

Questions:

• What other groups of spiritually needy people you see in this psalm? 
• Which testimony has the greatest impact on you? Why? 
• Have you thanked the Lord for his love today?