Psalm 107:4-6

Psalm 107:4-6

Some wandered in desert wastelands

This is a prophetic Psalm for it describes events that had taken place at the time it was written, it also describes other events that were looming on the horizon, but it similarly speaks of things that will happen in decades and centuries to come. What the Psalm is telling us is that man’s behaviour and the consequences of it, never change. So, we will find here lonely travellers, wasting away in desert lands and conversely, sailors threatened by the terrors of the seas. Here, in today’s verses, suffering and trials are depicted by the desert wastelands and the horrors of having no food or water. Such suffering is unimaginable for those of us who have a supermarket just down the road, but it has been a familiar experience for many who have travelled in the wildernesses of the world. Remember, that the Psalm starts on a note of praise and with a request that those who have been redeemed by the Lord should tell their story. In other words, the Lord has saved and delivered those who have suffered in the desert, He has brought them to safety and a city of habitation where they could settle. After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, He brought Israel to a land flowing with milk and honey and didn’t they have a story to tell! 

Notice that the wanderers “cried out to the Lord in their trouble”, He always responds to the cries of His people. He will always deliver us when we cry to Him, in fact it is only when we are at our wits end and don’t know what to do next that we realise our dependency and cry out to a greater Being to help us.