Sickness yields the third type of suffering. Emphasis is laid on the cause of the suffering, which in the view of the writer is transgression and sin. We shall be justified, therefore, in confining our view of this section to the pain which is directly traceable to wrong-doing. Men ruin their health by evil courses, and the sinner drags down his punishment with his own hands. The portals of death had already opened to receive the sick men, but before they passed through they cried to Jehovah, and though their voice was feeble, they were heard. May we not make our own application of Psalms 107:20, by referring it to that Word of God through whom God's love and healing came to sinners in the days of his flesh?
The storm at sea is the next tableau. We have the sudden gale, the high waves, the ship now on the crest and then in the trough; the terror of the crew; the failure of the helm; the desperation of the sailors; and finally the voice of God above and through the storm. The sudden subsidence of the tempest is a grateful change to the sailors and the crew; and what gladness is theirs when they reach the harbor which they had longed for but had never thought to see again! Such is life, and such will be, by God's mercy our coming into harbor. "Safe into the haven guide"! [source]
Chapter Summary: Psalms 107
1The psalmist exhorts the redeemed in praising God to observe his manifold providence 4Over travelers 10Over captives 17Over sick men 23Over sailors 33And in diverse varieties of life
What do the individual words in Psalms 107:19 mean?
And they cried outtoYahwehin troubletheirout of their distresses[And] He saved them