How desperate do some people need to be before they cry out to the Lord? Really desperate, it seems.
We begin Book V of the Psalter with a thriller! It’s the tale of four rescues. God is the ultimate EMT. The byline reads, “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy” (Ps 107:2). We might replace the word “redeemed” with rescued, and we’ll be all set for the dramas to follow. But notice the first line. “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!” (v 1). The characters in our stories might not think so in their distress. So we’ll have to pay special attention to see how He rescues! As the conclusion says, “Whoever is wise will observe these things, and they will understand the lovingkindness of the Lord” (v 43). Here’s Scene 1 (vv 4-9): Someone is lost in a wilderness, “Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them” (v 5). It doesn’t look good. Scene 2 (vv 10-16): It’s a prison cell, where they slave away on a chain gang, and it “brought down their heart with labor” (v 12). Otherwise, they “sat in darkness and in the shadow of death” (v 10), “and there was none to help” (v 12). Lock him up, and throw away the key! Scene 3 (vv 17-22): These men are “fools” (v 17), and excesses have ruined them; they can’t stomach anything. Their bodies are shot, and they “abhorred all manner of food,” as “they drew near to the gates of death” (v 18). It’s just a matter of time. Scene 4 (vv 23-32): It looked like smooth sailing when they left the harbor, and they’re used to rough weather, but they’ve never seen anything like this—“the waves of the sea…mount up to the heavens” (vv 25-26). “They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man,” and as a result are “at their wits’ end” (v 27). They’ve tried everything, and nothing has worked. Davy Jones’ Locker, here we come! Any hope? Will they all be rescued in time?