Psalms 107:17-32: a reflection

17Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience, and because of their iniquities. 18Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to the gates of death. 19Then they cry to the LORD in their trouble, and he saves them out of their distresses. 20He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their graves. 21Let them praise the LORD for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men! 22Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his deeds with singing. 23Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters, 24these see the LORD’s deeds, and his wonders in the deep. 25For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves. 26They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble. 27They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. 28Then they cry to the LORD in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress. 29He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still. 30Then they are glad because it is calm, so he brings them to their desired haven. 31Let them praise the LORD for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds for the children of men! 32Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders.

This psalm tells of sailors caught in a terrifying storm at sea. God commands the stormy wind, and the waves rise; the ships are lifted to the sky and plunged to the depths; the sailors reel and stagger like drunk men and are at their wits' end. It is a vivid picture of being overwhelmed, past the point of coping. And then the refrain that runs through the whole psalm: then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.

Notice what God does. He makes the storm a calm, so that the waves are stilled; then they are glad because it is quiet, and he brings them to their desired haven. The God who governs the storm is the God who stills it, and who then guides the battered ship not just to safety but to the very harbor the sailors had been longing for. The storm does not have the last word; the desired haven does.

There is comfort here for anyone at their wits' end in a storm, tossed, overwhelmed, past coping. The pattern the psalm keeps repeating is simple: they cried out, and he delivered. When you are at the end of yourself in the storm, the thing to do is not to grit your teeth alone but to cry out to the Lord, who is able to make the storm a calm and to bring you at last to your desired haven. Cry out to him in the trouble, and trust the God who stills storms and steers battered ships home.

Lord, when I am at my wits' end in the storm, tossed and overwhelmed, teach me to do what the sailors did: cry out to you. You are able to make the storm a calm, to still the waves, and to bring me at last to my desired haven. I cry out to you in my trouble; still my storm, and steer me safely home.