Psa 107:9-15 – “Praise the LORD for His Goodness,
and for His wWnderful Works to the Children of Men”, Part Two

Part One (Psa 107:1-8) “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men”
Part Two (Psa 107:9-15) “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men”
Part Three (Psa 107:16-21) “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men”
Part Four (Psa 107:22-31) “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men”
Part Five (Psa 107:32-43) “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men”

Psa 107:9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
Psa 107:10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
Psa 107:11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:
Psa 107:12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.
Psa 107:13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Part one speaks of the redeemed, or those who are being redeemed, from the enemy with whom we wrestle in our heavens (Eph 6:12). It also speaks of how our lives are directed and guided by Christ “in the wilderness in a solitary way”, which is a shadow of how we all first come to hear the voice of the true shepherd telling us to come out her my people, “her” being the wilderness of sin, Babylon, within each of us that we ‘come out of’ in order to be redeemed from the earth (2Co 6:17, Rev 18:4, Joh 10:27-28, Rom 8:14-15).

Part two, the redemption from ‘the earth, earth, earth’, is not accomplished in a ten second sinner’s prayer as many of the churches of Babylon teach, rather as we will see in this section of Psalm 107, redemption is a very hard-fought process that God is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Php 2:13), taking the old marred vessel and making it anew in the Potter’s hand, all according to the counsel of His will (Jer 18:4, Eph 1:11).

Each one of us in the body of Christ is likened to a soldier, as it says in the book of Timothy, who must endure hardships until the end (Mat 24:13). Like a soldier, we must understand the rules of spiritual engagement (Eph 6:12) to which we are called as we put on the whole suit of spiritual armour by the grace and faith of Christ which enables us to successfully do spiritual battle in our heavens (Eph 6:10-18, Eph 2:8).

2Ti 2:3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
2Ti 2:4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
2Ti 2:5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully (1Co 10:31).

The words we will look at in this section of Psalm 107 are written for God’s elect to remind us that God is the One who is sovereign over the light and darkness and the good and the evil within us, and that this light and darkness is what He uses to form the new creation that is created by our Father who “[enduring] endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction” (Rom 9:22). It is only through that longsuffering and enduring process [not a ten second sinner’s prayer] that God’s elect go through, that the new spiritual suit of armour can be formed within us by His power and might which enables us to be more than conquerers through him that loved us (Isa 45:7-9, Zec 4:6, Rom 9:23, Rom 8:37).

We are called to be armed with the mind of Christ and to endure the hardships which He places on us in our life for our own growth and for the growth of others, as we mature together as a many-membered, but one body of Christ (Gideon’s army 1Co 12:20) who are moving forward by the grace and faith of Christ which advances His workmanship in each of us and brings us to a point of becoming mature sons of God who can now stand in Him “through him that loved us” (Eph 2:10, Eph 4:13, Eph 6:13, Rom 8:37).

1Co 12:20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.

Eph 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

Our love for each other and our ability to be more than conquerors for each other “through him that loved us” is directly related to our being given to see the need to carry our own cross (Mat 16:24, Col 1:24, Gal 2:20, Joh 8:31-32) which will result in our being able to bear the burden of others (Gal 6:2, Joh 13:35, Php 2:4) as we prayerfully look to the Lord to know how we can accomplish that (Pro 16:3), along with the sacrifice of praise on our lips for “his wonderful works to the children of men”.

1Th 5:16 Rejoice evermore.
1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Heb 13:15 By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

Psa 107:9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.

The message is very gloriously redundant throughout God’s word for our sakes, and this first verse of our study is no exception. God is the One who creates the “longing soul”, the “hungry soul”, which He alone can satisfy and fill “with [His] goodness” (Luk 1:53), another way of saying He raises the storm and then brings us to our safe haven in Christ through the repentance to which God’s goodness leads us when we are going through the storms of this life (Rom 2:4).

Luk 1:50 And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
Luk 1:51 He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Luk 1:52 He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
Luk 1:53 He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
Luk 1:54 He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

Unless we are given to see ourselves as being in need of a physician or find ourselves “longing” and “hungry” as the prodigal son was (Luk 15:17), we will continue to “treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath” (Rom 2:5). But if we are being judged in this age, it will be for the express purpose of “laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life”.

Mar 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

1Ti 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;
1Ti 6:18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
1Ti 6:19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

In our appointed time of blindness, God has allowed Satan to blind the entire world within us (and without) (1Jn 2:16, 2Co 4:4), through a proud spirit that does not see the naturally impoverished state of marred flesh that Christ understood of himself (Mar 10:18), nor can it understand our need to die daily and cry out to God daily in order to learn obedience (Joh 9:41, Rev 3:17, Heb 5:7, 1Jn 4:17).

We are truly blessed and favoured above all people on this earth to be satisfied in Him in this age, knowing He has blessed us to keep his judgments that will deliver our longing and hungry souls.

Isa 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isa 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

Psa 107:10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
Psa 107:11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High:
Psa 107:12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help.

Joseph, who is a type of the elect, comes to mind with verse 10 as we see the pattern being revealed to us of one who sat in “darkness and in the shadow of death” like a man in prison, which is where we are when we are “bound in affliction and iron”, creating the circumstance, or storm, that God causes so that He can, in his appointed time, deliver us and “satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness”, just as Joseph was delivered through the trial of physical imprisonment in time.

1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Iron is a base metal which cannot be broken without great energy being applied to it, and so it is with sin in our members (Rom 7:23) that must be burned out with great heat so that we can break those bands of iniquity and be freed from the bondage of sin which the fetters around Joseph’s feet represent.

1Pe 4:1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

Psa 105:18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:

The end result of that liberty which God brings to His children through repentance opens up the opportunity to serve the body of Christ with greater carefulness and with vehement desire, as we take revenge against our sinful condition and approve ourselves clear of any particular matter, all to the glory of God who is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Rom 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

2Co 7:11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

We are admonished therefore to make spiritual hay while the sun shines and to not take for granted or despise these wonderful works that God is doing unto the children of men for the growth of the body of Christ.

Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Gal 5:15 But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

2Co 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?

As we see in verses 11 and 12, once again the pattern is established for us in these verses to demonstrate that the only way to purify those “words of God” within us, against which we initially rebel and have contempt, is to go through fiery trials of our faith (1Pe 4:12) that are likened unto “labour” (“bound in affliction and iron” of verse 10), where there was “none to help”, just like the Israelites whose already arduous task of making bricks with straw was about to get so much harder (Exo 5:7) as they went from a form of imprisonment to having these added fetter-like conditions that Joseph was very familiar with in his own situation.

God is showing us through these examples of Israel and Joseph that he knows what our breaking point is where we finally come to our senses like the prodigal son and cry unto the Lord in our trouble (Psa 107:13, Psa 50:15).

Deu 26:6 And the Egyptians evil entreated us, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage:
Deu 26:7 And when we cried unto the LORD God of our fathers, the LORD heard our voice, and looked on our affliction, and our labour, and our oppression:
Deu 26:8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders:

Falling down or “they fell down” is again the state we have always been in, in this corruptible flesh, just like Adam and Eve from the foundation of the world, and it is through the much tribulation likened unto “labour” in these verses, that we are brought to give an accounting for the true status of what we are in our flesh, and how we need His deliverance from our carnal minds that can’t naturally obey God’s commandments and do what is right (Rom 8:7, Jer 17:9). When that chastening from the Lord finally does occur by the grace and faith of God, then we can “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men” which is what those trials bring about.

Hos 5:5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them.

2Ch 25:8 But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Psa 107:13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.

It is not easy to remember when we are troubled and distressed that it is the LORD who has brought about those conditions and that it is the same LORD who can deliver us from them, but when we are brought “out of darkness and the shadow of death” where we blindly grope during the noonday not knowing what to do (Isa 59:10, Job 5:14, Php 3:3), it is then that the LORD will “brake their bands in sunder” and bring about the deliverance that was proceeded with our crying “unto the LORD in their trouble”.

Deu 28:28 The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:
Deu 28:29 And thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall save thee.

None of this is easy on the flesh and one of the most graphic stories in the bible which explains how we go from the outward washing of cups to the cleansing of the inside of the cup (Mat 23:26) is found in this section of scripture in Exodus 32:20 where Israel was punished for worshipping a golden calf which they had made. These actions of rebellion symbolize our rebellion and contempt against God’s words that we discussed earlier “[rebelling] rebelled against the words of God, and [having contempt] contemned the counsel of the most High”

Exo 32:20 And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it in the fire, and ground it to powder, and strawed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it.

In order for God to “break their [our] bands in sunder”, we likewise must drink the cup of God’s fiery words which is likened unto gold refined seven times (Mat 20:23, Psa 12:6), words that will destroy the first man Adam within us and sanctify us through the fiery judgment which God’s people are called to endure in this age.

Psa 12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.

Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. [today and in the future as well 2Co 3:18, 2Co 7:11]

Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls [through this process just mentioned – Jas 1:2-4].
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies [new Jerusalem within being surrounded by the fleshly powers and principalities that Christ is far higher than], then know that the desolation thereof is nigh [within your own life].

Following the sound pattern throughout this Psalm 107, God sees to it that it is only after we are compassed about by the armies which seem to be more powerful than we could ever be that we then cry out to Him as we “lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help”

Luk 21:21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains [Psa 121:1-2]; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
Luk 21:22 For these be the days of vengeance [1Pe 4:17], that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
Luk 21:23 But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
Luk 21:24 And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Luk 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;[to be understood within and without]
Luk 21:26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken [Psa 104:15, Joh 6:35, Heb 10:25, 1Co 10:17, Mal 3:16].

All men’s hearts must fail them — our carnal reasoning minds that are predestined to deny Christ who cannot deny himself within us (2Ti 2:11-13) — but when all is said and done, those who are blessed to be called to the Lamb’s supper will have the new heart, the mind of Christ exercised and made ready to see “the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory”.

Luk 21:27 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Psa 107:15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

We praise the LORD for His goodness for taking the words of eternal life that He has, to use them to convict us in this age as He did with Noah in his age, in type and shadow for the elect’s sake, to move him with fear to the preparing of the ark of God (the body of Christ) today.

Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

The building or preparing of the ark in Noah’s day typifies what God’s goodness is leading the body of Christ to experience as we go unto maturity through the “the wonderful works to the children of men” the “Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help” of Psalm 107:12.

Without that word working in our life, that bread of life, we would have no strength in our hearts, and we would not be able to endure unto the end in seeing the bride make herself ready (Rev 19:7). It is for that reason that we come together often in all the various ways that God has made possible so that we can build each other up in our most holy faith and strengthen each other’s hearts with the bread of life (Jude 1:20-25 building the ark together) as we “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men” together.

Jud 1:20 But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
Jud 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Jud 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Jud 1:23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Jud 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jud 1:25 To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Next week, Lord willing, we will look at Part Three of Psalm 107:16-21, entitled “praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men” where once again we will revisit this familiar pattern of some form of bondage that brings us to our wits’ end to bring us to cry out to our Lord who then delivers us.

Psa 107:16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder.
Psa 107:17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Psa 107:18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
Psa 107:19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
Psa 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!