When Christians come before the Lord in prayer, we can bring a wide variety of prayer requests to Him. This is unlike the false pagan gods from various cultures. Those gods tended to just be associated with one certain issue. There was a god for rain, a god for war, a god for young people in love, for sunshine, good harvest, etc. One had to find the correct god or goddess to pray to. What if you lost something important and didn’t know the correct god to go to, or if there was even a god for lost items. You were out of luck, because the god of sunshine or of war couldn’t help you. However, Yahweh, the only true God, is Someone we can come to with any need on our hearts. Our psalm for this week speaks of about six or so different needs that the psalmist used as examples of problems that people have cried out to God in prayer about. Let’s look into our Scripture.
As our psalm opens, the psalmist tells us to give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy is forever, and he encourages all believers to proclaim this (vs. 1-2). He then gives us the first example of a group of people who cried out to the Lord in their distress, and He answered them (vs. 4-9). Here we find people who are lost. They are wandering around in the wilderness and have become hungry and thirsty. People can be lost, both physically and spiritually. Being lost, not knowing where you are or how to get back on the correct road can be aggravating, and if one remains lost, it can start to get frightening. One starts to wander around in the hopes that they might somehow find the right road or path. If one is lost long enough while hiking, they can run out of food and drink, plus not have a safe shelter. We have no need to look up what pagan god or goddess helps the lost. Believers can turn to the only true God, Yahweh, and cry out to Him for help. As the psalmist says, He will deliver and lead us to the right way. This is especially true if one is spiritually lost. Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6).
The second group are those who are in prison (vs. 10-16). There are those who are in a literal prison because of something they did, and then also those who might be held in bondage because of addictions or other sins. Whether someone is justly imprisoned, and especially if one is falsely so, the prisoner can turn to the Lord and cry out to Him in prayer. Those whose sins have brought them into bondage can find forgiveness, help, and deliverance through Jesus, who will break their chains and set them free.
Next we look at those who are afflicted, sick, or near death (vs. 17-22). Though certainly not always, sometimes sickness and afflictions come due to our own behavior and sin. Whether that is the case, or these afflictions just came through no fault of our own, we can turn to the Lord in our distress, even and including when we are at the gates of death, and He will send the word and heal us.
Historically Psalm 107 has been a favorite for sailors and mariners, and our next section tells us why. Here we see that those who are in danger when caught out in the open waters during a storm, can turn to the Lord in prayer (vs. 23-32). As we know in life we can find ourselves in both a literal dangerous storm, or other storms, such as financial, relationship storms, and others. Just as He did for His disciples, Jesus will calm the storm, and bring us into a calm harbor when we call upon Him (Mark 4:35-41).
Throughout history mankind has experienced severe droughts, which will then lead to famine or food shortages. This was also an issue that our psalmist said we could come to the Lord in prayer for (vs. 33-38). False pagan gods are useless in bringing help, but Yahweh can turn dry land into springs of water, and bring in a bountiful harvest when we turn to Him.
The Lord also brings relief to all those who are brought low through oppression, afflictions, and sorrows (vs. 39-42). He will turn around rulers and political leaders who oppress people, and those who have no compassion for the poor.
No one is beyond God’s help or rescue. He guides us out of the desert. He breaks our chains, brings healing, and calms the stormy sea. Jesus feeds the hungry and provides living water. He releases people from chains of disability, rescues people from the grave, and calms all of our distresses. No matter how extreme our calamity, Jesus is able to break through to help us. He is loving and kind to those who are in any type of need. All we need to do is cry out to Him in prayer.
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