May the Lord be pleased to bless
us together this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn
to the book of Psalms, Psalm 107 and we'll read verse 30.
Psalm 107 and verse 30. Then are they glad because they be
quiet. So He bringeth them unto their desired
haven. The last verse in this psalm
is a very necessary and a very important one to consider. The
43rd verse says this, Whoso is wise and will observe these things,
even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord."
Now, very easily, in our lives, in our reading of the Word of
God, we can read words and pass over them without carefully considering
them. And as we see this statement
here, how appropriate it is for all of our lives, because I'm
sure our concern, I hope our concern is that we may know the
loving kindness of the Lord, because that is an indisputable
evidence of the life of God in the soul. So how necessary it
is that we might indeed have the evidence that we do know
the loving kindness of the Lord. And the psalmist here explains
it like this, that we might be wise, wise in the things of God,
not necessarily wise in the things of the earth. but wise in the
things of God, and will observe these things. That means the
things, more particularly, contained in this 107th Psalm, to observe
these things. And if we are given spiritual
eyes to observe them, and to see how they are appropriate
for our lives, and how the psalmist, under the Spirit's influence,
is describing, as he goes through this psalm, the testimony of
the children of God. And it's not written just for
one person here and one person there. It is really a typical
situation of the life of the children of God. And therefore,
and would observe these things, even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. And it's like this, really. as
we observe how the Lord is leading us, up and down, through a psalm
like this, in our spiritual life, and we understand then, it is
because of God's loving kindness toward us. I believe if we are
blessed with spiritual eyes to observe that, going to put so
many things into a right context. And we will come perhaps to that
position and be able to say, it is the Lord, let him do that
what seemeth him good, because what he does is good. And to think that he's doing
it because of his loving kindness toward us. Now I believe such
a view will often put a very different complexion on the situations
that you and I find ourselves in as we travel through life. Well, I believe we need grace
to understand that, and be blessed with a desire to really observe
it, and as we observe it, to bless God then for his loving
kindness toward us. Now, this verse that we read
here this evening is really the verse which refers back to what
starts in verse 23. And we have here a picture. The psalmist gives us a picture. And it's a picture of those that
travel on the sea. And it would have been a picture
which would have been available to the people in those days,
not only were they near the Mediterranean, they also had of course the Sea
of Galilee and the Dead Sea etc, to see these kind of situations
developing. And therefore it was not an illustration
which had gone over their heads. And so we have the picture here.
that the psalmist says, they that go down to the sea in ships,
they do business in great waters. The souls of God's people do
business. We're not just left to wander
on aimlessly through this world. The Lord causes us to do business. Spiritual business. And here
it is explained in this way. In great waters. Not a calm sea. A rough sea. Great waters. To
do business in. Spiritual business. Business
which is edifying and profitable for our soul. Naturally, people
do business that might be profitable and a blessing to them. The Church
of God do business with God. And that business which God brings
into their lives will be a blessing and will be profitable to them.
And here we have then this statement here that do business in great
waters. Great waters implies a difficult
situation, not a calm sea, in great waters. And as it is naturally,
there are those times in natural business when there are great
waters to pass through difficult times, stressful times, hard
times, So, in a greater way, it is in our spiritual life.
So here we have this statement. We go down to the sea in ships
that do business in great waters. These see the works of the Lord
and his wonders in the deep. It's not sitting on the seashore,
just looking out at the sea. It's not just enjoying the scenery. It's a question of being found
journeying, as it were, on the sea. No, we can't stay, as it
were, on land. We have to venture out. We have
to venture forward, as it is, on the unknown. Not relying on our own strength, but in the strength of the Lord.
And the Lord then will direct us in such a way as this, that
doing this business will be a great benefit to us in these great
waters, because there the Lord will teach, the Lord will instruct,
and we shall see the works of the Lord. Sometimes we pray,
don't we? Let thy work appear. And we often
have some view of it in our minds. As though perhaps we'll just
be standing back and observing some great work. Not realising
perhaps that work is necessary in our own lives. Let thy work
appear. And when that work is to appear,
and it's God's work, and when it's God's work, it will accomplish
that which the Lord has determined. It will not fail. And so these
see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. Now, the deep things of God. The deep things of God. What
are the deep things of God? Well, it's not just superficialism. Those things which are deep are
not just on the surface. It's not just scratching the
surface. It's something which is deep. I believe there are
really two most important elements in this situation, in the deep. The first is to realise our own
condition. It may be that we have to come
into some deep things for the Lord to show us our real condition. By nature, we don't think we're
very bad. And especially perhaps when we're young in the way,
we don't seem to understand perhaps very much the depth of iniquity
which is within us. But you see, as we journey on
the sea of life, the Lord causes us to come into these difficult
times. these deep things, when the Lord
reveals to us something of ourselves. Oh, and it's not an easy journey,
and it's not comfortable, but we're doing business in that
situation. The Lord's dealing with our souls.
We're not being left. We're doing business with our
God. these see the works of the Lord
and his wonders in the deep. Now not only does the Lord therefore
bring us into that situation to view ourselves, but in that
way the Lord shows us that there's no hope in ourselves. There's no good thing in ourselves.
And it's bad news. And we are quite shocked perhaps,
as these deep things are revealed to us, we find the things in
our heart we never knew were there. We may be quite shocked
as the Holy Spirit reveals some of the evil which is deep down
in our heart. We see the corruption which exists
there. And it's in these difficult ways,
these great waters. Great waters, the Lord brings
us into. Sometimes these great waters
are great temptations. Great temptations. And we are,
I suppose, surprised that our heart sometimes goes after things
which are not good. Great temptations. Then you see
in the deep here, the Holy Spirit reveals to us something of our
true nature. And the effect is, we have to
cry out, unclean, unclean. We cannot pretend to be what
we are not. We may have fooled ourselves
for a long time. We may have thought we were much better,
and in fact we were. When the Spirit of God comes
in and shows us in these great waters, and we do business with
our God, and we see then, the wonders in the deep, the depth
of our depravity. Now then, in that situation,
then it is, I believe, the Lord then points us to Himself. It's not till we have to give
up all hope in ourselves, We have to throw self overboard.
That which perhaps at one time we were quite proud of, we thought
we were doing quite well, when we go down into the deep, into
the depths, then it is that we see our great need. Yes, and
we see the wonders in the deep. When we are in the deep, The
depths that it is, the Lord comes and gives us a hope in his mercy. And it comes to us like this,
for I have nowhere else to fly. We have nowhere else to go except
to the Lord Jesus Christ. the one that's in the deep. And
we wouldn't come into that experience just sitting on the shore and
just observing the sea. It's when we're in it, when we're
in the depths, when we're in the time of need, it's then the
Saviour comes. It's then when we see a reality
in religion. It may be very superficial, before. That is just like, as I said,
scratching the surface. But when the Spirit of God comes,
and what a favour it is if the Spirit of God takes hold of you
and me and sets us out on this ship, on this ocean. We have
to leave the shore of comfort. We have to launch out, as it
were, into the deep. There it is. God comes and God meets with
us. And God graciously deals with
us. Now remember what I said to start
with. In this situation, to observe to our souls the loving
kindness of the Lord. It's not a path that you and
I would have ever sought out for ourselves, but it's a path
that the Lord sorts out for his people, so that he becomes precious. If there weren't any deep, any
deep depths, Christ wouldn't be very precious. He wouldn't
mean very much So we see these who are doing
business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and
his wonders in the deep. These are favoured people. So the psalmist goes on and he
says, for he commandeth. and raiseth the stormy wind.
God commands these situations to develop in our lives, to show us ourselves and to make
Christ precious. He commands it. And again, I
believe when we are able to understand the blessing of the Lord and
loving-kindness of the Lord, that He is commanding these things
to arise in our lives. Yes, He raises the stormy wind. It wasn't something that we anticipated,
perhaps, as we set out on pilgrimage on our little raft. We didn't
anticipate a situation developing like this. But the Lord sends
the stormy wind. And we know when the stormy wind
arises naturally, the waves get big and higher, and sometimes
quite frightening. Sometimes, when the Spirit of
God brings this to pass, He commands, And raiseth the stormy wind,
which lifteth up the waves thereof, We're fearful. We wonder where
the scene will end. We wonder perhaps whether we'll
make shipwreck. We wonder if ever we'll get safe to land in
a spiritual sense. We wonder sometimes whether the
waves are just too high. It's just getting too great. Well, just remember. even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. The Lord commands these things
for a blessing. He commands these things to establish
us in the truth of God. He commands these things to cause
us to seek unto the Lord more earnestly. more earnestly. Sitting on the seashore, not
much need for earnest prayer, is there? In the depths of a
storm, there's not much need for earnest prayer. And soon then to realise that
it is the Lord. He commands, and raiseth a stormy
wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof." And it will be good
for us when we see this arising, and perhaps getting worse. It
doesn't seem to be abating, it seems to be rising. Yes, He raised
it. The Lord raises the waves. He raises the storm in our lives, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
And it says they mount up to the heaven, they go down again
to the depths. Yes, it's a very great storm.
There are those situations in our lives sometimes, very great
storms, which seem to go up and go right down. We wonder whether
there will be any deliverance. And the psalmist describes it
very well. Their soul is melted because
of trouble. The soul is melted because of
trouble. Think of it in these terms. The
soul is ready to give up because of trouble. their soul, the soul of those
who are doing business with their God. Those who are being favoured,
the Lord is taking in hand, not leaving or forsaking, but is
instructing them. Even they should understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. Now, let us not forget the Word
of God. David said another time, his
way is perfect. Well, we need much grace to say
that. in the depth of the situations,
but as we realise it is a loving kindness of the Lord, then it
is perhaps that the Lord graciously shows us the need there was to
bring us into this situation. Yes, there was a need and there
would be a benefit for our soul and there would be honour and
glory to God. They mount up to the heavens,
they go down to the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble. It's a vivid little description,
isn't it? We get the picture, don't we, of the psalmist here
speaking in these terms, in this picture. producing what he'd
experienced in a spiritual way. Let us therefore not be surprised
in our lives. Sometimes we fear the storm. Perhaps one day we see it coming
and we fear it. The great thing is to know the
Lord is with us in it. And the Lord is dealing with
us and it is to show us the loving kindness of the Lord. Let us
not get past that, because it's a wonderful influence in our
spiritual life to think of this loving kindness of the Lord which
is so gracious toward us. And so he says, they reel to
and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end. Stagger. Stagger under the storm. Hardly stand up. It's just so
difficult. Can you imagine it, can't you? On board a ship in a great storm.
It's very hard to stand up, isn't it? In fact, you have to hang
on to anything in the rigging that you can to save yourself. You have to hang on. Well, let's
remember Peter and his situation when he jumped over the side
of the boat and walked upon the water. He looked around and he
saw the raging of the sea and he began to sink. So it is, and we see this raging
in the sea, we stagger to and fro, as it were, and begin to
sink. And what did Peter do? He cried
out to his God. And that's precisely what the
Church of God are brought to, when they come like this, real
true and flown, staggered like a drunken man and not like their
wits end, what do they do? They cry unto their God. Yes, then they cry unto the Lord
in their trouble. They cry unto the Lord. Nowhere
else to go. No hope in themselves. No hope in deliverance. Anywhere
else. They cry unto the Lord. Then
they cry unto the Lord in their trouble. All these things, you
see, are working together for good. As the Apostle said, and
it's a beautiful statement, and it's hard sometimes to appreciate,
but it is true. And he said, and we know that
all things work together for good to those who love God and
to those who are called according to his purpose. My friends, if
you and I are the children of God, we're called according to
His purpose. And His purpose is the honour
and glory of His great and holy name. And if that is so, He will
be dealing with us in love, so that we will understand His loving
kindness. And what does it mean? It means that He's dealing with
us, we're being purified. Yes, we're being purified. We
have to lose a lot of self. We have to lose a lot of self,
so we come then. What did this man or these people
cry to the Lord? They had nothing themselves.
Nothing. Nothing in their hand they brought
and neither will we. We come to a state like this,
nothing in our hand we bring, simply to thy cross we cling. Now these situations would lead
us to Christ, and we will find in Him a refuge. Yes, God is our refuge and strength,
our very present help in time of trouble. The Lord will not
leave us. He won't forsake us. He'll make
us cry. He'll make us pray. He'll make
us realise He's dealing with us because of His own kindness. And it will put a different complexion
on it. And we'll come and say, by His grace, how hard to err
the way. Dear Saviour, still Lead on,
nor leave me till I say, Father, thy will be done." Yes, at least
we do but taste the cup, for thou alone has drunk it up. Now
you see, in these situations it brings us down to that situation
where there is a little fellowship with Christ. We come back and
we see. We understand then, the loving
kindness of the Lord, because we wouldn't have understood these
things, unless the Lord had brought us down to this time of need
where we're at our wits end. But, you see, when we get to
our wits end, here is the blessing. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble. And what does he do? Does the
Lord turn us aside? Does he say, no, you're not worth
taking any notice of? Well, we're not. The Lord doesn't
say that. It's because of his loving-kindness
what occurs. And he bringeth them out of their
distresses. Well, we can imagine, can't we?
In the middle of a sea, a vast sea, a stormy sea, in a little
boat. What can you do? You can't stop
the sea, can you? You can't do anything. And it's like that sometimes
in our spiritual life, in the depths of storm. We can't seem
to do anything. But the Lord, the Lord bringeth
them out of their distresses. when the Lord's work is done. When we've gone down to those
depths, when the Lord's brought us down, we see then, we cry unto the
Lord, and we see the effect of his gracious work. And he bringeth
them out of their distresses, whatever that may be. It's very
broad, isn't it, in its statement. Very comprehensive. And then,
he maketh the storm a calm. We have to go down first. We
have to endure the storm first. We have to come to that situation
where we can only cry to our God. Then you see, there is the deliverance. And then the Lord comes. Sometimes we might think of those
lines, he comes an evening late, but never is too late. The Lord
is never too late in his deliverances. But again we have to prove those
words. Your time is always, but my time
is not yet. The Lord has a perfect time. The storm may last a long time.
It lasted a long time in the days of Paul when he was with
those people on that journey with the centurion and the prisoners.
A long time, 14 days and nights. I didn't see sun or stars or
moon. Tossed up and down. But he was able to say in the
depth of it, there stood by me this night Yes, the Lord stood by him. And
he was able to testify to all those on board that the Lord
would deliver them. In the middle of a storm, Paul?
Yes. The Lord had come and spoken
to Paul. And remember, it wasn't until
there had been much abstinence. Much abstinence, much prayer.
You know, we sometimes expect deliverances immediately. The Lord weakens our strength
in the way, strengthens our own self, so that our hope is in
Christ. He bringeth them out of their
distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so
that the waves thereof are still. And if you've been in a storm,
and the storm subsides, The calm is so much greater, so much more
wonderful. And so, we come right down to
these words. Then are they glad, because they
be quiet. They're glad. The Lord makes
them glad. Glad that His work has appeared. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. Now, just very quickly, there's
two views here. First of all, this desired haven. He bringeth them to their desired
haven. What is that? I believe it has
two applications. The first is, it brings them
to Christ. Because there they've been down
in the depths. And what do they need? They need
Christ. And so we see this here, so he
bringeth them unto their desired haven. And then it is, I believe,
that we look back and we understand the loving kindness of the Lord
because he's brought us to that situation to make us look nowhere
else apart from Christ. And we see in Christ all that
we need. We see there a perfect salvation
We see that all our shortcomings, all our sins, all our iniquities,
all the evil of our heart are washed away in the precious blood
of the Saviour. Now that is a desired haven. That is a place of rest. That is a place of blessing.
And you see when the Lord comes like that, We shall then bless
God for his loving kindness. The loving kindness of the Lord. Don't forget, it starts with
these words, who says wise and will observe these things. As
we're passing through it, my friends, we have the testament
of the word of God to encourage us, to hold us up. But even they
shall understand. Yes, the word of God is positive,
isn't it? They shall understand the loving
kindness of the Lord. And so we have this statement
here. So he bringeth them unto their
desired haven. I believe it is and must be the
Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly, of course, it is
eventually the Church of God will come through the storms
of life. In one sense, life is a continual
storm. The Church of God will come safely
through life. and we'll be brought safe home
to glory. Yes, and then my friends, all
the storms of life are forever over. And then there's peace
and joy. What a blessing it is then to
have been delivered, to have brought safely through and to
be found landed in that promised land. landed in that celestial
place, and it will indeed be to the Church of God a desired
haven. The Church of God will be looking
forward, desiring glory, desiring the inheritance the Lord has
laid up for those that love Him, laid up for those to whom He
shows His loving kindness. There is a rest that remains
to the people of God. The Lord's gone to prepare a
place for you. He said, if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am there ye may be also. And heaven is to be
with Christ. What a wonderful consideration
and prospect that is. And surely that brings us really
full circle to think of these words. Who says wise, given the
wisdom from God? Who says wise and will? Observe,
let's have eyes to see these things, even they shall understand
the loving kindness of the Lord. Well, may God bless us in meditation
upon these things and realise then are they glad, because they
be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Amen.