He satisfies the thirsty…
Psalms 107:8-9 - By paying close attention to the Lord’s impact on the affairs of man, believers can gain wisdom about His infinite goodness.
“Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.”
Psalms 107:8-9 NIV
Another psalm, and one that is hitting home right now as we just had a wonderful meal at a local steakhouse (we’re on a road trip) and after driving all day we were both famished and thirsty.
Of course, the psalmist wasn’t referring to refreshments after a long day of driving the back roads of America. Instead, Psalm 107 is a song of deliverance for His chosen people wandering in the wilderness to find a home. Enduring Word says of Psalm 107:
This remarkable psalm praises God’s deliverance in four wonderful pictures. Derek Kidner titled this psalm “God to the Rescue.” The four pictures show that everyone’s story is different, and yet everyone’s story is the same.
“Consider the successive vignettes of this psalm. Love broods over the weary caravan that faints in the desert; visits the prison-house with its captives; watches by our beds of pain; notices each lurch of the tempest-driven vessel; brings the weary hosts from the wilderness into the fruitful soil.” (F.B. Meyer)
The psalm has even more relevance for those who have been lost in the wilderness of unbelief, and have been led by God to a banquet of salvation in Christ. For those of us who have been saved after living a life without Jesus, we should never fail to “give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love” as He has not only done “his wonderful deeds” for us, but for all mankind!
Once again from Enduring Word:
The psalm spoke of those hungry and thirsty in the wilderness, but there is also a longing in the soul of man. God’s literal guidance and deliverance for His redeemed in the wilderness becomes a picture of how He delivers the lost, thirsty, and hungry soul, and fills it with goodness.
It seems that Mary, the mother of Jesus, quoted verse 9 (and fills the hungry soul with goodness) in her song: He has filled the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53). This is one of many scriptural quotations and allusions found in Mary’s song recorded in Luke 1:46-55, showing that she was a woman who knew and loved God’s word.
The entire psalm, in addition to these two verses, reveals God’s deliverance of His people from a variety of dire situations. By paying close attention to the Lord’s impact on the affairs of man, believers can gain wisdom about His infinite goodness.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today’s prayer is reprinted from Knowing Jesus:
Heavenly Father, my soul longs for You in a world that is spiralling into the abyss, and my soul thirsts for more intimate fellowship with You. Thank You that You have satisfied my lost soul with Your saving grace so that I have peace with You. Now that I am saved by grace through faith, the peace of God reigns in my heart, and in Christ I have all that I need. May I grow in grace and in a more intimate knowledge of Him, both in the power of His Resurrection and through the fellowship with His suffering, until His coming again when I shall see Him face to face. In Jesus' name, AMEN.