The psalmist lists four frightening experiences where people have felt utterly overcome: lost in the desert (Psalm 107:4-9), captured and held in prison (107:10-16), sick with a dread illness (107:17-22), and caught in a storm at sea (107:23-32). In each case “they cried to the Lord in their trouble,” and “he delivered them” or “saved them” or “brought them out from their distress” (107:6, 13, 19, 28).

Prayer is a puzzling thing. Many of us feel unsure how it “works.” In this regard we should notice the restraint with which the psalm holds back from asserting some cause-and-effect law regarding prayer, as if we could pretend that we are in charge when we pray, and therefore God must leap to do our bidding. We are not the Lord of the universe, to command God however we wish.

But that doesn’t mean that prayer doesn’t really do anything. The psalm gives strong testimony: again and again, God responded to people’s prayers, acting to save their lives in desperate situations. And it urges us to a lifestyle of gratitude, recognizing that God has indeed rescued us on many an occasion: “Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wonderful works to humankind” (107:8, 15, 21, 31).

We, too, have experienced God’s sustaining love, though we frequently credit it just to luck or to our own cleverness, and even when we recognize that it was God’s grace that rescued us, we are often slow to say our thanks out loud. May we indeed learn to live in an openly-grateful attitude day by day, giving “thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love lasts for ever” (107:1).

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We offer you our prayers of thanksgiving, O Lord, for you have indeed rescued us in the midst of the rough places of our lives: you have redeemed us from our folly and from our sin, and we will sing of your steadfast love forever.

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