Sermon
Psalm 107:1-3, 17-32
At Your Wits End
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Psalm 107:1-3, 17-32
At Your Wits End
Larry and Lin Pardey wrote a classic sailing book entitled, The Self-Sufficient Sailor. They wrote from their experience of sailing across the Pacific Ocean in a 24 foot sailboat with no motor. The book became a cult classic among sailors because of their emphasis on self-sufficiency for sailors.
As you know, I think sailing is a wonderful thing to do. And I was interested to note that the Scripture does too. Verse 23-24 says, “Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters; These see Yahweh’s works, and his wonders in the deep.”
Sailors on the ocean seas have the high honor of seeing amazing sights like whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and the phosphorescence of the tiny creatures in the water. But one of the most amazing things that some sailors see is the green flash. When conditions are just right, at the last moment of the setting of the sun into the sea, its upper edge blazes with an emerald green color for a few seconds before disappearing below the horizon. Few people have seen the green flash, yet it is one of the most startling phenomena in nature. (1)
Even sailing alone on the Arkansas and Ohio Rivers was a worshipful experience for me. Twice I got to see deer swimming across the river. And once I saw an amazing display of acrobatics by purple martins on the river.
But sailors also take a risk. Because they are alone in a small boat on a big ocean or river, they have to be prepared for everything. And our text is quite right about the dangers of the waters. Storms do come, and all sailors have to be prepared for them. As far as possible they have to be self-sufficient.
Sailors study storms and heavy weather sailing tactics just like airplane pilots study the causes of the latest plane crash. My brother-in-law is a retired pilot for Delta Airlines. I remember many conversations with him about the recent crashes. He had always read the latest articles about it in the pilot magazines. He studied the crashes so that he could avoid one when he met similar circumstances. Sailors do the same thing.
Someone has said that sailing is 90 percent pleasure and 10 percent sheer terror. The same waters that seem so peaceful can quickly become a menacing threat. During my recent visit with Oscar Thompson in Florida, he told me that every year they read about inexperienced fisherman who rent small boats and go out too far. Then a quick storm comes up and the small open boat is not able to make it back to safety.
The psalmist knew something of the dangers of storms because he described it so well. Verses 26-27 say, “They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble. They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.” Anyone who has experience big waves knows he’s right.
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I remember coming out of Miami harbor on a chartered 41 foot sailboat when the weather channel advised of merely a moderate chop. When we hit the sharp, steep, four-foot waves that big boat reared and bucked like a horse. The front of the boat would raise some 10 or 12 feet out of the water and smash back into the next wave splashing sheets of water to the side. We quickly decided to spend the rest of that day in the quiet of Biscayne Bay.
I read with great interest books on storms at sea, like Perfect Storm. I really can’t quite imagine waves that are 100 feet high, but I am sure they do exist. I just hope I never see one firsthand. In such waves, one would surely feel like he was mounting up the heavens only to be thrown back down to the depths. And I know they reel and stagger like drunkards.
But the point of the Psalmist’s sailing story is that “They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end” (v. 27). What a colorful Biblical phrase! I suspect everyone of us has talked about being at our “wits’ end” without ever knowing that it was phrase that came from the Bible.
The Psalmist has a message for all self-sufficient sailors. And his message is that there comes a time when you are at the end of your self-sufficiency. After the sailors have blown out the storm jib, pulled down all the sail to run before the wind with bare poles, tied themselves to the boat, thrown out the sea anchor, and emptied cargo overboard to lighten the boat, they finally come to the place where they have done all that is humanly possible to do. What then?
Then they are at their wits’ end. This phrase means simply, “having lost or exhausted any possibility of finding of a way out.” In short, it is the end of all human ability and resources. There is no escape, no help, no deliverance. “And (they) were at their wits’ end.”
Have you ever been at your wits’ end? Have you ever been to the place where you have done everything humanly possible to remedy your situation? Maybe you were ready to pull your hair out. Maybe you were ready to give up. You were at the end of your rope. Maybe you even contemplated whether or not you would survive. You were at your wits’ end. If you have been there, or if you are there now, Psalm 107 has a wonderful message for you.
We only read part of this wonderful Psalm today, but I want us to consider the structure of the whole chapter. The first three verses make up an introduction which gives us the overall theme. Then there are testimonies from four groups of people: those who are lost; those who are in prison; those who are sick; and those who are in a storm at sea. We will to take a brief look at each one of these categories. Then the Psalm ends in verses 33-43 by speaking more generally about the ways God works in the world.
First, let’s look at verses 4-9 where the Psalmist describes those who are lost. Verse 4 describes their situation briefly, “They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city to live in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.” (107:4-5).
Perhaps you have never wandered in a desert, but I suspect that many of us are wandering from one thing to another. Many of us are looking for a place to dwell, for something to hold on to. Some people are looking in their careers, their marriage, their relationships, and they can’t find what they are looking for. They are frantic and restless, hungry and thirsty. This is the first category of hurting people the Psalmist describes.
Verses 6-7 say, “Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses, he led them also by a straight way,
that they might go to a city to live in.”
The second group of hurting people are those in prison. Verses 10-11 say, “Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High.”
These people clearly are suffering the consequences of their rebellion. They have heard God’s word, they have seen it work, maybe only in the lives of others. But they have rejected it, and they instead have chosen to go their own way in the world. Now they find themselves prisoners in chains.
Perhaps you are not in literal chains, but I suspect there are many of us who are slaves to sin. We have our own invisible chains that bind us. Some are slaves to alcohol, addicted to bitterness and anger, obsessed by pornography, or hooked on prescription drugs. Many of us know what is to be bound. We have tried to get out, but we can’t. We are at the end of our rope because we can’t free ourselves from our particular form of bondage.
Verses 13-14 say, “Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble,
and he saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bonds in sunder.”
The third group of hurting people were sick. Starting in verse 17 we read, “Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience, and because of their iniquities. Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to the gates of death.”
Perhaps you are dealing with a physical illness. Whatever the cause, I know that being sick is a terrible curse. We have members of our church who have dealt with terrible, painful, debilitating illnesses for months and years. They know what it is like to be afflicted and to draw near to the gates of death.
But maybe you are not physically sick, but you are still sick. Did you ever say to someone, “You make me sick?” You don’t have to have a physical illness to identify with this passage. A lot of people are so sick of life, so sick of their situation, so sick of their problems that they are sick and tired. What do you do then?
In verses 19-20 we read, “Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, he saves them out of their distresses. He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their graves.”
The fourth group of hurting people in verse 23 were the sailors, whom I mentioned earlier. But maybe you are not a sailor. Maybe you would never get in water deeper than the bathtub. You wouldn’t be caught dead on the open ocean. But I’ll bet you have known the storms of life!
All of us have those times when the circumstances of life so overwhelm us that we reel and stagger like drunkards. We can’t cope with wave after wave of trouble and difficulty. And we, too, are at our wits’ end. We are at the end of our rope, ready to give up.
But we read in verses 28-30, “Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress. He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still. Then they are glad because it is calm,
so he brings them to their desired haven.”
So the Psalmist lists four categories of hurting people, all of whom I would say are at their wits’ end. What does the Bible say we are to do?
1) Hold on
The first thing we have to do is to hold on and do what you can do. What do you do when you are at the end of your rope? Tie a knot and hold on. Don’t give up. Don’t let go. Cling to hope.
One of my favorite quotes has been variously attributed to John Wesley, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and Oprah Winfrey. So I don’t know who really said it, but I think it is great advice. It goes like this: “Work as if everything depends on you; pray as if everything depends on God.” Sometimes people give up the work part and just pray. But we should do both. Work and pray!
There’s an old story of a man caught on his housetop in the midst of a flood. Two boats came by offering to rescue him, but he refused each offer saying, “No thanks. The Lord is looking after me.” Finally when the flood was even higher, a helicopter comes by. But the old man waves them on, saying, “The Lord will take care of me.” Of course, he drowned. When he confronted God about not helping him in his time of trouble, God said, “Well, I sent you two boats and a helicopter!”
2) Cry to the Lord
The second advice we find is to cry unto the Lord. In each of the four cases of hurting people, they cried to the Lord and found help for their problem. Charles Spurgeon once said, “Some men will never pray till they are half-starved; and for their best interests, it is far better for them to be empty and faint than to be full and stouthearted. If hunger brings us to our knees it is more useful to us than feasting; if thirst drives us to the fountain, it is better than the deepest draughts of worldly joy; and if fainting leads to crying, it is better than the strength of the mighty.” Sometimes we need to come to our wits’ end for us to cry out to God.
3) Give thanks.
The third advice we find is to thank the Lord. One verse is repeated four times in this chapter, in verses 8, 15, 21, and 31. Such repetition would make you think it must be an important verse and an important key for people who are at their wits’ end. It says, “Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful works for the children of men!”
We should never let our troubles get in the way of our faith. We can always thank God for answering our prayers and delivering us from our troubles. We can be forever thankful that when we are at our wits’ end, the Lord comes to our aid. God takes broken and hurting people and brings them to a safe harbor.
Scripture quotations from the World English Bible.
Copyright 2003, Mickey Anders. Used by permission.