Learning From A Lost Library

Psalm 107:33-43

33He changes rivers into deserts,

and springs of water into dry land.

34He turns the fruitful land into salty wastelands,

because of the wickedness of those who live there.

35But he also turns deserts into pools of water,

the dry land into flowing springs.

36He brings the hungry to settle there

and build their cities.

37They sow their fields, plant their vineyards,

and harvest their bumper crops.

38How he blesses them!

They raise large families there,

and their herds of cattle increase.

39When they decrease in number and become impoverished

through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,

40the LORD pours contempt on their princes,

causing them to wander in trackless wastelands.

41But he rescues the poor from their distress

and increases their families like vast flocks of sheep.

42The godly will see these things and be glad,

while the wicked are stricken silent.

43Those who are wise will take all this to heart;

they will see in our history the faithful love of the LORD.

In mid-February 1830, Alexander Duff preached a sermon on the last verse of Psalm 107. It was not a sermon that he wanted to preach nor a text he wanted to use.

Four months earlier he and his wife had sailed from England, bound for India, where they would be the first missionaries of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. On board the ship with him was his eight-hundred-volume library, which would be helpful in establishing a Christian college in India.

But as they rounded the southern tip of Africa, the ship ran aground, the masts were cut away, and waves began dashing over the deck. Eventually the passengers found safety on a small island.

The next morning a sailor found two books from the wreckage, Duff’s Bible and his Scottish Psalm Book. So the group knelt down on the sand and listened as Duff read Psalm 107 and preached from the last verse.

In this last verse the psalmist wants to make sure that his listeners don’t miss the point: God saves us, and he does it not just once but over and over again in many different ways. His grace is truly amazing. His salvation is so wonderful that it spills over into all of life. And as Alexander Duff learned, even in our losses we can learn something of God’s goodness.

My times of sorrow and of joy,

Great God, are in your hand;

My choicest comforts come from you

And go at your command.

If you would take them all away,

And all my world be gone,

I’d still seek lasting happiness

In you and you alone.

BENJAMIN BEDDOME

Notable Quotable

“Consider the various 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. Detected everywhere is the loving-kindness of the Lord.”

F. B. MEYER