He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.
Psalm 107 gathers pictures of people in trouble who cried to the Lord, and He rescued them. This verse belongs to the third picture: men who wrecked themselves by their own folly and came to the edge of death. So what does God send them? Not a rebuke, and not a cure of their own making, but His word.
Who the "fools" Are
The psalm does not call these people fools for a lack of intelligence. Their folly is a settled attitude. The verse before shows where it leads: food turns their stomach, and they come near the gates of death.
L M GrantFools are those who leave God out of their lives, such as in Psalm 14:1 and in Luke 12:16-20... Because of their folly, God brings affliction on them. Because they refuse the food of God, they soon come to hate every kind of food (v. 18), and they draw near to the gates of death. How many atheists, brought to such a state with death staring them in the face, are shaken to the depths of their souls! If this drives them to cry out to the Lord in real earnest, God will surely save them out of their distresses in His grace (v. 19). But note that His Word is the means of healing them (v. 20). If men refuse the Word of God, they are left in their misery. The remnant of Israel is in view here, and they will be fully delivered from their destructions.
Why Only the Word Can Heal
The sickness here goes deeper than the body. One writer ties the cure to the One they had rejected.
Numerical Bible NotesSo the deepest and most basic need of all finds its answer here. They had rejected Christ, the bread of life, so death is the only road left to them. His word alone can heal this desperate state, and so it rescues them from their pitfalls. They have every reason now to give Him their thanks.
Mercy Where Punishment Was Deserved
The people in this section are not innocent sufferers. What they get is the opposite of what their record earns.
J. N. DarbyMercy is surely there. This could be true even where their affliction and distress was discipline, and the fruit of rebellion. But here where the heart turned to the Lord, mercy met it, and there was deliverance. God breaks the gates of bronze and iron that shut them in, even where their own sin and their foolish turning away from the Lord had brought it all on them. He sent His word that they might be healed, and so delivered.
A Word That Works at a Distance
One writer links this verse to the Roman officer in the Gospels. He asked Jesus to heal his servant, and he did not need Jesus to come to the house.
The Bible TreasuryThe centurion trusted the power of Jesus, above all as the One who administers the kingdom of God. In fact, he did not think Jesus needed to be there in person. As he said, the Master had only to speak the word of command, and his servant would be healed (cp. Ps. 107:20). These words of the Roman officer showed his complete confidence in the supreme power Jesus held. The Lord recognized this when He said, "Not even in Israel have I found such faith."
The Verse Preached at a Plague Gate
One preacher read this line where it was needed most. When plague struck the Scottish town of Dundee, the town kept the sick outside the gate and the healthy inside. Wishart climbed the gate itself so both sides could hear him.
Church HistoryTo reach his hearers on both sides, he climbed the gate — called the Cowgate. He opened his Bible and read from Psalm 107, "He sent out his word and healed them." The mercy of God in Christ, he told them, was free to all. Whoever truly turned to Him would receive that blessing — and the spite of men could neither add to it nor take it away.
Healed So They Can Tell
The healing is not the end of the story. The rescue gives the healed something to say.
Hamilton SmithBecause of their folly and their sins, men may suffer in body, so that they draw near to death. Then in their distress they cry to the Lord. He sends His healing word to deliver them from destruction, so that they may praise the Lord for His goodness and declare His wonderful works (Luke 8:38-39).
Summary
- Folly. The trouble here is self-inflicted. "Fools" are people who leave God out, and their affliction follows their own choices.
- Cry. The turning point is not self-improvement but a cry out of distress. Mercy meets the heart that turns, even when the suffering was deserved discipline.
- Word. God's answer is a word sent. The real sickness is the rejection of Christ, so only His word can heal it. Refuse the word, and the misery remains.
- Reach. The word works at any distance. Spoken from far off, it healed a servant. Read out over a plague gate, it still offered mercy free to all.
- Praise. Rescue has a purpose. Those healed thank God for His goodness and tell others what He has done.