"Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses."
Psalm 107:5-6
“Hungry and thirsty,”
Hunger and thirst are two weaknesses of these temporal bodies we roam around in. Without food and water to fuel them, our bodies will not be able to maintain health and will soon die. The harsher the environment, the sooner food, and water are needed. The children of Israel had been wandering through the wilderness, a dry, arid, desert setting where food and water were not plentiful.
“Their soul fainted in them.”
Their need was real. Their situation, critical. They were to the point of physical exhaustion. If they didn’t get the needed food and water they would soon die. Only four or five days in the desert without water till death comes. A person can last without food longer, but ultimately the result is the same, death. They were hopeless and helpless to help themselves.
“Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble,”
When they were in trouble at this point in the wilderness, the Children of Israel did the right thing…
v. 13, “Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble…”
v. 19, “Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble…”
v. 28, “Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble…”
Barnes tells us that the main idea of this psalm is that when God’s people have needs they need to call on the LORD. If you think you can take care of your own need, you will not “cry unto the LORD” for help. When you realize there is no way you can meet your own need, that’s when you call on the LORD.
“And he delivered them out of their distresses.”
Jehovah delivered them. He met their need. He provided for their hunger and thirst. He preserved their souls.
The Hebrew word translated “distresses” means, “straitness, distress, straits, stress.”1 It is the idea of being pressed down in a narrow place. Today we might say, “He’s in a tight spot,” or “he’s between a rock and a hard place,” meaning the person is in trouble. And it can be trouble of any kind. It makes no difference to the LORD what kind of trouble we’re in, He wants to deliver His child from his distress.
What is your trouble today? Take it to the LORD!
1. Brown, Driver, Briggs. Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew Definitions, the electronic version in eSword.