Psalms 107:20

He sent Him word, and healed them.

The healing influence of God’s Word

Those who do not enjoy Divine revelation are in a very miserable state: they sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. Their habitations are full of darkness; their lives are full of sin and misery, and they have no hope in their death; for, where there is no vision the people perish. “He sends his word and heals them, and delivers them from their destructions.”

I. Some observations concerning the written word of god.

1. It was Divinely inspired.

2. It is necessary to discover unto us most important truths.

3. It is most profitable unto men, for the doctrines which it teaches, for the precious effects which it produces on the hearts of men, and for the reformation which it is calculated to accomplish in the world.

4. The written Word of God may be considered as a sacred trust committed to Christians, to be improved by themselves, and conveyed unto others.

II. The manner in which the Word of God, written and preached, has been sent to man, and how it ought to be sent by us to the heathen, that they may be healed, and delivered from their destructions.

1. The Word of God, written and preached, was sent to man by God Himself.

2. The Lord sends His written and preached Word by the ministers of the Gospel.

3. The Lord sends His Word accompanied with the Divine Spirit, who renders it effectual to salvation.

4. The Word of God should be sent unto the heathen, accompanied with much fervent prayer for its success.

III. Obstructions which the Word of God is calculated to remove. The Word of God is excellently adapted to--

1. Remove out of the world, and from the hearts of men, darkness, ignorance, and superstition.

2. Heal division, and to promote the peace and happiness of civil and religious society.

3. Heal the soul of those injuries which, by sin, it sustains.

4. Produce hope in the soul. (W. Gould.)

Delivered them from their destructions.--

Delivered from destructions

What! Are there many destructions to a man? Oh yes, a great many! I have known one man destroyed by his shop, another by his wife, another by his children. Many a woman is destroyed by her clothes; many a man is destroyed by his eating; millions are destroyed by their drinking. Everything about us will destroy us unless God saves us. There are a thousand gates to hell, though there is only one road to heaven One man may perish by debauchery; another may perish by respectability. One man may be lost in the ale-house; another man may be lost through his teetotalism, if he makes a god of it. One man may go down to hell by his want of common decency, and another by his pride, and prudery, and self-righteousness. Do not deceive yourself--the way to ruin is easy, and many crowd it. A little matter of neglect will land you in hell. But it is not a little matter of thought that will bring you to heaven; there must be a stirring up of the entire soul--an awakening of the whole man to seek after God in Christ Jesus; or else you shall perish. Surrounded, then, with destructions--snares about your bed, snares about your table, snares in your solitude, snares in the street, snares in your shop, snares at dawn of day, and snares at set of sun--you are in awful, terrible danger; and yet persons surrounded with destructions have been saved, and why should not you? They have cried to God in their trouble, and He has delivered them out of their destructions; will He not do the same at your cry? (C. H. Spurgeon.)