Single lesson
Psalm 107: Thanksgiving for Deliverance
Psalms 107:1–43
Psalm 107 teaches children to listen to a song where the psalmist calls rescued people to speak up with thanks. The poem moves through repeated rescue scenes and ends by urging wise people to pay attention to Yahweh’s loving kindnesses.
Before you teach
The psalm opens with a call to give thanks because Yahweh is good and his loving kindness endures forever. The psalmist tells the redeemed to say so, then gives four pictures of trouble and rescue, and finally shows Yahweh changing lands, cities, rulers, and the condition of needy people.
Students will identify that the psalmist calls the redeemed to praise Yahweh, trace the repeated pattern of trouble, crying out, rescue, and praise, and explain how the ending widens that message.
Welcome: who is speaking, and who is called to speak?
5 minRead the opening verses aloud. Explain that the psalmist is leading this song, and he calls the redeemed by Yahweh to join in and speak their thanks. The speaker says, “Give thanks”, and also, “Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so”. This helps children hear that praise is the poem’s opening invitation.
Psalms 107:1, Psalms 107:2, Psalms 107:3
Read and explain: the repeated pattern in four rescue scenes
8 minRead the four scenes in short parts: wandering in the desert, sitting in darkness and chains, suffering sickness, and facing a storm at sea. After each one, pause to notice the same movement in the poem: trouble, crying to Yahweh, rescue, and a call to praise him for his loving kindness.
Psalms 107:4, Psalms 107:6, Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:10, Psalms 107:13, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:17, Psalms 107:19, Psalms 107:21, Psalms 107:23, Psalms 107:28, Psalms 107:31
Discuss: what the poem says Yahweh does
6 minTalk about the rescue actions named in the psalm itself. Yahweh leads wanderers by a straight way, brings people out of darkness, sends his word and heals, and makes the storm calm. Each rescue is followed by the same call to praise Yahweh for his loving kindness and wonderful deeds.
Psalms 107:7, Psalms 107:14, Psalms 107:20, Psalms 107:29, Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:21, Psalms 107:31, Psalms 107:43
Make and respond: illustrated rescue and thanks card
7 minChildren make a simple card with one image from the psalm and one line of thanks. Encourage them to choose a straight path, broken chains, a hungry soul being filled, the word healing, or a calm sea. Then add a short line such as “Give thanks to Yahweh” or “Let them praise Yahweh”.
Psalms 107:1, Psalms 107:7, Psalms 107:9, Psalms 107:14, Psalms 107:20, Psalms 107:29, Psalms 107:30, Psalms 107:31
Closing: the ending widens the picture
4 minFinish with the last part of the psalm. Show that the poem now speaks about Yahweh changing rivers and deserts, helping the hungry settle, humbling princes, and lifting the needy out of affliction. Then the final verse says the wise should pay attention to these things and consider Yahweh’s loving kindnesses.
Psalms 107:33, Psalms 107:35, Psalms 107:36, Psalms 107:40, Psalms 107:41, Psalms 107:42, Psalms 107:43
Questions to explore
Who is called to speak in this psalm, and what are they meant to say or do?
Look at the opening call to “Give thanks” and the line, “Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so”, then notice how later lines keep calling for praise.
Psalms 107:1, Psalms 107:2, Psalms 107:8, Psalms 107:15, Psalms 107:21, Psalms 107:31
Which rescue picture stands out most to you: the desert, the chains, the sickness, or the storm? What exactly does Yahweh do there?
Answer from the verses by naming both the trouble and the rescue, such as leading by a straight way, breaking chains, healing, or calming the sea.
Psalms 107:4, Psalms 107:7, Psalms 107:10, Psalms 107:14, Psalms 107:18, Psalms 107:20, Psalms 107:25, Psalms 107:29, Psalms 107:30
How do the last verses expand the psalm beyond the four rescue scenes, and what is the wise person told to do?
Look for the bigger changes in land and people: rivers to desert, desert to pools, princes humbled, and the needy lifted up, then read the final instruction carefully.
Psalms 107:33, Psalms 107:35, Psalms 107:40, Psalms 107:41, Psalms 107:43
Make, think or respond
Illustrated Rescue and Thanks Card
What you’ll need
- paper or card
- pencils or markers
- crayons or coloured pencils
- Bible
Try it together
- Ask each child to choose one image from Psalm 107, such as a straight path, broken chains, a hungry soul being filled, healing by his word, or a calm sea.
- Fold the paper in half and draw the chosen image on the front.
- Inside, write a short line from the psalm or a simple thank you sentence based on it, such as “Give thanks to Yahweh” or “Let them praise Yahweh”.
- Invite each child to show the picture and explain which verses inspired it.
This activity helps children remember the psalm’s own images and its repeated call for the redeemed to thank and praise Yahweh.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, write a few short phrases from the psalm for them to trace or copy, and let them focus on drawing one clear image.
- For older or more confident children, ask them to divide the page into four panels showing trouble, crying out, rescue, and praise from one or more scenes in the psalm.
An optional closing prayer
Suggested prayer: “Yahweh, thank you for your loving kindness. Please help us pay attention to your deeds and praise you with thankful hearts. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Psalms 107
1 Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed by Yahweh say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
3 and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
4 They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way. They found no city to live in.
5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
6 Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.
7 He led them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city to live in.
8 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
9 For he satisfies the longing soul. He fills the hungry soul with good.
10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
11 because they rebelled against the words of God, and condemned the counsel of the Most High.
12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down, and there was no one to help.
13 Then they cried to Yahweh in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke away their chains.
15 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
16 For he has broken the gates of bronze, and cut through bars of iron.
17 Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience, and because of their iniquities.
18 Their soul abhors all kinds of food. They draw near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he saves them out of their distresses.
20 He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their graves.
21 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds to the children of men!
22 Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his deeds with singing.
23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business in great waters,
24 these see Yahweh’s deeds, and his wonders in the deep.
25 For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves.
26 They mount up to the sky; they go down again to the depths. Their soul melts away because of trouble.
27 They reel back and forth, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
28 Then they cry to Yahweh in their trouble, and he brings them out of their distress.
29 He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still.
30 Then they are glad because it is calm, so he brings them to their desired haven.
31 Let them praise Yahweh for his loving kindness, for his wonderful deeds for the children of men!
32 Let them exalt him also in the assembly of the people, and praise him in the seat of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into a desert, water springs into a thirsty ground,
34 and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water, and a dry land into water springs.
36 There he makes the hungry live, that they may prepare a city to live in,
37 sow fields, plant vineyards, and reap the fruits of increase.
38 He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease.
39 Again, they are diminished and bowed down through oppression, trouble, and sorrow.
40 He pours contempt on princes, and causes them to wander in a trackless waste.
41 Yet he lifts the needy out of their affliction, and increases their families like a flock.
42 The upright will see it, and be glad. All the wicked will shut their mouths.
43 Whoever is wise will pay attention to these things. They will consider the loving kindnesses of Yahweh.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.