“He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 107:20 Mean?
The psalmist describes God's healing method with elegant simplicity: "He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." The mechanism is speech: God sent his word. The word did the healing. The healing produced the deliverance. The entire rescue operation was conducted through language.
The word "sent" (shalach — to dispatch, to commission, to release with purpose) treats God's word as an agent — something with enough substance to be dispatched on a mission. The word isn't abstract sound. It's a sent thing. It has a destination, a purpose, and the capacity to accomplish what it's sent to do.
The sequence — sent → healed → delivered — establishes the order: the word arrives first, the healing follows, and the deliverance results. The word is the catalyst. The healing is the process. The deliverance is the outcome. Remove the word and neither the healing nor the deliverance occurs. Everything begins with what God speaks.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How does God's word being 'sent' (dispatched as an agent) differ from understanding the word as just information?
- 2.What does the sequence (word → healing → deliverance) teach about the stages of divine rescue?
- 3.How does John 1 ('the Word was God') fulfill this verse's picture of a healing word sent from God?
- 4.What word has God sent you that could produce healing if you received it?
Devotional
He sent his word. And it healed them. And it delivered them. Three actions in sequence: dispatch, restoration, liberation. The entire rescue was accomplished through a word God sent.
The word is treated as an agent — not just a sound but a sent thing. God dispatches his word the way a king dispatches an ambassador: with authority, with purpose, with the capacity to accomplish the mission. The word doesn't just carry information. It carries power. The healing the word produces isn't metaphorical. The people who were sick were healed. The people who were being destroyed were delivered. The word did both.
The sequence matters: sent first, then healed, then delivered. The word arrives before the healing begins. The healing happens before the deliverance is complete. You don't experience the full rescue immediately. First the word comes. Then the healing begins. Then the destruction you were facing is resolved. The process has stages, and the first stage is always the word.
John 1:1 echoes this verse with cosmic scope: 'In the beginning was the Word.' The word God sends to heal and deliver is, in the fullest sense, the Word who was with God and was God. The healing word of Psalm 107 becomes the incarnate Word of John 1. The agent dispatched for rescue becomes the person sent for redemption.
The practical implication: healing begins with what God speaks. Before the symptoms improve, the word arrives. Before the destruction ends, the word is dispatched. The healing you're waiting for may begin with a word you haven't yet received — or a word you received and haven't yet applied. God's healing method starts with speech. The word precedes the recovery.
What word has God sent you that you haven't yet let heal you?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
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Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture