Psalm 125

A Song of Ascents.

1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
    which cannot be moved, but abides for ever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people,
    from this time on and for evermore.
3 For the sceptre of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous may not stretch out their hands to do wrong.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
    and to those who are upright in their hearts.
5 But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways
    the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
    Peace be upon Israel!

This psalm prays for a double protection for those who trust in the Lord. 

The first protection is from threats of invasion, from threats of attack, from threats external to the community. The confident request is that God will surround God’s people protecting them from external threat, keeping the invader outside. Just as mountain create a barrier around a valley keeping it safe, so God surrounds God’s people.

But the writer of the psalm is wise enough to know that external threats are not the only danger. The presence of evil influences inside the community are even more dangerous. Temptation is a bigger threat than external attack. The prayer then is that the “sceptre of wickedness” (vs 3) would not rest on the land of Israel. The sceptre is the sign of power, and when a person reached out to touch the sceptre that was in the monarch’s hand it was a sign of giving allegiance to the one who held the sceptre. The temptation “to do wrong” (vs. 3) is a great threat to a community people who are seeking to follow God. The temptation to do wrong is also a threat to a group of people who are travelling together as pilgrims.

It is not without reason that parents are concerned about the company their children keep. This psalm pays that the sources of temptation inside the community of those who follow Jesus will be lessened by God’s protection.  

Vs. 5 is strong language, but sometimes the only way people will come to see how destructive evil is for people to walk for a while in the paths of evil and know that that is not the way to life and hope and true joy. Our prayer would be that those who walk in the ways of destruction would recognize the emptiness of those paths and turn instead towards the fulfillment of following Jesus.

PRAYER:

O Lord, protect us from external threats that frighten us, that we would rest secure in your faithfulness. Guard us from internal sources of temptation that we would follow your path, living in obedience to your will alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.  

Psalm 124

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
    —let Israel now say—
2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
    when our enemies attacked us,
3 then they would have swallowed us up alive,
    when their anger was kindled against us;
4 then the flood would have swept us away,
    the torrent would have gone over us;
5 then over us would have gone the raging waters.

6 Blessed be the Lord,
    who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken, and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

The psalm plays with the double reality of actual pilgrims who are walking and the reality of being a human being who is on a journey through life.

On pilgrimage, when travelling in places we don’t know, when facing new situations in life, the risks seem bigger, the threats large, the dangers almost insurmountable. But as David, to whom this psalm is attributed, would remind us the LORD – Yahweh – is by our side. Through other dangers in life, through other moments in our lives, God has been with us to protect us and to bring us through secure. [I am avoiding the word “safe” because that implies there will never be new dangers, or new risks. And that is not true, life will confront us with new challenges, new risks, new threats – the truth is that God will be by our side in each new challenge.]  

Vs. 2 is clear – enemies did attack. It was not that life was free from threat, rather that God was there to prevent disaster when the enemies attacked. And while David would be thinking a military threat – “enemies” is certainly wider than that and would include cancer, job loss, workplace harassment, and so on. God acted so that the enemy did not destroy, did not devour, Surely God has been our help, and we have escaped destruction. [Our death is not a defeat for God, it is not God failing to keep God’s promise. Our deaths take place in the face of the fact that God raises the dead to life in the resurrection. For death cannot destroy the soul, that God will hold secure.] Thanks be to God for the rescue he offers us.

PRAYER:

O Lord, if you had not been with us, we would not have made it this far. If you had not been with us, we would have been destroyed long ago. O Lord, our help is in you alone. In Jesus’ name. Amen.