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Meditations on the Psalms

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Volume Thirteen: Psalms 121-130

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All scripture quotations marked "NIV" are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION(r). NIV(r). Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Psalm One Hundred and Twenty-One
The Lord Who Keeps You

A Song of Ascents.

1I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?

2 My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber

4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand.

6 The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.

8 The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.

This psalm is the second of the Songs of Ascents. It was sung after the pilgrims' journey would from different cities to the temple of God to celebrate the feasts in His presence. This spiritual journey symbolizes every life of faith. Although the believer lives in this tiresome world, he is not of it, as Christ prayed for us, "I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." (John 17:15-17). Therefore our hearts are always directed heaven-ward in a spiritual journey, in order to enjoy the Lord's fellowship in His holy house.

In Psalm 120 the distressed psalmist looked forward to the spiritual journey that would lift him up from his distress because he sought the nearness of God. He left the land of drudgery behind to set off on a spiritual pilgrimage to Jerusalem. But he knew that he would encounter dangers in his travels, because the roads were not safe. We know this from the parable of the good Samaritan, in which a man was travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho when robbers waylaid him, robbed him of his money, wounded him and left him half dead, only to be shown mercy and rescued later by a Samaritan, who belonged to another religion and a different ethnic group (Luke 10).

The psalmist saw he that needed protection and lifted up his eyes to the Lord, from whom help and protection come. He recalled God's promise to his forefather Jacob, by which He reassured him as he was on his journey from his father's house to his uncle's house: "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you" (Genesis 28:15). As soon as the psalmist lifted up his voice in song, he received encouragement from his fellow-travellers, assuring him that God will keep him and them from all evil.

A person entering the temple of Jerusalem would find a small metal container mounted on the right-hand doorpost, within which there was a scroll bearing some verses from the Book of the Law, such as: "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart... You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" (Deuteronomy 6:4-9). "And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today... your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land" (Deuteronomy 11:13-21). In addition, there was also the last verse of this psalm: "The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore" (verse 8). Once the believer entered the temple, he would turn right and touch the metal container as a sign of his trust in the Lord. The Lord fulfils His promises to everyone who loves Him with all his heart and all his soul, and keeps them in their going in and out.

In the book "Pilgrim's Progress" the author John Bunyan imagined that every believer sets off on a spiritual journey from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly City, and that this journey is called at its beginning "The New Birth". At the onset of the road the pilgrim fell into the "Swamp of Despond", which could have drowned him if he had not held on to his trust in his Lord. Overcoming despair, he resumed his journey, as difficult as it was. Along this road many have given up because they did not focus on the Lord, but rather on their own abilities and on the difficulties of the road. Likewise, Satan tempts every spiritual pilgrim travelling toward the Heavently City to turn his eyes away from God, the source of help, and thus forfeit his peace and assurance. Every spiritual pilgrim at the beginning of his journey is in great need of the words of this psalm so that he may be encouraged as well as encourage other believers. Thus they continue on the road to the end, and learn to rely on God's faithfulness alone.

The psalm contains the following:

  • First: The psalmist requests help (verses 1,2)

  • Second: Another psalmist requests help for him (verse 3)

  • Third: The choir assures him of help (verses 4-8)

First: The Psalmist Requests Help
(verses 1,2)

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth" (verses 1,2). The city of Jerusalem is built on seven hills. The psalmist lifted up his eyes to the seven hills from far off and focused on the mountain on which the temple was built, in which the permanent presence of the Lord dwelt, and the priests of the Most High offered up to God songs of praise. The psalmist believes that the Lord is in His holy temple, so all the earth should keep silence before Him, and that His helping hand stretches out to His servant (Habakkuk 2:20).

Perhaps the psalmist sought the divine help because he saw a certain danger threatening him or those travelling with him to the temple. Or perhaps he saw some danger looming over the temple caused by the enemies of the Lord, of whom he had complained in the previous psalm. So he began to lift up his eyes to the hills, not looking for help from the hills, but from the Creator of the hills. The prophet Jeremiah said, "Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly, in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel" (Jeremiah 3:23). He lifted up his eyes from the hills to the temple built on the mountain, to the house of the maker of heaven and earth, and said, "I cried to the LORD with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill" (Psalm 3:4). "The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands" (Psalm 138:8).

Generally speaking, God is present everywhere, but in the place of adoration and worship He is especially among the believers. "Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and forever" (Psalm 125:1,2).

In the opening verses of our psalm the psalmist expresses his trust and hope in the Lord. He is sure that he will get the divine help from the All-Powerful because He is the Creator of all things. What a world of difference between Him and the idols: "Thus you shall say to them: 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.' He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion" (Jeremiah 10:11,12). "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). What a heavenly love offered generously and without reproach! "Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, Or as His counselor has taught Him?" (Isaiah 40:13).

Second: Another Psalmist Requests Help for Him
(verse 3)

One pilgrim heard the psalmist call for the help of the Maker of heaven and earth, identified with him and joined his voice to his. He answered the psalmist with a prayer and a word of exhortation:

  1. A request: "He will not allow your foot to be moved" (verse 3a). "He will not allow" is in the imperative in the original Hebrew. It is as though the pilgrim were saying, "I invoke God not to let your foot be moved, but to make you firm as you go up to the Lord's temple. I call upon Him to keep anxiety from controlling you, repel the danger away from you and us both, and give you peace and reassurance."

    How beautiful it is to pray for one another, and join our voices to those that call out to God, for "the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10). "For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him" (2 Chronicles 16:9). "For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him" (Proverbs 15:3). "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13). So let us encourage one another, being sure and confident that "Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His own inheritance. The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth" (Psalm 33:12-14).

  2. An encouragement: "He who keeps you will not slumber" (verse 3b). The traveller encouraged his companion by the fact that God is not overcome by sleep, for He does not slumber. His motto is: "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day" (2 Timothy 1:12). Perhaps the psalmist had Elijah's mockery of the idol-worshipers in mind, as they prayed to their idols: " Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened " (1 Kings 18:27).

Third: The Choir Assures Him of Help
(verses 4-8)

After the psalmist expressed his need for the Lord's help, which was answered by one pilgrim with a prayer and an encouragement, the throng of travellers joined them in one harmonious choral group.

  1. The Lord does not sleep: "Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep" (verse 4). This is a confirmation of what the companion said. Sometimes we call for the help of people who are asleep, and, of course, they do not help us. But the heavenly Father neither slumbers nor sleeps. If, in one particular night, you find it difficult to fall asleep, do not hesitate to call on your God who neither slumbers nor sleep. He will not be upset with you because you disturbed Him, for He is "delighting in mankind" (Proverbs 8:31 NIV).

    The members of the choir must have remembered the history of their people as they suffered the worst sort of humiliation in Egypt under Pharaoh, and how the Lord heard their cry of anguish and saved them with His mighty hand. He even sustained them for forty years with water from the rock and manna and quail. "By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night" (Exodus 13:21).

    This great God, who worked such a wonderful miracle with the children of Israel desires to work miracles with you. All the hairs of your head are numbered by Him (Matthew 10:30), and He knows you by your name (Isaiah 43:1). He has inscribed you on the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16), and even if you lose the way, He knows where you have gone, and goes after you until he finds you (Luke 15:4).

  2. The Lord shades: "The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand" (verse 5). "He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty ... He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge; His truth shall be your shield and buckler" (Psalm 91:1,4). The Lord is like "a hiding place from the wind, and a cover from the tempest, as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land" (Isaiah 32:2). When Ruth the Moabite followed her mother-in-law Naomi, Boaz said to her, "The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge" (Ruth 2:12). And the Lord did repay Ruth, as she believed, and made her the grandmother of King David, the ancestor of Christ.

    The singers say that the Lord is "your shade at your right hand." The Lord is nearer to every pilgrim than the city of Jerusalem to which he is making the pilgrimage. We need not go to a particular place to meet the Lord, because He is "at your right hand." The psalmist said, "I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved" (Psalm 16:8). "For He shall stand at the right hand of the poor, To save him from those who condemn him" (Psalm 109:31).

  3. The Lord protects: "The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night" (verse 6). Owing to the hot weather, a pilgrim would travel partly by day and partly by night, and rest at noon. He needed to be looked after night and day, and his companions remind him of this in these two verses. The Lord provided Jonah with this protection when he grew weary in Nineveh: "And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant" (Jonah 4:6). The ancients used to say that to sleep in a full moon was apt to cause a mental disturbance ("lunatic" means moon-struck).

    Here the singers assure those who love God that He does not allow them to be struck by the sun by day nor the moon at night!

  4. The Lord preserves: "The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul" (verse 7). The Lord preserves the bodies of the believers, as well as their souls, from all evil. He answered the prayer of Jabez in which he said, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" (1 Chronicles 4:10). Jabez asked both spiritual and physical blessings from the Lord. But knowing that he could enjoy the possession of so many things of this world, he also recognized that "one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (Luke 12:15). "The blessing of the LORD makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it" (Proverbs 10:22). Therefore Jabez asked the Lord to keep him from evil. Truly, "Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred ... Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting with strife" (Proverbs 15:17; 17:1).

  5. The Lord protects: "The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore" (verse 8). Going out and coming in symbolize the starting and completion of a thing, both privately and publicly. The singers emphasize how much they need the Lord's protection at the beginning of the journey up to the Lord's temple, as well as on their journey back. In doing so the promise is fulfilled: "Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out" (Deuteronomy 28:6). "He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him" (Psalm 126:6). "Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6). "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the LORD upholds him with His hand" (Psalm 37:23,24). "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen" (Jude 24,25).

Questions

  1. What did John Bunyan mean by "The New Birth" and the "Swamp of Despond"?

  2. What is meant by "The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night" in verse 6 of this psalm?

Psalm One Hundred and Twenty-Two
Gladness in the House of the Lord

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD."

2 Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem!

3 Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together,

4 Where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, to the Testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.

5 For thrones are set there for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.

6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: "May they prosper who love you.

7 Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces."

8 For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, "Peace be within you."

9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good.

This is a psalm of David. The children of Israel used to sing it on their annual pilgrimage when they reached the walls of the holy city and their feet stood within its gates. They had left behind the land of distress, of which the psalmist complained in Psalm 120, as he made his journey upwards to Jerusalem. God had answered the prayer lifted up in Psalm 121 and helped them, kept them and brought them to their destination in peace. Some commentators hold that David composed this psalm after the Ark of the Lord's Covenant was moved to his city. At that time God promised him that He would establish his throne and build him a house, i.e., give him descendants who would reign over his people.

In this psalm the psalmist says that he was utterly glad as he heard his relatives and neighbours call him to join the procession of travellers making the pilgrimage to the house of the Lord. No sooner had he stood by the gates of the holy city than his mind was filled with memories of the tribes of Israel and how the Lord dealt with them. So he prayed blessing and peace for both the place and the worshippers.

The psalm contains the following:

  • First: Gladness for the safe arrival (verses 1,2)

  • Second: Holy memories (verses 3-5)

  • Third: A sure prayer (verses 6-9)

First: Gladness for the Safe Arrival
(verses 1,2)

  1. Gladness when hearing the call: "I was glad when they said to me" (verse 1a). Every believer feels glad when he hears the call to draw near to the Lord in obedience to the apostolic command: "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you" (James 4:8). The Lord often sends us calls; first the call to repentance: "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). When we fall into sin we hear Him call, "Remember the height from which you have fallen!" (Revelation 2:5). When we grow weary and groan we hear Him call, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

    The Lord may call us through a verse from His holy Word, a loving touch of generosity, a correction that puts us on our guard against error, or a word from a friend who calls us to "go into the house of the LORD." How fortunate is the person who is glad to receive the call, knowing that the one who comes to God will by no means be cast out (John 6:37). He desires "all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:4).

    In the parable of the prodigal son, the son was not sure his father would receive him after he had disobeyed him and squandered his money. But on the contrary, his father welcomed him and was glad to have him back. Heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents, and the penitent sinner himself is filled with joy over his own repentance. Whoever loves God will love His house and will rejoice to pray there, starting with "The LORD is my shepherd" and ending with "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever" (Psalm 23:1,6). The recurring theme of prayer of such a man would be: "But as for me, I will come into Your house in the multitude of Your mercy; In fear of You I will worship toward Your holy temple" (Psalm 5:7). When we embark on our journey with God we discover that "Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths'" (Isaiah 2:3). For "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105).

  2. Gladness from the fellowship of the believers: "Let us go into the house of the LORD" (verse 1b). The psalmist rejoiced over the invitation and over the fact that he would join a wonderful group of people who love the Lord, adore Him, and, in consequence, their hearts are filled with assurance. He was like a starving man who found someone inviting him to a piece of bread, or a thirsty man who heard someone inviting him to a spring of refreshing water together with joyful friends. The fellowship of the believers gladdens the heart, for they encourage one another. In the "Pilgrim's Progress" by John Bunyan, the pilgrim set off alone toward the Heavenly City, but when his wife did the same, she took her children along. How happy she was to enjoy the company of all her family as they travelled together to the Heavenly City, while she seemed to say, "Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me!" (Isaiah 8:18).

    In the house of the Lord the weary finds rest for his soul, as David said, "One thing I have desired of the LORD...: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple" (Psalm 27:4). Confronted with the question of the wicked's prosperity and the distress of the righteous, Asaph found the solution in the house of the Lord. He said, "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood their end" (Psalm 73:17). When the messages of the King of Babylon reached Hezekiah, mocking both him and his God, Hezekiah found his rest in the house of the Lord. "Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD" and the Lord delivered him (Isaiah 37:14).

  3. Gladness of worship: "Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem" (verse 2). The world gives temporary gladness, which does not last long, but the joy of the Lord is our strength, "For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalm 84:10). How lovely it is to come near the Lord's house, even if we were "standing", for standing shows that we are alert and ready to obey.

Second: Holy Memories
(verses 3-5)

  1. The return to the earlier glory: "Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together" (verse 3). Capturing the Jebusite stronghold, "David dwelt in the stronghold; therefore they called it the City of David. And he built the city around it, from the Millo to the surrounding area. Joab repaired the rest of the city" (1 Chronicles 11:7,8). However, the Babylonians came and tore down the walls of Jerusalem, ransacked its houses, destroyed its temple and exiled those of its inhabitants who were competent and learned. After seventy years the Lord restored his people to their land. Many of them returned home with the scribe Ezra and began to restore the temple. Another group returned with Nehemiah the governor, and they began to build the walls compact together, filling the gaps and repairing the breaches (Nehemiah 2:17; 7:4). Then the ruined houses were rebuilt, and the city once again had a wall, a temple and houses all completed and made new. Its inhabitants were in one accord, worshipping together and building together, in one heart and in one spirit.

    The expression "compact together" can also apply to spiritual life, for although we belong to different backgrounds, cultures and various economical and social circumstances, we are still equal before God our Creator, Care-taker and Redeemer. In the church, we forget our titles and where we come from, and accept that it is enough to be known as children of the same Father. This joint belonging unites us all as one family and as brothers and sisters to each other, or as precious living stones in one building. As branches in Christ's vineyard we hold hands together to give one message to the world, taking hold of the hope that Christ is preparing a heavenly home for us (John 14:1-4). For as pilgrims we are travelling from the City of Destruction to the Heavenly City: "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Ephesians 4:4-6).

  2. Recalling the former tender mercies: "Where the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, to the Testimony of Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD" (verse 4). The psalmist gladly recalls that he has a rich historical heritage of adoration and celebration for God. The tribes used to set off on this journey of worship to the Lord's temple three times a year, as God commanded them; twice in spring, for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Weeks, and once in autumn for the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. "Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God in the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which He has given you" (Deuteronomy 16:16,17).

    The Feast of Unleavened Bread is the same as the Passover. It celebrates the passing of the destroying angel over the houses of the children Israel without harming them, while killing the first-born in the houses of the Egyptians. It was named the Feast of Unleavened Bread because they ate bread without yeast on that feast. The second feast, the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, which was also called the Feast of Ingathering (of the firstfruits), was a thanksgiving celebration for the harvest. Pentecost is a Greek word that means "fifty". The Jewish tradition holds that the law was given to Moses on the fiftieth day after the Exodus. As to the Feast of Tabernacles, it serves as a reminder of the time when the children of Israel used to live in tents (tabernacles) during their journey in the desert. To celebrate this feast the Jews used to set up booths or huts on house-tops and in the open and live in them for seven days.

    In every pilgrimage the children of Israel testify to God's favour toward them when He made the destroying angel pass over them, gave them the law and took care of them for forty years of wandering in the desert.

  3. Gratitude for justice: "For thrones are set there for judgment, The thrones of the house of David" (verse 5). The Lord delegated the king to judge the people with justice. The king would then delegate judges from the royal family and the nobles of the people to sit on the seat of judgment, in order to defend the poor and render justice to the orphan and widow. Because he expects God to administer justice through the king and his men, the believer says to Him, "You have maintained my right and my cause; You sat on the throne judging in righteousness" (Psalm 9:4). God blesses them in that "He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday" (Psalm 37:6).

    Since the thrones are set there for judgment we are not to take the law into our own hands: "Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord" (Romans 12:19).

    No doubt God's justice now, which He administers through just kings and honest judges, is a symbol of the final justice on the day when all of us will stand before the throne of Christ to give account of all that we did. There is a reference here to the happy reign of the Lord: "The LORD reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the multitude of isles be glad" (Psalm 97:1).

Third: A Sure Prayer
(verses 6-9)

Reaching the gates of Jerusalem, the psalmist's heart filled with gratitude to God, and he began to pray for the great city, the home of the Lord's temple, the place in which the ark of the covenant rested and without which there was no sacrificial atonement. Today as we study this psalm, we lift up our eyes, not to a physical city located in a certain geographical place, but to the heavenly Jerusalem, as God said, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying" (Isaiah 65:17-19). Our heavenly Jerusalem is the spiritual, invisible church of Christ, of which John said, "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Revelation 21:2).

The Scripture gives this definition of the people of God: "He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God" (Romans 2:28,29). This definition explains the nature of the kingdom of God: All those who received Jesus Christ as Saviour and Redeemer, whether they are of Jewish or any other background, are to be the people of God, because "there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all" (Colossians 3:11). Those are the true people of God. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12). Weeping over the destiny of the earthly Jerusalem, Christ said to it, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation" (Luke 19:42-44).

In light of this spiritual interpretation, let us ponder on the prayer of the psalmist.

  1. He prayed for peace for the city: "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: 'May they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls, prosperity within your palaces' " (verses 6,7). Jerusalem means "City of Peace". The psalmist prayed that the city's name will be justified by its condition, so that it would be said, "The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of the LORD does valiantly " (Psalm 118:15). When this prayer is answered, the worshippers who have come to keep the feast for the Lord in Jerusalem will have prosperity, the towers on its walls will be safe from the onslaught of the enemies, and the palaces will enjoy peace owing to the prosperity and success of those within its gates. "Walk about Zion, and go all around her. Count her towers; Mark well her bulwarks; consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following. For this is God, our God forever and ever; He will be our guide even to death" (Psalm 48:12-14).

    Such peace within its walls and prosperity within its palaces will happen when there are no attacks from without or divisions from within, as was the case with the early church: "Then the churches... had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied" (Acts 9:31).

  2. He prayed for peace for the believers: "For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will now say, 'Peace be within you.' " (verse 8). The psalmist considers the rest of the believers his brothers and companions, just as David said to the people, "Hear me, my brethren and my people" (1 Chronicles 28:2). Likewise, Christ said, "whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother" (Matthew 12:50). All the believers are brothers and sisters: "For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren" (Romans 8:29). When we pray for the brethren, we pray for the revival of both the church and the minister, whom Christ calls in the Book of Revelation "the angel of the church." When the believer is in revival, the whole church will be in revival. For this reason the psalmist says that for the sake of his brethren and companions who pray in the church he will say, "Peace" to the congregation of the believers. "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

  3. He asked peace for the house of the Lord: "Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good" (verse 9). The house of the Lord was built in the holy city. So for the sake of the peace of the house of the Lord he prays peace for the city, because the temple is the centre of both worship and political leadership to the whole city. Nehemiah was described as a man "come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel" (Nehemiah 2:10). Let us, therefore, seek the peace of the church, of every city that has a church and of the capital of our country, so that the Pentecost experience may be repeated with us, when "three thousand souls were added to them ... And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:41,47).

Questions

  1. The psalmist mentions three reasons for his joy. Write them down.

  2. Approaching the holy city the psalmist remembers three great incidents. Write down these three.

Psalm One Hundred And Twenty-Three
Have Mercy on Us

A Song of Ascents.

1 Unto You I lift up my eyes, o You who dwell in the heavens.

2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until He has mercy on us.

3 Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us! for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.

4 Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorn of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud.

The psalmist opened Psalm 121 by saying: "I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth" and the Lord lent him help on his journey. Standing at the gates of Jerusalem his soul was filled with calm and peace, and he started to sing the verses of this psalm: "Unto You I lift up my eyes, o You who dwell in the heavens" He lifted up his eyes, aware of his continuous need, and fixed them upon Him who dwells in the heavens, because He has been the living Lord, dwelling inside him. He was sure that God rewards those who seek Him diligently, so he stood in front of the temple like a servant waiting for the instructions of his master in utter humility.

The psalmist teaches us that we are always in need of lifting up our eyes to God, because both the world around us and the flesh within us draw our attention downward, hurling obstacles and hurdles in our way. When we are weary we are tempted to turn our eyes away from the Lord and set them on our own resources, or expect help from people around us. We often forget that the Lord said, "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the LORD ... Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD" (Jeremiah 17:5,7). Let us, therefore, endeavour wholeheartedly to set our eyes always on Him who dwells in the heavens.

The psalm starts off in the singular "Unto You I lift up my eyes" but it soon turns into a song that is picked up by all the believers, and then the author uses the plural: "So our eyes look to the LORD." So let us all sing this psalm in order to be encouraged and continue lifting up our eyes to the Lord "until He has mercy on us."

The psalm contains the following:

  • First: A look to the heights (verses 1,2)

  • Second: Pleading for mercy (verses 3,4)

First: A Look to the Heights
(verses 1,2)

  1. A look to the possessor of majesty: "Unto You I lift up my eyes, o You who dwell in the heavens" (verse 1). In Psalm 121 the psalmist spoke about God, but in this psalm he spoke to God. He looked earlier to the mountains, but now he lifted up his eyes to Him who dwells in the heavens, and in doing so he drew nearer to Him. His relationship with God rose to a higher level and took on greater depth as he began to see the Lord as King and Judge of the whole world: "The LORD is in His holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men" (Psalm 11:4). The psalmist seems to be saying, "My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net" (Psalm 25:15). "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases" (Psalm 115:3). Seeing the Lord's glory in His temple and hearing the seraphs shout, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" (Isaiah 6:3), the prophet Isaiah realized that the Holy One who dwelt in the heavens filled the whole earth with His glory. He alone deserves that we lift up our eyes to Him, because He dwells in the heavens and is at work on earth. All His ways are true. He rushes to our aid in His mysterious ways that surpass understanding, as if to say to us, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9).

  2. A look to the possessor of authority: "Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress" (verse 2a,b). Because he saw God as dwelling in the heavens, possessed of all authority in heaven and on earth, the psalmist perceived himself as the Lord's servant. All the believers are the Lord's servants because He has created them, sustains them and has purchased them by redemption. They are honoured to be His servants because in this servanthood is perfect freedom. It is a belonging to the Lord of all the earth. One saint said, "I need your Lordship, but You do not need my servanthood."

    The title of a servant or a maidservant is cherished by the believers. It was used often of Moses (Deuteronomy 34:5; 1 Chronicles 6:49), Joshua (Joshua 29:24; Judges 2:8), Elijah (1 Kings 18:36), Daniel (Daniel 6:20), Paul (Roman 1:1), Peter (2 Peter 1:1), James (James 1:1) and of all those who were set free by Christ (1 Peter 2:16). David used it to describe his own mother: "O LORD, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds" (Psalm 116:16). The Virgin Mary applied it to herself when she said to the angel, "I am the Lord's servant" (Luke 1:38 NIV).

    The Old Testament distinguishes between the servant who was born in the house and the one bought with money. The servant born in the house is dearer because he belongs to the house (Genesis 14:14). How lovely is Timothy's house of which Paul said, "When I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also" (2 Timothy 1:5).

    The true believer is the one who says to the Lord, "I love my master... and do not want to go free" (Exodus 21:5 NIV). He speaks well of his master and the song of his heart says, "For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand.I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God... " (as though he were a doorkeeper) "...than dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalm 84:10). The psalmist looked around and saw God dwelling in the heavens, and then focused his eyes and saw His hand bestowing blessings because it is loving and generous, guiding to righteousness because it is righteous and faithful not to lead anyone astray. He realized then that it was the hand of the one in authority, who ought to be obeyed, as well the hand of the one who graciously gives us all good. Let us, therefore, obey the owner of that generous hand, so that we may receive His blessings, have our eyes and ears opened to His instructions, and say to Him, "Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will" (Mark 14:36). Then we will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture (John 10:9), saying with gratitude, "What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me? I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD" (Psalm 116:12,13).

    1. The hand of the Lord guides: All through the believer's life journey the Lord stretched out His hand to him, just as He did to His people of old: "So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands" (Psalm 78:72). All along the way he hears Him say, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye" (Psalm 32:8).

    2. The hand of the Lord gives: This is why we neither fear nor worry -- He looks after all His creation: "These all wait for You, that You may give them their food in due season. What You give them they gather in; You open Your hand, they are filled with good" (Psalm 104:27,28). The psalmist says, " I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread" (Psalm 37:25). The Lord said to the prophet Elijah, "And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there" (1 Kings 17:4). God used the hungry ravens to serve His prophet by bringing him food.

    3. The hand of the Lord protects: "For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield" (Psalm 5:12). The Lord reassures His people through the words David said to Goliath: "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel... for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands" (1 Samuel 17:45-47). God says of every believer, "Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him" (Psalm 91:14,15).

    4. The hand of the Lord corrects: He is a loving Father who takes interest in the purity of his children's lives. Because He wants them to be pure He commands them: "Do not be conformed to (have the form or appearance of) this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2). We are to resist sin; but if we do not, He will discipline us to correct us just as the Scripture says, "You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: 'My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; For whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives.' If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? " (Hebrews 12:4-7). "Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time" (1 Peter 5:6).

    5. The hand of the Lord recompenses: It chastises us if we sin, and recompenses us if we do good, as the Scriptures said of Ezra when he led a large group of the children of Israel back to their land with permission from King Cyrus the Persian: "This Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him ... On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him" (Ezra 7:6,9). Ezra himself put it in this way: "[He] has extended mercy to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me" (Ezra 7:28).

  3. A look to the possessor of mercy: "So our eyes look to the LORD our God, until He has mercy on us. " (verse 2c). The eyes of the servants will continue to rest upon the hand of the master until he bestows mercy upon them. The two thieves blasphemed and mocked Christ, but the eyes of the one thief, hanging there on the cross, were set upon Christ. This made him see in Him what the other thief could not: his Lord and Saviour. He found in him what the majority could not: the awaited King. Therefore he said, "'Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.'" (Luke 23:42,43). What great mercy God shows to the penitent sinner! It is this mercy that spares us our well-earned punishment. "Have compassion on Your servants. Oh, satisfy us early with Your mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days! " (Psalm 90:13,14).

    War rages on between the serpent and the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15). Satan will continue fighting the believers relentlessly and ceaselessly. Let us, therefore, fix our eyes upon the Lord's hand that we may receive mercy, because He promised us victory. "Therefore the LORD will wait, that He may be gracious to you; and therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for Him" (Isaiah 30:18).

Second: Pleading for Mercy
(verses 3,4)

The psalmist was overjoyed when he went up to the Lord's mountain, but he knew that he must leave the Lord's temple and go down into the valley, back to his ordinary duties among the wicked, where he would encounter troubles. It was for this reason that he pleaded for mercy.

  1. Pleading to be spared from his sins: "Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy on us! For we are exceedingly filled with contempt" (verse 3). The primary cause for contempt and disgrace is sin and being alienated from God. The psalmist, in this stance of pleading for mercy, was like the tax collector who stood afar off and would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be merciful to me a sinner!" (Luke 18:13). And "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). "He will again have compassion on us, nd will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19).

  2. Pleading to be spared from scorn and contempt: "Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorn of those who are at ease, with the contempt of the proud" (verse 4). The psalmist pleads to be spared from those who offend him, whom he calls "the proud" and "the arrogant". Those who are at ease are those who live in luxury and who do not care about God, but are self-centred. They are not concerned about the troubles of God's people as long as they are at ease.

    All their expectations are confined to their personal resources and social or political influence, their wealth, connections or family. They ignore righteous people. They make light of living holy. They mock those who fear God. Amos, the prophet of social justice, says of them, "Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in Mount Samaria..." (Amos 6:1).

    The proud are great people - only in their own eyes. Concerning the proud the psalmist said, "The proud have me in great derision, yet I do not turn aside from Your law. I remembered Your judgments of old, O LORD, and have comforted myself" (Psalm 119:51,52).

    Those who are at ease and the proud have made a habit of scorning and deriding God's people. This is what happened on the occasion when Nehemiah planned to rebuild the walls of the city of God: "But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, 'What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?'... Now Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, 'Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.' Hear, O our God, for we are despised" (Nehemiah 2:19; 4:3,4). This reminds us of what happened to Christ, for He was "despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; he was despised, and we did not esteem Him" (Isaiah 53:3). And on the cross "And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads ... Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 'He saved others; Himself He cannot save'... Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing" (Matthew 27:39-44). When we turn to Christ, who was tempted in all things yet without sin, we find Him able to help those who are tempted.

As we pray this psalm along with the psalmist, let us fix our eyes on God's hand, which guides and gives. Let us never turn our eyes away from it. If we experience contempt, let us lift up our eyes to the Lord, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

Questions

  1. Why does this psalm start off in the singular and then turn to the plural?

  2. Mention five things the Lord's hand does.

Psalm One Hundred And Twenty-Four
If It Had Not Been the Lord

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 men rose up against us,

3 Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us;

4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul;

5 Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul."

6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.

7 Our soul has escaped as 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.

This is the fifth Psalm of Ascents, which the Israelites used to sing on their pilgrimage to the temple, which was built on a mountain. Their ascent was both geographical and spiritual. Today we sing these psalms because we are on a rising spiritual journey, in which we go to higher heights in our relationship with the Lord and grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. Let every day of our lives be a gradual ascent in obedience to God and love for Him and our fellow man, so that our way of life might be patterned after Christ's own life.

In the previous psalm the psalmist told of a painful experience, in which his soul was filled with contempt and scorn from the proud, so much so that he pleaded to be spared from his proud enemy, and God sent a great salvation to him. In this psalm, however, the psalmist enumerates God's benefits and calls the believers to thank and praise God and proclaim that their trust in Him.

The occasion for writing this psalm is not well known. It may have been the attacks of Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites who plotted together to fight Nehemiah and his building team (Nehemiah 4:7-23). Nehemiah and his companions prayed and stood watch over the walls day and night. Once the wall was completed, the enemies were humiliated in their own eyes and perceived that this work was done by God (Nehemiah 6:16).

The psalm contains the following:

  • First: A call to thanksgiving (verses 1,2)

  • Second: The Lord's many benefits (verses 3-7)

  • Third: A proclamation of trust for the future (verse 8)

First: A Call to Thanksgiving
(verses 1,2)

"'If the LORD had not been on our side'— let Israel say- 'if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us' " (verses 1,2). Twice the psalmist repeats "If the LORD had not been on our side" in order to emphasize the primary truth that "'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6). The same statement was said by Jacob to his uncle and father-in-law Laban when the latter went out to attack him, only to be stopped by the Lord. On that occasion Jacob said, "Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night" (Genesis 31:42). The psalmist also said, "Unless the LORD had been my help, my soul would soon have settled in silence" (Psalm 94:17). Again Nehemiah said the same thing when they came under attack while rebuilding the wall: "Our God will fight for us!" (Nehemiah 4:20). The psalmist must have had in mind the fear of his people when confronted with the Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptian army behind them, while Moses said to them, "The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace" (Exodus 14:14). Truly, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). "The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him! " (Psalm 34:7,8). "In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Psalm 56:11). "The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" (Psalm 118:6).

"If the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us," (verse 2). What a difference between Him who is on our side and those who attack us! On our side is the Lord, Master over all the earth, its Creator and the One with absolute authority over it. As to the "men", they are mere mortals, created of dust. Why should we fear if mere dust rises against us? "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes" (Psalm 118:8,9). "Men attacked us" but "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ... Though an army may encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war may rise against me, in this I will be confident" (Psalm 27:1,3). We are made of dust, just as they are. But the Lord who stood by our side and blew into the dust that we are, and made a living soul out of it: "The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge" (Psalm 46:7).

Second: The Lord's Many Benefits
(verses 3-7)

  1. Deliverance from being swallowed: "Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us" (verse 3). The wrath of the wicked was kindled against God's people. The wicked wanted to swallow them alive, at once, like the pit that swallowed the Korahites. "Now it came to pass, as he finished speaking all these words, that the ground split apart under them, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly" (Numbers 16:31-33). In every generation the wicked tried to swallow the believers alive to destroy them and blot out their memory from the earth. These attempts were carried out all through history, so much so that the Church was rightly called "the Church of the Martyrs". Yet, the blood of martyrs has always been the seed of the Church!

    Nebuchadnezzar made such an attempt on the people, causing them to cry out, "Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me, he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a monster; he has filled his stomach with my delicacies, he has spit me out" (Jeremiah 51:34). The Lord, however, delivered His people and encouraged them, saying, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place" (Isaiah 43:2,3). For this reason the wise man gave this piece of advice to his son to stay clear of the wicked: "My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. If they say, 'Come with us, let us lie in wait to shed blood; let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole, like those who go down to the Pit ... My son, do not walk in the way with them, keep your foot from their path" (Proverbs 1:10-12,15).

  2. Deliverance from drowning: "Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul" (verses 4,5). When the enmity of the world finds a gap, it breaks through violently to overwhelm God's people. And in the face of such floods of persecution there is no rescuer, refuge or shelter - but God. Sensing the swollen mighty waters rushing down in a torrential stream that sweeps away everything that stands in its way, the psalmist cried out, "Oh, sing to the LORD a new song! Sing to the LORD, all the earth. Sing to the LORD, bless His name; proclaim the good news of His salvation from day to day ... The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The LORD on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea" (Psalm 96:1,2; 93:3,4).

    The swollen waters stand for the enemies who come like fierce, torrential waves of the sea to fall down on God's people. But God shall never leave them or forsake them, for whoever hears His sayings and does them will be likened to a wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24). "Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us" (Romans 8:37).

  3. Deliverance from being a prey: "Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth" (verse 6). The psalmist likens the enemies to ferocious animals that fall upon their prey and tear them apart with their teeth before devouring them. No one can rescue the prey but the Good Shepherd, about whom the psalmist calls, "Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheekbone; you have broken the teeth of the ungodly" (Psalm 3:7). "O LORD my God, in You I put my trust; save me from all those who persecute me; and deliver me, Lest they tear me like a lion, rending me in pieces, while there is none to deliver" (Psalm 7:1,2). The enemies attempted to do the same thing with Christ, a fact which the psalmist, through the Spirit of prophecy, predicted a thousand years before He was crucified: "For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots. But You, O LORD, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. Save Me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen! You have answered Me" (Psalm 22:16-21). Christ's prayer was heard, and He rose from the dead triumphing and victorious.

  4. Deliverance from the snare: "Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped" (verse 7). The psalmist compares himself to a bird threatened by a fowler's snare. Experts in the nature of birds, fowlers, know that the birds cannot see the net or evade it, and once they fall into it they cannot free themselves. How happy is the bird that has a mighty deliverer who intervenes in the nick of time, breaks open the snare and releases the bird, thus delivering many other birds who would have otherwise been caught by this snare! Blessed be the soul that the Lord watches over, as it says, "My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for He shall pluck my feet out of the net" (Psalm 25:15). Let it remember the promise: "Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler And from the perilous pestilence" (Psalm 91:3).

    Satan's snares are diverse. A snare could be a strange doctrine, pride in the believer, overwhelming lust or falling into depression. All these the Lord destroys. As He releases us from them we shall be "hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:8,9).

Let us give Him thanks for delivering us from being swallowed, from drowning, from the teeth of fierce animals and from the fowlers' snares, because He redeems our life from destruction (Psalm 103:4).

Third: A Proclamation of Trust for the Future
(verse 8)

"Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth" (verse 8). The psalmist proclaims his trust for the future because the source of his help and hope is the King of kings, in whose hand is the king's heart; like the rivers of water, He directs it wherever He pleases (Proverbs 21:1). He is, likewise, the Creator of all things by the word of His power, who created heaven and earth and all that is them, and He will preserve them until it is time for us to move on from His earth to His heaven: "But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. For You, O LORD, will bless the righteous; with favor You will surround him as with a shield" (Psalm 5:11,12).

God is the same, yesterday, today and forevermore. In the past He brought the Israelites out of Egypt, broke open Pharaoh's snare, and drowned him together with his soldiers in the sea. Therefore Moses and the Israelites sang, "The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him" (Exodus 15:2). "Trust in the LORD forever, for in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength" (Isaiah 26:4).

Questions

  1. Give three Bible verses proving that the LORD is on our side.

  2. What are some of Satan's snares?

Psalm One Hundred and Twenty-Five
The Lord Surrounds His People

A Song of Ascents.

1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.

2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and forever.

3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.

4 Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts.

5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be upon Israel!

This psalm declares the believer's continual security because of the Lord's unchangeable power and faithfulness. They are as steadfast as the holy mountain on which the temple was built. The psalmist speaks of sweet memories that the believers exchanged after they had arrived at Mount Zion together. The etymology of the word "Zion" is uncertain. It may be related to the Arabic sahwah, meaning "hillcrest" or "mountain ridge." It may also be derived from a root meaning to preserve or protect. Mount Zion, i.e. "Mount of Stronghold", is a high, strong mountain; it is not vulnerable to earthquakes or the enemies' attacks. It remained intact in the hands of Jebusites until David captured it in 1003 BC. Later he it called "The City of David" (2 Samuel 5:7) and transferred the ark of the covenant there (2 Samuel 6:12). Afterwards, Solomon expanded the city of Jerusalem to the north so that it included Mount Moriah on which the temple was built in 958 BC (2 Chronicles 3:1). At a later date, the entire city of Jerusalem was called Zion, including the stronghold and Mount Moriah.

The psalm contains the following:

  • First: A proclamation of trust (verses 1-3)

  • Second: The request of him who trusts (verses 4,5)

First: A Proclamation of Trust
(verses 1-3)

  1. The believer's steadfastness: "Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever" (verse 1). Mountains are symbols of steadfastness and unchangeability. In the same way Mount Zion is mentioned here because God established His temple on it. The Scripture says, "that the LORD has founded Zion, and the poor of His people shall take refuge in it" (Isaiah 14:32). The one who trusts the Lord is the one who places implicit confidence in Him practically, not just theoretically, and acts on this confidence. Such a man walks in accordance with this teaching, so that it might be said about him, "A good man deals graciously and lends; he will guide his affairs with discretion. Surely he will never be shaken; the righteous will be in everlasting remembrance. He will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established; he will not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies" (Psalm 112:5-8). A person who trusts the Lord is like a child whose father lifts him up on a high place and then tells him to jump down. The child jumps fearlessly into his father's arms, a calculated jump of faith, even in the dark. He ventures to jump because he trusts that his father will not let him fall, as though saying with Paul while on the verge of being shipwrecked, "We let here drive" (Acts 27:15). It was not the waves that drove them along, but the Lord of the waves. "There is no one like the God of Jeshurun ... The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." (Deuteronomy 33:26-27). "Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7 NIV).

    The believer knows that "The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed, He has girded Himself with strength. Surely the world is established, so that it cannot be moved" (Psalm 93:1). He trusts in the promise: " 'For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,' says the LORD, who has mercy on you" (Isaiah 54:10). Therefore he sings, "I have set the LORD always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved" (Psalm 16:8).

    Martin Luther loved Psalm 46. It was the psalm that inspired him to stand in the face of fierce opposition and threats of violence. He even set it to music, and the tune he used still inspires the believers today, as they sing, "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved; God shall help her, just at the break of dawn" (Psalm 46:5), that is, in the darkest hours right before dawn. They are sure that the light of day will defeat the darkness, no matter how deep the darkness is!

  2. The believer's bosom: "As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and forever" (verse 2). It is an undeniable fact that mountains surround Jerusalem, and just as well a fact that God embraces the believer in His own bosom. This is an abiding spiritual fact that will endure from this time forth and forever, assuring the believer of security since he lives in a strong fortress. "The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe" (Proverbs 18:10). The Lord surrounds the person who trusts in Him like an immovable, well-established mountain, fulfilling His true promise: "'For I,' says the LORD, 'will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.'" (Zechariah 2:5). Experiencing this very same thing, David said, "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take care of me" (Psalm 27:10).

    Every time we take part in a baptismal service to join a newly saved person to the Lord we read the text from the gospels about the command to baptize. This text is preceded by and followed by a promise from Christ. The preceding promise says, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). Christ has all authority in heaven to forgive the sins of those who confess them and resolve to leave them behind. He answers prayer, intercedes on behalf of those who take shelter in Him, and dispatches His angels to serve them. His authority on earth is also evident from the fact that He still lives, works miracles and delivers everyone that takes refuge in Him. The promise that succeeds the baptism, however, is: "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). These two promises teach us that the Lord lovingly embraces everyone that unites himself to the Lord in baptism, even to the end of the age.

  3. The believers triumph: "For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity" (verse 3). The sceptre is a symbol of authority and control. But because of God's promises to those who fear Him the wicked will not continue to control the land allotted to the righteous. And the righteous will say, "The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers" (Isaiah 14:5). The sceptre may rest on the righteous for a while, and the wicked may sometimes take control over the believers, but this must come to an end, lest the righteous use their hands to do evil. The believers are the people of God, and as long as they are in the world they will have tribulation; they are not immune to trials and temptations. But the time will come when the Lord will break the staff of the wicked, and it will be said to the believers, "It shall come to pass in the day the LORD gives you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear and the hard bondage in which you were made to serve, that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: 'How the oppressor has ceased, The golden city ceased!'" (Isaiah 14:3,4).

    The Emperor Trajan summoned a bishop in order to make fun of him and his Christ. He asked him, "What is your Nazarene carpenter doing now?" The bishop answered him, "He is preparing a coffin for the Roman Empire." And this is exactly what happened! Helena, the mother of Constantine the Great, the first Christian Emperor, came to believe in Christ. Then Constantine convened the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in AD 325. Three hundred and eighteen bishops attended the Council, one of whom had had one eye plucked out under torture. The Emperor kissed the scar of his plucked eye, ordered fifty copies of the Bible to be transcribed at the Roman government's expense, and made Christianity the state religion. This is how the Nazarene made the coffin. There will come a day when every knee shall bow to Christ, of those in heaven, and of those on earth (Philippians 2:10). The sceptre of the wicked shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous.

    The psalmist was not concerned about the sceptre of the wicked robbing him of his possessions or ending his life. Rather, he feared that the righteous would sin, because Christ says to them, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). The authority of the wicked will not rest on the believers' portion, for they shout, "O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance... For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; in the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock" (Psalm 16:5,6; 27:5).

Second: The Request of Him Who Trusts
(verses 4,5)

  1. Requesting goodness to those who are good: "Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts" (verse 4). God is good by His very nature; He does good even to those who do not deserve it. He gives generously to all without reproach (James 1:5). There is none among mankind who is perfectly good or completely upright. There is none that deserves such goodness from God, because there is none who does good; all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Psalm 14:1-3; Romans 3:23). Those who are good and righteous here are not possessed of absolute goodness and righteousness. They are those who have a good and righteous intention that seeks only to obey the Lord. They are those who are faithful and loyal to the Lord wholeheartedly, such as the apostle Paul who said, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me" (Philippians 3:12). The Lord does good to us out of His abundant love, not because we deserve it, but because He is "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation" (Exodus 34:6,7). Asaph, one of the authors of the psalm, said of God, "Truly God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart" (Psalm 73:1). Those who are good are the seed that "stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop" (Luke 8:15 NIV). It was also this attribute that Nehemiah claimed for himself in his prayer: "Remember me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people ... Remember me, O my God, for good" (Nehemiah 5:19; 13:31). God does good to the righteous by granting them four things:

    1. Salvation: "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). This is the greatest goodness that the Lord gives to those who believe and trust that the blood of Chri