“I have come to believe the Psalms of Ascents (Psalm 120-134) can be a great source of help for the modern church. We, ever increasingly, live in a time where we must embark on a pilgrim lifestyle. This different brand of life needs philosophies, anthems, to abide by, and I believe these psalms provide the required help. Because of this, I have written a book on these psalms and will release a chapter every three weeks from May 2019 through February 2020. Each entry will expound on each psalm in order. Since these posts are rather lengthy, I encourage you to take whatever time you need to set aside to digest them. To aid you, I will also record a reading of each entry, available to you at the top of the page, or on the Jesus Famous podcast. My prayer is for these studies to enrich you significantly on your sojourn with Christ. Thank you for reading, listening, and sharing.”
Chapter 5. Remember All Your Previous Rescues (Psalm 124)
While we waited in line, I stared. It was my first loop-d-loop roller coaster. Those two loops loomed, and I couldn't hear a thing but my own thoughts. After an eternity, the moment came, we buckled in and -- I couldn't stop it -- our journey began. I was sure I'd become the first to fall out of the coaster and die. I could see the headlines.
But, to my surprise, I lived. And in the process, I found a new level of exhilaration. Endorphins released and great gladness came upon me. Smiles all around. Then I understood the term "thrill ride."
If you have ever seen a child walk off a roller coaster with a huge grin on their face, especially if they stepped onto it with a grim one, then you know what this next psalm is all about. The people who sing it had been attacked by a monster, threatened by a flood, and trapped by a fowler. But God rescued them from every calamity, and they remembered His rescues by singing about Him. This song is a pilgrim song, one in which God is celebrated for faithfully aiding His people. This is a song which says, "We got swallowed by the monster, we were in the teeth of the beast, but God was beautiful to us in there." This is a song which declares the love of God amid attack and pain. These pilgrims had walked into the attack with a grim face, but left it with a grin, because God had been on their side.
In a way, Paul sang this song to the Roman church. He wrote, "The Spirit helps in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words" (Romans 8:26). Do I pray for financial blessing for a nation, or would poverty spark revival? Do I pray for healing from cancer, or will the disease preserve holiness and the patient's soul? Do I pray for contentment, or should I have displeasure with the way things are? Since I cannot see the end from the beginning, I often don't know how to pray. I only know many of my prayer requests would've been a disaster, and much of what I've tried to avoid has been God's great instrument of grace in my life. So many things I thought would be incredible have been a disaster, but so many things I've thought would be a disaster have been incredible.
The pilgrim begins to understand God works all things together for the good of His people (Romans 8:28). David had Saul, and glorious songs resulted from the pain Saul brought. The church had persecution, and the spread of the gospel resulted from the pain of that persecution. Naomi had death and loss, but Ruth and the blessings attached to Ruth resulted from that death and loss. Joseph had his pit and his prison, but it led to the preservation of his entire family and the development of a nation. The pilgrim begins to understand this. Monsters aren't all bad, because God uses them for His ultimate glory and pleasure. He uses the bad for our good.
Using bad for good is seen in the centerpiece of our faith, the cross of Christ. The worst thing humanity has ever done (kill God) resulted in the best thing God has ever done (save humanity). Only God can do this. Only God can take the monster and the flood and the snare and use them for something beautiful. This is the song the pilgrim sings. This is Psalm 124.
God Has Been on Our Side
"If it had not been the LORD who was on our side— let Israel now say— if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us," (Psalm 124:1–2).
The song begins with "if." It is a hypothetical song — "Let's imagine what would've happened if God hadn't been on our side." But this hypothetical reveals a truth: God was on their side.
If this song is from the exodus, the monster, flood or snare was Egypt. God heard the Egyptian whips cracking on the Hebrews backs, so He sent plagues and Moses and the Red Sea upon Egypt. The floodwaters weren't for Israel, but Egypt. The Hebrews survived the monster.
If this song is Davidic, the monster, flood or snare was the Philistine people — they wanted to push Israel into the Mediterranean. They tried to rush upon them, engulf them, and send them packing. The Philistines, with their giants and armies, had a ruthless plan for Israel.
If this song is post-exilic, the monster, flood or snare was Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar and the kings who followed him tried to swallow Israel alive, assimilating them into their Babylonian culture. But God had a future for His people. He would allow them to return to the land.
Whatever the monster, God's pilgrims are thankful God is on their side. As modern believers, we look to the cross of Christ and see the faithfulness of God. He has blessed us, chosen us, and redeemed us. The beast of our sin attempted to swallow us whole. The devil tried to push us into the sea. But God has lavished grace upon us, given us an inheritance, and sealed us (Ephesians 1:3-14). He has proved to be on our side through the glorious cross. His gospel has assured us; He is on our side.
A song like this is beautiful because, in a phony world, it is true. A song like this is no commercial, no sales pitch. There is nothing in this song that says, "Let me sell you on God for a moment, because I'm being paid to do so." No, this is real and true and authentic. These pilgrims have come out of the fire unscathed, for the Son of Man walked into the fire with them.
We will sometimes sing the song of questioning, the song which says, "Why did God allow this to happen to me?" We must have patience with ourselves and others for that song. But there is a higher song, a more beautiful song, and Psalm 124 is that song. "God was there for me" is an altogether better song with more beautiful lyrics.
If God Hadn’t Been, We’d Have Been Overtaken
"Then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us; then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us; then over us would have gone the raging waters." (Psalm 124:3–5).
Here, the hypothetical nature of the song continues. What would have happened to our pilgrims if God had not been on their side? What would have been their lot? With great imagery the pilgrims sing — despair would have been theirs. The enemy would have "swallowed us up alive." The lyric imagines their foe as a monster large enough to gulp them down with one bite. Their enemy was no small creature, but a beast which could swallow them whole.
They also sang, "then the flood would have swept us away." Their adversary would have done them in with water like power. They were like a flood that would fully immerse our pilgrims until their breath expired. They were like a torrent that would have covered everything, leaving devastation in its wake. They were like raging waters that cause the worst trauma for those passing under their wrath.
Our pilgrims hypothesized what would've become of them had God not intervened: "we would have been swallowed up alive." They knew they'd had no chance if it weren't for God. Only God could have delivered them. As we look back upon the Old Testament, we know what the Egyptians or Philistines or Babylonians could have done to Israel if God weren't fighting for His people. Without God they stood no chance, the odds were too stacked against them. They lacked the numbers. They lacked the military. Our Hebrew pilgrims would have been consumed by Egyptian slavery, Philistine wrath,or Babylonian assimilation. Israel would be no more. However, time and again, God was faithful to His people.
It is mature and healthy for God's people to imagine life without God's rescue. What would life be like if God was not on our side? We would be overtaken. We'd be wiped out. We'd suffer the gravest of defeats. Playing out this hypothetical is healthy for modern disciples.
First, this hypothetical disaster helps us through our fear. When we remember the great faithfulness of God in times past, primarily upon the cross, we are supported through worries and concerns about our present situation. To look back is helpful, for in looking back we see God's arm of strength toward us. Faith for the future grows as we look back to God's faithfulness.
Jesus taught this lesson to the disciples after he fed the five and four thousand. After both of those miracles, Christ warned his disciples to "beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herod." Then they climbed into the boat. Upon the lake, the disciples debated amongst themselves — "It is because we brought no bread." So Jesus began to question them. "Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Matthew 16:9-11). Had they looked back to the five thousand and the four thousand they would have been bolstered for the times they had little bread. They could have looked back and remembered Christ's faithfulness in their lives. By looking back, they would have been helped through their fear. They could have said, "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, we wouldn't have had anything to feed all those people." But they had because He had. This fact should have helped their fears.
Second, this hypothetical disaster helps us through our pride. It would have been lethal for our pilgrims to look back upon the Egyptians or the Philistines or the Babylonians in a self-assured way. They should not have felt it was their power or arm which had saved them. Only God could handle those foes, and handle them he had. By looking back, dreaming of what would have been without God, the pilgrim is given a fresh reason for modern reliance upon God.
By nature, we drift from God (Hebrews 2:1). We look for "broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). We begin to think we have done a great job winning the victory. When times aren't tough we tend to lose our desperation for God. By looking back, we can avoid that pride-filled apathy — the kind which says, "I don't have a great need for God." When we think honestly about where we'd be without God, we are set aright. Desperation for him — today — returns when we think of how much we needed him yesterday.
Remember! Pharaoh would have humiliated Moses! Goliath would have crushed David! Nebuchadnezzar would have burnt Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah to death! If God had not been on our side we would have suffered the gravest losses, so let's lean upon Him for today. Victory is not ours without Him.
God Broke the Snare so We Could Escape
"Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth! We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!" (Psalm 124:6–7).
Now the pilgrims give us another image to think about. The monster comes back into view for a moment -- what horrible teeth! -- but then quickly gives way to the image of a fowler and his trap. They were like a bird trapped, only to discover the snare is broken, so they escaped! They could fly!
Who broke the snare? God did! He broke the snare of the fowler. We cannot help but see the cross of Christ in this, for his act of the cross broke the snare. "And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him." (Colossians 2:13–15). The snare has been broken. The enemy has been disarmed. We were dead in the trap, but God made us alive.
Like the little bird, we are set free to fly again. Adam was made for spiritual flight. He was in contact and communion with God. He was alive. But his sin, which he drug us all into, brought humanity into a lifelessness before God. We've been walking around like spiritual zombies since Adam, but Christ has made the way out. Our guilt is replaced by Christ's innocence. Our lifelessness is replaced by Christ's spiritual life. Our sinfulness is replaced by Christ's righteousness (Romans 5:12-21). The cross broke the devil's snare, so now we can fly.
Birds are used in imaginative ways throughout Scripture. Sometimes of evil, sometimes of spiritual flight, and sometimes of helplessness and mindlessness. Here, the latter is in effect. Our clueless little bird is pecking along on the path of life, only to find itself caught up. But the trap is not its destiny, for the trap has been broken.
We find the same truth within the good news of the gospel. Christ died. Christ was buried. Christ rose. And Christ ascended. Sin, which he was previously tempted by (without sin), now has no impact upon him. He is dead to that, and alive to God, walking before his Father eternally. "So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:11). This is one of the most difficult statements in all of the Bible for us to believe. I'm dead to sin? I'm alive to God? Yes, it is so! I am indeed. I am just as dead to sin as Christ is and alive to God as Christ is because as a believer, I hold his same position. I must consider this to be so.
Consider this example. In the Old Testament era, for Israel, leprosy excluded someone from the camp, lest it spread. They considered it a sickness, but also an uncleanness. But God made provision for the possibility of healing. If miraculously healed, if leprosy was cleansed, God gave them a priestly procedure to follow — a cleansing ceremony involved a sacrifice, a waiting period, and a priestly inspection. After passing through the entirety of the procedure, the leper was pronounced clean. No leprosy!
But imagine what that declaration would be like for our ex-leper. Every new irritation of the skin, every bug bite, every rash, could throw him into turmoil. "I'm not really clean!" he might think. But these were all false alarms. He was clean, God had declared him so.
God has declared his children clean. We are dead to sin and alive to God. There may be times we don't feel this way, but those feelings are why we must consider, reckon, and count ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God. It is a faith act, a belief in what God has said has been done.
The trap has been broken. The snare was set, but we are now free. God broke the snare of sin and death and decay so that we might escape. Our escape is in the future, but it is also now. The Son has set us free so we will be free indeed (John 8:36). The bird can fly again, and so can we. By faith, we can walk with Him and enjoy — progressively — more of the freedom he has won for us. The snare was set, but it has been broken. The trap can trap no longer!
God’s Nature — Now — Is to Help Us
"Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth." (Psalm 124:8).
Because of the cross of Christ, the snare is broken, and now our help is in the name of God. His name is his nature, his character, his reputation. his very nature — because of the cross — is to help us. His name is our help. If you've been placed into Christ, God is predisposed to help you. He is looking for ways to be your help, your safety, your rescue. He sees the monsters and the floods and the snares, and longs to help you through and out of them.
But the idea that God's nature is to help us is often difficult for believers to receive. We constantly slip back into the worry that we must prove ourselves to God, that we must earn his help, but he has obliterated that in the good news of his gospel. After meticulously unpacking the glorious gospel to the church in Rome, Paul wrote, "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:31-32). God's position, because he gave us his own Son, is to continue to give. So our help is now in his name.
Consider how much God wants to help you. He looks for ways to bring aid into your life. Jesus spoke of another Helper, the Spirit of Truth, who now lives inside you (John 14:16). He wants to lead you, speak to you, and guide you. He looks for ways to help you, so run to him for help. Open his Word and find encouragement, strength, exhortation, and truth to combat the lies. Turn to his church for friendship, teaching, and opportunities to stretch and grow. Speak to him in prayer, knowing you are crying out to a God predisposed to help those who've been covered by the blood of his only begotten Son.
We Should Sing This Song Together
"If it had not been the LORD who was on our side— let Israel now say— if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us," (Psalm 124:1–2).
Before ending this chapter, we should go back to the beginning of the psalm. There is repeated line in the song: "If it had not been the LORD who was on our side." Notice how the song was not a solo. The leader started it, but then interrupted it by saying, "let Israel now say." The leader wanted the song to be communal, congregational. Israel was to be the choir. The singer would not sing this song alone.
So this song was started by one person, but the others joined in because that's the way this song is. It is contagious. It should spread because it is beautiful. This song of God's faithfulness to us through the pains and trials and difficulties and even consequences is a glorious song to sing.
Think about it. There are various songs people might sing. The first might be the song of perfection. "I never had a trial and I always made the right decisions," someone might sing. This song of perfection is an unhelpful — and untruthful — song. It is the song legalistic communities sing. Religionists and moralists love this song. Religions that major on outward performance gladly sing this chorus. But inwardly, they have no rest, no peace.
The second song is the song which questions God. "Why did He allow this to happen to me?" someone might sing. Everyone sings this song at some point. We must have patience with others and ourselves when this song is sung, for God seems to have patience for it himself. Confusion is often ours, for we cannot see the end from the beginning. The walk of faith is often a battle; it violates our minds, so we sing this song from time to time.
But the last song is this psalm. "I don't know why this happened to me, but God has been good to me in it," this singer sings. To sing of God's faithfulness in the face of the monster and the flood is a beautiful song to hear. We must sing this song to one another, for it encourages our collective soul. To hear of God's faithfulness in your life builds me up. I now expect his faithfulness in my life a little more than I did before. To hear you sing of his victorious help in your life enables me to look for his victorious help in mine.
Additionally, hearing this song induces this song. It is meant to be sung together, in a chorus, collectively. And when a community of believers learns how to sing this song, you have a beautiful community. The first song, the song of perfection, creates a cold and artificial community. There, no one is real. The second song, the song which questions God, creates a melancholy community. Hope is not widespread there. But this song, the song grateful for God's help, creates a hope-filled community. Joy abounds.
So we must sing this song to one another. When God has been faithful to you, keep not the story to yourself. Share it. Spread it. At appropriate times and places, broadcast it. You might be embarrassed by your monster or flood or snare, but pay that no mind. The glory is not for you anyhow. The glory is for God, it belongs to him. Rejoice in his victory over the foe, out loud. Let him get more glory in the ears of your neighbor. Let this song be heard, because when it is heard it is sung more, and when it is sung more, the joy of Christ abounds.
(I hope you’re enjoying A Guide for the Climb. Chapter 6 will be available on 9/5/19.)
