GOD ON OUR SIDE
Opening Prayer
Mighty Creator and Sustainer, I come before you with thanksgiving and praise. I commit all that I am and have to bring you glory today.
Read PSALM 124
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Psalm 124
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side—
let Israel say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?’1
The previous psalm, Psalm 123, is a prayer uttered in the midst of hostility and the contempt of the world. Psalm 124 praises God for deliverance from enemies and declares that help comes from the Lord (v. 8). The juxtaposition of these two psalms doesn’t seem to be coincidental. The first five verses of Psalm 124 contain two ‘if’ clauses (vv. 1, 2) and three ‘then’ clauses (vv. 3–5), which spell out that ‘if’ God had not been on their side, ‘then’ disaster would have happened to them.
The attack of the angry and destructive enemy is compared to a raging torrent that would engulf God’s people (vv. 2b–5). The ‘flood,’ ‘torrent,’ and ‘raging waters’ in the Old Testament often refer to the forces opposed to God and his faithful people.2 We can imagine that God’s people are facing a horrendous threat from their enemies, even though the menace is not specifically identified here. The metaphor of a bird escaping from a trap (v. 7) indicates that they have survived the crisis up to this point, which elicits communal praise to God and evokes faith in God’s deliverance in the future.
To affirm that God is ‘on our side’ (vv. 1, 2) and that ‘our help’ comes from the Lord (v. 8) is to admit our incapability in securing our own life and future. Only by this fundamental recognition and humility shall we be driven to seek the ultimate source of power—‘the Maker of heaven and earth’ (v. 8).
Apply
‘If God is for us, who can be against us?’3 We shall not fear, as God is ‘our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.’4
Closing prayer
No matter what calamity I face, Lord God, help me to trust in your faithfulness and in your power to provide everything I need.
1 Rom 8:32 2 e.g., Ps 46:1–3; 74:12–15; 89:8–10; 93:3, 4 3 Rom 8:31 4 Ps 46:1
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