Psalm 124
1 If the Lord had not been on our side–
let Israel say –
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
3 when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;
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
out of 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.
INTRODUCTION
How do you raise the spirits if people are flagging?
How do you pick up people who are discouraged and about to give up?
You bring them together and remind them of their blessings.
In this Psalm this evening,
You can imagine the Israelites on the Journey to Jerusalem.
They have left home,
They are on the way,
But perhaps some of the people are not really for for the journey,
And they are thinking about turning back.
It happens to people today,
Who set out on the Christian life with Jesus,
They start off well.
There is the initial enthusiasm, and then the spirits fall.
The reality of the journey ahead sets in,
And the temptation is to give up, and turn back.
Perhaps there is murmuring among those on the Journey.
Why are we doing this again this year?
I remember this last year,
I was so tired when I got to Jerusalem I didn’t enjoy it.
The beds were hard,
The food wasn’t what I’m used to.
You know what, I might not go any further.
Some people today say,
I thought this was going to be easier.
I didn’t think I would still have the same problems.
I never thought I would still get sick with Jesus
I think I might give up, and go back to the old life.
And then some gathers everyone together,
And they start this Psalm to raise the spirits.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side–
let Israel say –
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
Psalm 124:1,2
It is someone saying,
if the Lord had not been on our side,
Come on everyone, sing together,
if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
Everyone is then singing this Psalm and remembering what God has done for them.
First of all remembering what would have happened to them if they did not have God,
And then remembering what has happened because they do have God.
So lets look at the Psalm,
And remember that is the Lord had not been on our side,
Then we would be in a very different place from where we are tonight.
Without God We Would Be …
So as we continue singing this Psalm,
We see that without God we would be in great trouble.
Sometimes we are so used to having God in our lives,
That we forget what it would be like without Jesus.
We only see the negative things that are in our lives and in times of trouble that is what we focus on,
And we forget all the reasons we trusted in Jesus in the first place.
But look at the reasons given in this song,
Between verses 2 & 5.
if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
3 when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
Psalm 124:2-5
The Lord is with us no matter what comes our way in life.
And especially in the difficult times.
When we are attacked by others,
God does not abandon us.
Without God we would be swallowed up.
Without God we would have drowned in the flood.
Without God we would be swept away.
Do you ever feel like this in life?
That there are just so many problems, that you cannot survive any longer.
That you are just about managing, but if something else comes your way then that is it.
There is no way you will survive another moment.
We need to remember as we sing this Psalm,
That the reason we are surviving is Jesus Christ.
Without Him, we would be swallowed up, drowned and swept away.
These are dramatic pictures that we sing about in this Psalm,
But it is how life feels sometimes.
And this can be our best defence against the attacks of the evil one,
Simply to recount what God has done.
There is no great theological explanation in this Psalm about the omnipresence of God.
About how he works out everything for the good of those who love him.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
Nothing about how God has a plan and that plan is for our good.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Romans 29:11
This Psalm is a song of testimony.
We are witnesses to God and his deeds,
We are not singing about the reasons why these things happen.
Instead we are declaring to the people,
This is the way it is.
Remember what life would be like without God.
And sometimes we are slow to speak about Jesus to others,
Because we think that we do not have the arguments to persuade others.
But in reality we do not need the arguments,
We need our own experience and share that with others.
We need to say,
You are finding it difficult to cope at the moment,
Can I share with you how Jesus helped me through a similar time.
Without God I would have been swept away,
I would have drowned,
I would have been swallowed up,
But with Jesus,…
We move onto the next bit of the Psalm.
With God We Are …
Without God we would have been swallowed up,
Drowned in the flood and swept away.
But With God it is a different story.
Look at what the Psalm reminds us.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
out of the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
Psalm 124:6,7
With God in our lives, we are not eaten up
With God in our lives we are like birds set free from the trap
We can only find true freedom and safety in the Lord.
Do you remember what that feeling was like when you first trusted in Jesus Christ and set out on this journey?
The joy,
The sense of freedom that they chains of sin had been broken.
That new breath had been breathed into a life that was dead.
With God we are safe.
With God we are set free to truly live.
The people who know this Psalm best,
Are the ones who have tested every line and every word in their own lives,
And found them to be trustworthy and a clear reflection of their own experience.
If you have started on the journey towards God,
Then this is the sort of Psalm that easily sums up life.
It is a Psalm where we go through trouble,
And as we face up to that trouble, instead of running away,
We find the Lord.
We realise that God is with us.
And he is not going anywhere.
He is right with us at our side.
This is not a case of just looking on the bright side of things,
This is based on the reality of freedom from God.
When the bird is caught in the snare it looks like game over,
But then the trap breaks, and freedom rushes over.
Where there was once hopelessness, now there are endless possibilities.
With God We have freedom and safety.
Our Help Is In The Lord
So as we come to the end of the Psalm, we see that Without God we are in Big trouble,
With God we have new possibilities.
So we end the Psalm with the a reminder of Psalm 121.
Where do we look for our help?
Do we look to the hills?
Of course not,
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 124:8
What defines your life?
For many their lives are defined by some dramatic event that has happened in the past.
It could be an illness, a battle with Cancer for example.
For others it is the destruction of a relationship.
Someone close has died, or betrayed or is no longer in contact.
And everything in life goes back to that event.
They cannot move on.
It could even be something that was said to them as a child,
That has marred everything else that happens in their lives.
But those are not the things that define the life of the Christian.
Our lives are not defined by the troubles and injustices that we have experienced.
Our lives are defined by the Lord who has been with us through those troubles.
We are defined by Jesus and his compassion and love.
We find our identity in a Saviour who loves us,
And our lives are characterised by his Grace, freely poured out on our lives,
So that we can direct it into the lives of others.
CONCLUSION
I recently met a man for the first time,
And he introduced himself,
“I’m John - Born again”
That is his identity.
I’m born again.
So everyone lets sing,
If the Lord had not been on our side,
Come on everyone, sing louder, I can’t hear you.
If the Lord had not been with us,
We would have been swallowed up, drowned and swept away,
But with God we are protected and set free like a bird.
Our help is in the Lord.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side–
let Israel say –
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
3 when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;
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
out of 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.
INTRODUCTION
How do you raise the spirits if people are flagging?
How do you pick up people who are discouraged and about to give up?
You bring them together and remind them of their blessings.
In this Psalm this evening,
You can imagine the Israelites on the Journey to Jerusalem.
They have left home,
They are on the way,
But perhaps some of the people are not really for for the journey,
And they are thinking about turning back.
It happens to people today,
Who set out on the Christian life with Jesus,
They start off well.
There is the initial enthusiasm, and then the spirits fall.
The reality of the journey ahead sets in,
And the temptation is to give up, and turn back.
Perhaps there is murmuring among those on the Journey.
Why are we doing this again this year?
I remember this last year,
I was so tired when I got to Jerusalem I didn’t enjoy it.
The beds were hard,
The food wasn’t what I’m used to.
You know what, I might not go any further.
Some people today say,
I thought this was going to be easier.
I didn’t think I would still have the same problems.
I never thought I would still get sick with Jesus
I think I might give up, and go back to the old life.
And then some gathers everyone together,
And they start this Psalm to raise the spirits.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side–
let Israel say –
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
Psalm 124:1,2
It is someone saying,
if the Lord had not been on our side,
Come on everyone, sing together,
if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
Everyone is then singing this Psalm and remembering what God has done for them.
First of all remembering what would have happened to them if they did not have God,
And then remembering what has happened because they do have God.
So lets look at the Psalm,
And remember that is the Lord had not been on our side,
Then we would be in a very different place from where we are tonight.
Without God We Would Be …
So as we continue singing this Psalm,
We see that without God we would be in great trouble.
Sometimes we are so used to having God in our lives,
That we forget what it would be like without Jesus.
We only see the negative things that are in our lives and in times of trouble that is what we focus on,
And we forget all the reasons we trusted in Jesus in the first place.
But look at the reasons given in this song,
Between verses 2 & 5.
if the Lord had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
3 when their anger flared against us,
they would have swallowed us alive;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
Psalm 124:2-5
The Lord is with us no matter what comes our way in life.
And especially in the difficult times.
When we are attacked by others,
God does not abandon us.
Without God we would be swallowed up.
Without God we would have drowned in the flood.
Without God we would be swept away.
Do you ever feel like this in life?
That there are just so many problems, that you cannot survive any longer.
That you are just about managing, but if something else comes your way then that is it.
There is no way you will survive another moment.
We need to remember as we sing this Psalm,
That the reason we are surviving is Jesus Christ.
Without Him, we would be swallowed up, drowned and swept away.
These are dramatic pictures that we sing about in this Psalm,
But it is how life feels sometimes.
And this can be our best defence against the attacks of the evil one,
Simply to recount what God has done.
There is no great theological explanation in this Psalm about the omnipresence of God.
About how he works out everything for the good of those who love him.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
Nothing about how God has a plan and that plan is for our good.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Romans 29:11
This Psalm is a song of testimony.
We are witnesses to God and his deeds,
We are not singing about the reasons why these things happen.
Instead we are declaring to the people,
This is the way it is.
Remember what life would be like without God.
And sometimes we are slow to speak about Jesus to others,
Because we think that we do not have the arguments to persuade others.
But in reality we do not need the arguments,
We need our own experience and share that with others.
We need to say,
You are finding it difficult to cope at the moment,
Can I share with you how Jesus helped me through a similar time.
Without God I would have been swept away,
I would have drowned,
I would have been swallowed up,
But with Jesus,…
We move onto the next bit of the Psalm.
With God We Are …
Without God we would have been swallowed up,
Drowned in the flood and swept away.
But With God it is a different story.
Look at what the Psalm reminds us.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
out of the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
Psalm 124:6,7
With God in our lives, we are not eaten up
With God in our lives we are like birds set free from the trap
We can only find true freedom and safety in the Lord.
Do you remember what that feeling was like when you first trusted in Jesus Christ and set out on this journey?
The joy,
The sense of freedom that they chains of sin had been broken.
That new breath had been breathed into a life that was dead.
With God we are safe.
With God we are set free to truly live.
The people who know this Psalm best,
Are the ones who have tested every line and every word in their own lives,
And found them to be trustworthy and a clear reflection of their own experience.
If you have started on the journey towards God,
Then this is the sort of Psalm that easily sums up life.
It is a Psalm where we go through trouble,
And as we face up to that trouble, instead of running away,
We find the Lord.
We realise that God is with us.
And he is not going anywhere.
He is right with us at our side.
This is not a case of just looking on the bright side of things,
This is based on the reality of freedom from God.
When the bird is caught in the snare it looks like game over,
But then the trap breaks, and freedom rushes over.
Where there was once hopelessness, now there are endless possibilities.
With God We have freedom and safety.
Our Help Is In The Lord
So as we come to the end of the Psalm, we see that Without God we are in Big trouble,
With God we have new possibilities.
So we end the Psalm with the a reminder of Psalm 121.
Where do we look for our help?
Do we look to the hills?
Of course not,
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Psalm 124:8
What defines your life?
For many their lives are defined by some dramatic event that has happened in the past.
It could be an illness, a battle with Cancer for example.
For others it is the destruction of a relationship.
Someone close has died, or betrayed or is no longer in contact.
And everything in life goes back to that event.
They cannot move on.
It could even be something that was said to them as a child,
That has marred everything else that happens in their lives.
But those are not the things that define the life of the Christian.
Our lives are not defined by the troubles and injustices that we have experienced.
Our lives are defined by the Lord who has been with us through those troubles.
We are defined by Jesus and his compassion and love.
We find our identity in a Saviour who loves us,
And our lives are characterised by his Grace, freely poured out on our lives,
So that we can direct it into the lives of others.
CONCLUSION
I recently met a man for the first time,
And he introduced himself,
“I’m John - Born again”
That is his identity.
I’m born again.
So everyone lets sing,
If the Lord had not been on our side,
Come on everyone, sing louder, I can’t hear you.
If the Lord had not been with us,
We would have been swallowed up, drowned and swept away,
But with God we are protected and set free like a bird.
Our help is in the Lord.
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