Psalm 129
1 They have greatly oppressed me from my youth –
let Israel say –
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
3 Plowmen have plowed my back
and made their furrows long.
4 But the Lord is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be turned back in shame.
6 May they be like grass on the roof,
which withers before it can grow;
7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands,
nor the one who gathers fill his arms.
8 May those who pass by not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
we bless you in the name of the Lord.
INTRODUCTION
This morning we had the blessing of walking with God.
Psalm 128 is a positive song, reminding the people of the blessing.
And now this evening as we move onto Psalm 129
We are continuing the theme of blessing.
Now on a first reading of the Psalm, this might not appear to be the case.
It seems to be all about oppression and judgement,
But underlying all this is the blessing of God.
The Psalmist is seeing a way through the opposition,
The Psalmist is charting the way to stay pure in a world where we can be battered and bruised for our faith.
So lets look at the Psalm together.
I’ve Been Oppressed
The first thing that we see in this Psalm is that we have been oppressed.
It is the experience of the Psalmist.
And it is also the experience of each person on the Christian Journey.
At times we have all faced opposition.
They have greatly oppressed me from my youth –
let Israel say –
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth.
Psalm 129:1,2
If we are serious about following Jesus Christ,
Then we will have faced opposition.
This world is not friendly towards Jesus Christ and his followers.
We all face conflicts, as we try to stand up for Jesus.
We know what God’s word says, and then as we try to live it out in society we find so many opposing views.
It seems like such a negative start to the song.
But it very quickly turns at the end of verse 2
they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
Psalm 129:2
The Psalmist has not given up this Journey with God.
Even though at times it has been tough.
The Psalm describes the opposition like having your back ploughed
Ploughmen have ploughed my back
and made their furrows long.
Psalm 129:3
You can imagine the picture he is conjuring up here, with the furrows on the back.
If we are facing opposition for our faith,
Then it is with us all the time.
Every move we make and everything we say is affected by the attacks.
The wounds are painful and deep.
But they are not obvious to everyone.
We know they are there but others don’t realise.
But we are still going.
We have not been defeated.
Paul links this idea of the deep wounds of opposition to the wounds that Jesus carried on his body from the cross.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10
Just as Jesus suffered,
So we suffer.
Just as Satan did not have the victory over Jesus, so we will not be defeated.
After the optimism of Psalm 128,
Perhaps the pilgrims have been sharing with each other, the most difficult times that they have experienced.
And they have encouraged each other by the fact that they are still there.
I’ve Been Set Free
But there is even better news ahead.
Yes we will face opposition.
And not only will the oppressor not have the victory,
But we will be able to say in this Psalm,
I’ve been set free
This is what we find in v4
But the Lord is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
Psalm 129:4
The wicked had tied us up.
The wicked were holding us back.
And now God has cut us free.
In Psalm 140 the trouble that we are in is described in a bit more detail.
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
beside the way they have set snares for me.
Psalm 140:5
We need to remember that we are under attack when we attempt to journey with God.
We are tied up,
But God sets us free.
And when we are set free, we have a new life in Christ.
The Psalmist again describes it for us in those well known verses from Psalm 40.
The Psalmist calls out to God,
Just like any of us can call out.
And when God hears he acts.
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Psalm 40:1-3
He cuts the cords but then he also gives us a new stability.
We were in trouble without Jesus,
But with Him we are free and we have a rock to build our lives on.
And it is not just the oppression that binds us.
It is also our sin.
When we sang, “And Can it Be”
The 4th verse was,
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in sin and nature’s night:
then shone Your glorious gospel ray;
I woke! the dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell off; my heart was new,
I rose, went forth and followed You!
When we trust in Jesus for Salvation we are free.
Our chains fall off,
Our hearts are made new.
We have been oppressed
But Now We are free
I’ll Uphold The Honour Of The Lord
And finally we come to perhaps the most difficult part of the Psalm.
Because after experiencing the freedom of God,
We now have a call for God’s judgement on the evil.
It seems harsh.
It seems unloving,
But really the Pilgrims have a desire to uphold the honour of the Lord.
As they sing the song and rejoice at their new Salvation.
They want to see God judge the wicked so that His honour can be maintained.
These wicked people are oppressing the followers of God.
They are causing trouble for the Christians.
They are making the journey difficult for others.
They are encouraging people to doubt God,
And those who sing this Psalm cannot stand this.
They want to see God glorified and his enemies destroyed.
May all who hate Zion
be turned back in shame.
6 May they be like grass on the roof,
which withers before it can grow;
7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands,
nor the one who gathers fill his arms.
Psalm 129:5-7
As followers of Jesus Christ we should be jealous for God’s glory.
We should hurt when others speak and act against God.
It is so easy to become accustomed to this world and the way that it treats God.
We become immune to the name of Jesus being misused.
As J.B. Philips paraphrases Romans 12:2 we can be moulded by the world and we must beware.
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good.
Romans 12:2 (J.B. Philips)
We must guard ourselves from being led astray.
It is vital that evil does not have the harvest.
God will come and judge.
It was traditional at harvest time,
to greet the harvest workers with a blessing.
And they would then return the blessing.
It was a sign that what you were doing was good and true.
Boaz in the book of Ruth was involved in such an exchange.
4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.
Ruth 2:4
But this Psalm ends with the desire that even this simple blessing would not be applicable to the wicked.
The longing is that there would be no harvest of evil.
That the Lord God would be glorified
May those who pass by not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
we bless you in the name of the Lord.
Psalm 129:8
1 They have greatly oppressed me from my youth –
let Israel say –
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
3 Plowmen have plowed my back
and made their furrows long.
4 But the Lord is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
5 May all who hate Zion
be turned back in shame.
6 May they be like grass on the roof,
which withers before it can grow;
7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands,
nor the one who gathers fill his arms.
8 May those who pass by not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
we bless you in the name of the Lord.
INTRODUCTION
This morning we had the blessing of walking with God.
Psalm 128 is a positive song, reminding the people of the blessing.
And now this evening as we move onto Psalm 129
We are continuing the theme of blessing.
Now on a first reading of the Psalm, this might not appear to be the case.
It seems to be all about oppression and judgement,
But underlying all this is the blessing of God.
The Psalmist is seeing a way through the opposition,
The Psalmist is charting the way to stay pure in a world where we can be battered and bruised for our faith.
So lets look at the Psalm together.
I’ve Been Oppressed
The first thing that we see in this Psalm is that we have been oppressed.
It is the experience of the Psalmist.
And it is also the experience of each person on the Christian Journey.
At times we have all faced opposition.
They have greatly oppressed me from my youth –
let Israel say –
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth.
Psalm 129:1,2
If we are serious about following Jesus Christ,
Then we will have faced opposition.
This world is not friendly towards Jesus Christ and his followers.
We all face conflicts, as we try to stand up for Jesus.
We know what God’s word says, and then as we try to live it out in society we find so many opposing views.
It seems like such a negative start to the song.
But it very quickly turns at the end of verse 2
they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but they have not gained the victory over me.
Psalm 129:2
The Psalmist has not given up this Journey with God.
Even though at times it has been tough.
The Psalm describes the opposition like having your back ploughed
Ploughmen have ploughed my back
and made their furrows long.
Psalm 129:3
You can imagine the picture he is conjuring up here, with the furrows on the back.
If we are facing opposition for our faith,
Then it is with us all the time.
Every move we make and everything we say is affected by the attacks.
The wounds are painful and deep.
But they are not obvious to everyone.
We know they are there but others don’t realise.
But we are still going.
We have not been defeated.
Paul links this idea of the deep wounds of opposition to the wounds that Jesus carried on his body from the cross.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
9 persecuted, but not abandoned;
struck down, but not destroyed.
10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
2 Corinthians 4:8-10
Just as Jesus suffered,
So we suffer.
Just as Satan did not have the victory over Jesus, so we will not be defeated.
After the optimism of Psalm 128,
Perhaps the pilgrims have been sharing with each other, the most difficult times that they have experienced.
And they have encouraged each other by the fact that they are still there.
I’ve Been Set Free
But there is even better news ahead.
Yes we will face opposition.
And not only will the oppressor not have the victory,
But we will be able to say in this Psalm,
I’ve been set free
This is what we find in v4
But the Lord is righteous;
he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
Psalm 129:4
The wicked had tied us up.
The wicked were holding us back.
And now God has cut us free.
In Psalm 140 the trouble that we are in is described in a bit more detail.
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
beside the way they have set snares for me.
Psalm 140:5
We need to remember that we are under attack when we attempt to journey with God.
We are tied up,
But God sets us free.
And when we are set free, we have a new life in Christ.
The Psalmist again describes it for us in those well known verses from Psalm 40.
The Psalmist calls out to God,
Just like any of us can call out.
And when God hears he acts.
I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Psalm 40:1-3
He cuts the cords but then he also gives us a new stability.
We were in trouble without Jesus,
But with Him we are free and we have a rock to build our lives on.
And it is not just the oppression that binds us.
It is also our sin.
When we sang, “And Can it Be”
The 4th verse was,
Long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in sin and nature’s night:
then shone Your glorious gospel ray;
I woke! the dungeon flamed with light!
My chains fell off; my heart was new,
I rose, went forth and followed You!
When we trust in Jesus for Salvation we are free.
Our chains fall off,
Our hearts are made new.
We have been oppressed
But Now We are free
I’ll Uphold The Honour Of The Lord
And finally we come to perhaps the most difficult part of the Psalm.
Because after experiencing the freedom of God,
We now have a call for God’s judgement on the evil.
It seems harsh.
It seems unloving,
But really the Pilgrims have a desire to uphold the honour of the Lord.
As they sing the song and rejoice at their new Salvation.
They want to see God judge the wicked so that His honour can be maintained.
These wicked people are oppressing the followers of God.
They are causing trouble for the Christians.
They are making the journey difficult for others.
They are encouraging people to doubt God,
And those who sing this Psalm cannot stand this.
They want to see God glorified and his enemies destroyed.
May all who hate Zion
be turned back in shame.
6 May they be like grass on the roof,
which withers before it can grow;
7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands,
nor the one who gathers fill his arms.
Psalm 129:5-7
As followers of Jesus Christ we should be jealous for God’s glory.
We should hurt when others speak and act against God.
It is so easy to become accustomed to this world and the way that it treats God.
We become immune to the name of Jesus being misused.
As J.B. Philips paraphrases Romans 12:2 we can be moulded by the world and we must beware.
Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you is good.
Romans 12:2 (J.B. Philips)
We must guard ourselves from being led astray.
It is vital that evil does not have the harvest.
God will come and judge.
It was traditional at harvest time,
to greet the harvest workers with a blessing.
And they would then return the blessing.
It was a sign that what you were doing was good and true.
Boaz in the book of Ruth was involved in such an exchange.
4 And behold, Boaz came from Bethlehem. And he said to the reapers, “The Lord be with you!” And they answered, “The Lord bless you.
Ruth 2:4
But this Psalm ends with the desire that even this simple blessing would not be applicable to the wicked.
The longing is that there would be no harvest of evil.
That the Lord God would be glorified
May those who pass by not say,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you;
we bless you in the name of the Lord.
Psalm 129:8
RSS Feed
