IF (Psalm 124)

The trash bin at a local thrift store had this warning--maybe to keep

people from getting entrapped in it!

(Part of an ongoing series on the 48 psalms commended to study during times of "feeling down," from pastor-counselor David Seamands' book, Healing for Damaged Emotions.)

Flash flood!  I’ve never lived where flash flooding rated national front-page news, but our arid valley has endured a few minor-league floods. Decades ago, one sedate stream turned into a death machine, killing people in a hotel on its banks. A few years ago, a severe storm turned the street a few blocks away, into an angry brown river. Israel, similarly an arid land, is also known for flash floods that its usually dry wadis cannot handle. That’s the picture King David provides in Psalm 124 as he seeks ways to illustrate how God is our Help when we feel inundated by life’s problems and threats. The opening word, “if,” emphasizes how they depended on God for victory:

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….they would have swallowed us alive. (vv. 1-3)

Context matters in Bible study, and this one is believed to have been inspired by one of King David’s more challenging battles against the Philistines. Recorded in 2 Samuel 5:17-25, it tells how David’s army prevailed in what threatened to be a “flash flood” of intense fighting (Psalm 124:4-5).

TRAPS

Though probably written in different historical settings, Psalms 123 and 124 are linked in subject matter. Psalm 123 speaks of verbal oppression (ridicule and contempt form the oppressor). Psalm 124 goes to all-out attacks—maybe not sword to shield, but demeaning choices meant to overwhelm us, like a flood. Then, as if to be sure he covers all the bases of spiritual attack, David throws in the image of a bird trap:

We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. (v. 7).

The psalm doesn’t give a clue as to how “meaty” those snared birds were, but the entrapped birds didn’t have a chance. The apostle Peter picked up on that image when he said Satan prowls around like a lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). David’s saying that God cares so much for us that He reaches down and releases those dangerous traps. How does that translate to real life, and real days when the negatives get you down?  These truths, I believe:

*No overwhelming flood of problems is too overwhelming for God.

*No entrapment by someone’s negative words or actions is outside God’s power. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ broke the power of the trap!

The psalm ends on a note of praise, as well it should—and as well we should do as an antidote to prolonged complaints about negative circumstances:

Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.(v. 8)

Do you hear an echo from Psalm 121:2?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

It’s said that French Protestants in the late 18^th century opened every public worship service with this verse. If you have a spot to post inspirational verses, consider displaying this one. If (there’s that important word again!) you feel attacked or entrapped, it’s a reminder that our omniscient, omnipresent, all-powerful God is adequate for any discouraging challenge out there.

Jammed up

On either side of this pile of tree debris, a mountain river danced over rocks. The conglomeration, however, had disrupted flow so much that the river seriously eroded the bank close to the area’s highway. Wildfires visit this area yearly, meaning dead trees that could add to fire danger must be felled and removed. I wondered if floods and landslides had dumped some of these into the river where they locked and created a jam.

The Old Testament’s King David didn’t enjoy forests like those where I live in central Washington, but he apparently had some experience with hard rains and flash floods. In Psalm 124, he reflects on a close call with his enemies, comparing it to a violent water event:

If the Lord had not been on our side when men attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. (124:2-5)

The actual crisis is left undescribed. With enemies ready to pounce and destroy, David’s warriors might have run out of food or weapons. Maybe they were considerably outnumbered. Somehow, in this impossible situation, they escaped a devastating battle. And David gave glory to God:

Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. (v. 8)

 In presenting Christ to non-believers, we rightly emphasize the love of God and His wonderful plan for our lives. But our walk as Christians requires combat boots. Satan is always about, wanting to “steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). For now, the stage for life is a broken earth, not a perfect heaven. We’re people “in process” under God’s wise instruction.  Paul Billheimer, whose book Don’t Waste Your Sorrows (CLC/Bethany, 1977, p. 44) considers the role of trials, observed:

If God’s net purpose in saving an individual is just to get him to heaven, He would probably take him to glory immediately.  But God wants to prepare him for rulership in an infinite universe that demands character.  Progress in sanctification, in the development of God-like character and agape love, is impossible without tribulation and chastisement.

 So yes, in our life’s journey, we’ll likely encounter stubborn, clogging logjams disguised as difficult circumstances and problem people. They’re not there to stop us, but to remind us that “our help is in the name of the LORD!”