Song of Ascents: Psalm 124

In the Songs of Ascent  we are reading about "going up higher" to the Messiah of Israel's seat of authority, in Jerusalem. These are for all of us - Jew & Gentile in Yeshua - ascending to the state of a bride without spot or wrinkle. We are going up to be a holy habitation, indwelt by the Spirit of the Lord. 

 Psalm 124 The Lord the Defense of His People

“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say—
2 “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
When men rose up against us,
3 Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their wrath was kindled against us;
4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us,
The stream would have gone over our soul;
5 Then the swollen waters
Would have gone over our soul.”
6 Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers;
The snare is broken, and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

When we trust in the Lord to defend us, it will keep us from wrong doing, for reaching out to obtain something illegally just because wickedness is temporarily in the seat of authority. That is when temptation of the righteous is at its highest. Any crooked ways in our hearts can lead us off the path of righteousness. But if our trust is in the Lord, then we will not be "moved" away from Him whatever the lure.

Our way in the journey of faith is not all peaceful - it can be treacherous. God's enemies become enemies of those who carry His Light within them. If God was not defending us in this journey, we could not survive the "wrath kindled against us" by those who are enemies of God. But God's promise in Isaiah 43:2 is "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched; the flames will not set you ablaze."

This is God's promise to Israel, and it is to us too. Increasingly, Revelation says the flood will try to wash us both away which is why we must be grounded in His promises - and we must encourage Israel in His promises too. This is a Psalm of our Ascent into trusting God with out whole heart knowing our greatest help lies in Him.

SQUEEZING PSALM 125 IN HERE WHICH I MANAGED TO SKIP EARLIER

Psalm 125 The Lord the Strength of His People

1 Those who trust in the Lord Are like Mount Zion,
Which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
So the Lord surrounds His people From this time forth and forever.

3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
On the land allotted to the righteous,
Lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good,
And to those who are upright in their hearts.
5 As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways,
The Lord shall lead them away
With the workers of iniquity.
Peace be upon Israel!

When we trust in the Lord, it will keep us from wrong doing, for reaching out to obtain something illegally just because wickedness is temporarily in the seat of authority. That is when temptation of the righteous is at its highest. Any crooked ways in our hearts can lead us off the path of righteousness. But if our trust is in the Lord, then we will not be "moved" away from Him whatever the lure.