Psalm 124

Well, good morning. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm so glad you're here. This is where we get together every day. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all of the wisdom literature.
We are about two, or more than that, I think, yeah, two thirds, three quarters of the way through the book of Psalms. And so somebody asked me yesterday how we're going to do Proverbs. We're going to be spending all of June, or sorry, all of July, August, September, October, and November, essentially all of those months going through the book of Proverbs. So there's lots of wisdom there, lots of little bits that we're going to kind of chew over and think over. So we're going to take longer to get through the book of Proverbs. It's going to take us a few months.
I'm excited to get into that book with you. But this morning we are at Psalm 124. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. We pray that you would bless us and care for us. We thank you that you are always with us, always caring for us. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, here we go. Psalm 124, a song of a sense of David.
If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, if it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive when their wrath was kindled against us. Then the waters would have overwhelmed us. The streams would have gone over our soul. Then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul. Blessed be the Lord who has not given us as prey to their teeth. Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers. The snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord. who made heavens and earth."
Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to these words? So, A, what is this about? Well, this is a song of a sense. These are the pilgrimage songs, Psalm 120 all the way through Psalm 134. And as we work through these, this one is a corporate psalm. It's what the whole church would have been singing together, or the whole group of people as they were going up to Jerusalem for one of the feasts. And as they were going, they would talk about this psalm. They would sing this psalm.
And it really gives two different pictures, right? All of it is calling upon the name of Yahweh, right? The Lord, in verse 1, as well as in the second half, both of them talk about the Lord. It's the Lord who saved them. It's the Lord who is at their side. It was the Lord who rescued them.
And the first image it gives in the first portion is, by the way, I don't actually have the verses in mind. I think I've shown you guys this Bible before. This is a really neat Bible. It's a reader's edition. And so there are no verses. There's no notes. There's nothing. It's just the words. But that means I can't tell you which verse they were in. So you're going to have to tell me which verse you're underlining as your favorite verse.
But the first imagery is that of people who are, it's almost like a hunt, right? people who would have swallowed them up alive, and those who would have gone against them. Sorry, the first is a flood. The first is a flood of the waters overflowing their souls and coming over their necks. It was like their enemies were flooding upon them. but the Lord is there to save them. The second imagery is that they were like prey, that their soul, though, escaped like a bird from the net of a fowler. The snare is broken. We have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heavens and earth. What is this about? This is about God being for his people. And how true is this, especially when we think of Jesus Christ, our enemy?
Satan and death were against us, all the forces of hell clinging and making us slaves to sin, and yet God has been at our right. The Lord has saved us. The Lord has had us flee from the snare of the fowler, the waves of sin, and the guilt of transgression crushing down upon us, but the Lord has been at our right. When we were dead in our trespasses and sins, God made us alive. We were those who the floodwaters were coming over and the Lord rescued us, saved us. We couldn't do it ourselves. What's this about? God rescues and cares for his people. What are we called to do? I'm gonna leave best verse to you. Let me know what you would underline in your Bible, but what are we called to do?
Do we trust in the Lord? Do we rejoice in his salvation? Do we say to him, Lord, save us and thank you for saving us? Do we praise him for all of his wonderful deeds, his goodness to us? Let's do that now. Father, we thank you for saving us, for rescuing us. Lord, you have redeemed our souls from death. Thank you for sending your only begotten son. Lord, we pray that we might rejoice in who you are and what you have done, for you have made heaven and earth, and you have saved us from our enemies. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you rejoice in him. May you have comfort that he's always at your side. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.