Psalm 129 "Plowed & Pierced"

Psalm for Today = 129:1-4
¹ “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”—

    let Israel now say—

² “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,

    yet they have not prevailed against me.

Plowed field in Israel

³ The plowers plowed upon my back;

    they made long their furrows.”

⁴ The Lord is righteous;

    he has cut the cords of the wicked.

Comments:

I commented on the imprecation in verses 5-6 the last two times through the book, so I will focus today on the testimony in verses 1-4. 

The psalmist is referring to the national history of Israel, how they had been afflicted from the very beginning. If we were to go through the Bible and list the various nations that had afflicted Israel through the centuries, it would be a pretty long list. How many can you name? I came up with more than a dozen off the top of my head.

His repetitive line, “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”, is iterated for emphasis, almost like rocking a stuck car to get it out of the snow or sand. Note that within these verses, he is also weaving in the role of the individual (me/my) within the community of faith (“let Israel say”).

What is the testimony that needs to be repeated? The righteous Yahweh delivered them by cutting off the yoke of their enemies. Yahweh is righteous; he keeps his promises. He had let Israel know ahead of time that if they turned away from him that he would use the other nations to discipline them, but if they turned and prayed to him, he would deliver them. This psalm is a testimony to God’s two-fold faithfulness to his promise — by discipline and deliverance.

 

How was this deliverance possible? It is by the stripes on Jesus' back and the holes in his body that I am set free from the bondage of my sin. As it is written in Isaiah 53:4-6,

"Surely he has borne our griefs

    and carried our sorrows;

yet we esteemed him stricken,

    smitten by God, and afflicted.

⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed.

⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;

    we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all."

Questions:

• So are we following the Lord wholeheartedly today, or are we in danger of his loving discipline?
• When we look back on our lives, do we remember both the difficult and the delightful, or have we forgotten the faithful times of God's deliverance?

Psalm 128 "Like a Fruitful Vine"

Psalm for Today = 128:1-6

¹Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,

    who walks in his ways!

² You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;

    you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.

³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine

    within your house;

your children will be like olive shoots

    around your table.

⁴ Behold, thus shall the man be blessed

    who fears the Lord.

⁵ The Lord bless you from Zion!

    May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem

    all the days of your life!

⁶ May you see your children's children!

    Peace be upon Israel!

Comments:

In the previous four times that I have commented on this psalm, it seems that I always focused on some aspect of v.1. While verse 1 is essential to understanding this psalm, this time I am going to give a general treatment of the whole psalm… it is short!

This psalm should be seen as complementary to Psalm 127 and placed next to it in the collection on purpose. In 127, you have the emphasis on God’s gracious involvement as the cause of success, not man’s efforts. Here in Psalm 128, you see God’s blessing not so much in the sense of a gift, but more in the way of reward for our participation by faith (the fear of the Lord) in the relational work of the Lord.

What is this blessing it speaks of? I would say that it is the opposite of poverty. So, what is poverty? In the West, we usually define poverty as a lack of the material resources to take care of oneself and one’s family. However, this definition falls short. Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert, in their book When Helping Hurts, develop the idea that poverty is sourced in broken relationships (with God, Self, Others, and the Rest of Creation) as a result of the fall of humanity.  They write that, “Poverty is the result of relationships that don’t work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings.”[1]

This psalm describes the blessing of God primarily in strongly affective relational terms, the intimate cooperation of husband and wife (fruitful vine), the gathering of the children around the table (like olive shoots), and the prosperity of the community (Jerusalem) is seen in the longevity and constancy of relationships. Success is seen not as a bigger barn, but as living to see your grandchildren!

If we see the Lord as he really is and respond in faith-filled love, his blessing will be working in our relationships to bring about his shalom! We are blessed and fruitful when we are in right relationship to the Lord Jesus, as he said in John 15:4-5,

^“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

 

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[1] Steve Corbett & Brian Fikkert, When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself, (Moody Publishers, Chicago, 2009), 62. This concept was initially articulated by Bryant Meyers.

Psalm 127 "In Vain"

Psalm for Today = 127:1b-2

“Unless the Lord watches over the city,

the watchman stays awake in vain.” 

It is vain that you rise up early

   and go late to rest,

eating the bread of anxious toil;

   for he gives his beloved sleep.”

Comments:

Photo by Toa Heftiba
on Unsplash

I was utterly exhausted last night (after a long week consisting of early mornings and days of helping at an outreach basketball camp and late nights of reading and writing) as I contemplated writing this Psalms devotional. Since this verse was in my head as I had gone through my day…I decided to go to bed instead, letting the Lord watch over the city.  

This whole psalm has been a foundational scripture for a new church that was planted out of Beaverton a year ago called “Generations,” and the whole church has been memorizing this psalm together. Beyond that, I think it is a powerful critique of our culture. Ironically, it is a psalm written by Solomon, the greatest builder of all time, who credits God as being the source of any success or security.

“Vain” is a word used in the Bible for something that is pointless, or a waste of time and effort. Here, the psalmist acknowledges that if the Lord is not the one who builds/ guards the house/ city, our labor and staying awake are in vain. 

Further in verse 2, we find that it is also in vain to allow our lives to be controlled by our own anxious activity to meet our own needs. Here are a couple of other passages regarding such anxiety/trust issues:

Worry can’t add anything to your life—it is in vain, as Jesus said in Matthew 6:27, 31-32:

“And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?...Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.”

Instead of anxiety, we can have peace as Paul wrote in Philippians 4:6-7,

 “…do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” 

The people of Israel had two major elements in their religious life that were intended to break the vanity cycle and remind them that their trust was in the Lord. The first was the weekly Sabbath, which was to provide rest for man and beast alike (Exodus 20:10). To take a day off from your constant labor to provide bread for your family is an act of profound trust that we might need to be reminded of. Secondly, they were to tithe (commit 10% of their income) back to the Lord as a token of their trust in him as their provider. To give back the tithe was with assets similar to what the Sabbath was with time. 

If we are not resting, we are vain (in the sense of pride) and not trusting the Lord. If we are not giving, we are vain in thinking what we have is actually ours alone. Both attitudes are ultimately in vain (a futile waste of time and resources).

What other god would say, “he gives his beloved sleep”? I rejoice to serve the Lord, who is not a harsh taskmaster but cares for my needs more than I do! He establishes and guards my life, my family, and my community in his abundant goodness. Praise the Lord!

Psalm 126 "Restore our Fortunes"

Psalm for Today = 126:4-5

⁴ Restore our fortunes, O Lord,
    like streams in the Negeb!

⁵ Those who sow in tears
    shall reap with shouts of joy!

Comments:

I have commented in the past on the first verses of this palm as well as on the last verse (v. 6 is the basis for the only hymn you ever hear sung in movies and TV other than Amazing Grace). Between these two more popular sections, I feel like this little prayer in the middle gets overlooked.

The psalmist pens a corporate lament, “Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like streams in the Negeb!” The Negev is a desert, but when it rains there the wadis (canyons) quickly fill with water and bring the land back to life. Even a couple of days after the rain you can see flowers blooming and it serves as a visual reminder of verse 5. It has so much more to it than a mere improvement of our finances!

This phrase would have been a vivid example to them as you can tell from these pictures from Israel. We need to remember that in ancient times, Israel was totally dependent on rain for the success of the harvest (the focus of the last few verses). So it is easy to see how they would have associated the rain with restoration and the joy of harvest that comes as a result.

Are we asking God to restore us. our churches, our neighborhoods, our cities, and our nations? He will hear our cry and what was once a source of weeping will be turned into a source of joy. As C. S. Lewis once wrote that heaven was retroactive, that Jesus would one day turn even our greatest hurts, failures and suffering into a source of joy!

 

God wants to restore every aspect of our lives as individuals, to restore justice to every system of civilization, and to restore perfection to every area of his creation.

Psalm 125 “From This Time Forth And Forevermore”

Psalm for Today = 125:2-3

² As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

Crown jewels. (2024, December 7). In Wikipedia. 

    so the Lord surrounds his people,
    from this time forth and forevermore.
³ For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
    on the land allotted to the righteous,
lest the righteous stretch out
    their hands to do wrong.

    so the Lord surrounds his people,

    from this time forth and forevermore.

³ For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest

    on the land allotted to the righteous,

lest the righteous stretch out

    their hands to do wrong.

Comments:

The point of verse 3 is that God is not absent from his people. If you have been to Jerusalem, you know that it really is surrounded by mountains. As the mountains around Jerusalem serve to protect the city, even more so God protects his people. I love the phrase, “from this time forth and forevermore” though the language does bring back some memories of Edgar Allen Poe. There is permanence to God promised care and faithfulness, a deeply rooted historical providence.

There is also a purpose to this protection. God doesn’t want an authority based on wickedness to “rest” in the land he has given to the righteous. Yes there were wicked kings even in Israel, but they did not rest but were judged by God and removed or replaced by either their own people or by another nation which God raised up as his instrument. God doesn’t want his people to think that they need to become like the wicked to gain influence. We are not to fool ourselves into thinking that God doesn’t judge wickedness.

Verse 3 reminds me of Romans 12:2 which says,  “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” 

And also in Romans 6:12-14 we are instructed not merely to say “No” to sin but to actively say “Yes” to God.

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”

Questions:

·         What are the influences in our life? Who do we respect and want to be like?

·         What do we spend our time doing?

·         Who do we listen to?

·         What do we watch?

If we marinade ourselves in worldliness all week we should not be surprised when we “stretch out our hands to do wrong.” If we follow the one whose scepter  is righteous than we will not be tempted to lobby for influence unrighteously. Jesus' authority is based in righteousness and it brought joy. 

May we rediscover the oil of gladness that comes with dwelling in the righteousness of Christ (Hebrews 1:8-9)!

Psalm 124 "The Snare is Broken"

Psalm for Today = 124: 6-7

Blessed be the Lord,

    who has not given us

    as prey to their teeth!

We have escaped like a bird

    from the snare of the fowlers;

the snare is broken,

    and we have escaped!

Comments:

In looking back on my comments of this psalm, I have never focused on these two verses. Ironically, I am captured by these verses of deliverance and liberty. Who is the hero of the psalmist’s deliverance? He makes it very clear throughout this psalm that his hero is the Lord… and he uses graphic terminology to do so.

By Diamond Glacier Adventures -
Female lion versus buffalo at Serengeti National Park,
 CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=73011796

The wicked are seeking to consume the faithful “as prey to their teeth” the way wild animals eat what they can run down, but the Lord did not allow them to be consumed.

• Psalm 22:13 refers to those who crucify the Messiah as “like a ravening a roaring lion”
• Proverbs 28:15 adds, “Like a roaring lion or a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.”
• Ezekiel 22:25 refers to false religious leaders as “like a roaring lion tearing prey.”
• 1 Peter 5:8 says that this is also characteristic of the devil, “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.”

The Lord delivers his people from such “wild animals” as these.

By unknown master - book scan, Public Domain,
https://commons.wikimedia.org

The second image in these verses is that of an animal being set free from a snare trap. One commentator notes that the repetition of the phrase “we have escaped”  indicates the presence of a note of triumph. It is almost as if the psalmist is becoming giddy at having been delivered from certain death and like the classic cartoon dog, Snoopy, is celebrating with his “happy feet dance.” He invites us to join him in praising the Lord.

My dad was a wildlife biologist for many years and I remember him making us watch a tragic movie about a coyote caught in a steel trap. The coyote eventually chewed his leg off to escape. Horrible! Yet we don’t often realize that we are in the same situation, caught in the deadly snare of sin but the Lord has now broken the snare and given his life to us! 

How can we not share such good news with others who are still in the snare? Though they may snap and chew those who come near, in 2 Timothy 2:24-26 the Apostle Paul wrote,

^"And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will."

 

 

Psalm 123 "Looking Desperately"

Psalm for Today = 123:1-2

To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!
 Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
    to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
    till he has mercy upon us.

Comments:

One of the literary techniques used in Hebrew poetry is parallelism. The rhyming of Hebrew poetry in generally one of idea rather than the sound of word endings like we have in English verse.

These two verses are contained within  a chiasm (or inverted parallelism). This is where the parallel ideas in the second line are repeated in reverse order. If you play “connect-the-dots” between the parallel ideas (A—A’; B—B’) it makes an “X” hence the term chiasm.

To you I lift up my eyes

   A                         B

so our eyes look to the Lord our God,
         B’                          A’

In between these lines the psalmist inserts two similes (a comparison using the words “like” or “as”) to further describe how he and his people look to the Lord. It is very countercultural illustration for us today but would have been a ready expression of utter dependence for the psalmist and his readers.

“as the eyes of servants
                  look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maidservant
                       to the hand of her mistress”

 

They were being by the proud and held in contempt by the arrogant. So in this psalm they are presenting their lament, personally and corporately, in utter dependence to the Lord.

Reading this made me wonder how often we really get to that point of utter dependence on the Lord. It is so easy for us in the west to place our trust elsewhere. The saying goes that we are willing to give Advil more time to cure our headache than we give God to move heaven and earth for us. I don’t know about you but the proud and arrogant can cause quite a headache.

Since this psalm is also a psalm of Ascents (one that would have been sung as they journeyed to meet with the Lord in Jerusalem), they didn’t expect an immediate answer, but looked forward to its arrival. I would expect that their looking would not only have evidenced desperation, but their patience, and a growing expectation as they got closer to Jerusalem. 

Are we desperate for God, yet walking patiently as we wait for His answer to our situation? Is faith rising up in our hearts with a growing sense on anticipation?

He is the God who is faithful to his people!

Psalm 122 "Firmly Bound Together"

Psalm for Today = 122:3-4
³ “Jerusalem—built as a city
    that is bound firmly together,
⁴ to which the tribes go up,
    the tribes of the Lord,
as was decreed for Israel,
    to give thanks to the name of the Lord.”

Comments:

In this psalm of ascents, the pilgrim expresses joy in reaching Jerusalem, the place where God met with his covenant people, for the three great annual feasts! There in that city “that is bound firmly together” there was unity in diversity as all the tribes came together as one people, not according to one tribes custom but as God had directed in his law.

Today, as we see Jerusalem as representative of the whole of God’s people, the Church universal, we recognize that no one tribe or race has been given ownership. It is only together that we are the Israel of God and our purpose in gathering is to show gratitude to the name of the Lord. Just as the Lord had decreed that all the tribes of Israel should worship together Jesus commanded his followers to love one another. How can we show true gratitude is we are not bound firmly together in our love for each other?

I confess that my love is not as adhesive as it should be. Our western culture tends to value independence and self-focus, and mobility to make it happen, more highly than building loving community with deep roots of relationship and history/tradition. So in a world that is rapidly changing, how will they know that we are His people/ followers/ disciples? Jesus gave us the answer:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:34-35)

 

Question:

If people will be able to tell that we are Jesus' disciples by our love for one another...how are we loving one another today? What does such love look like?

Psalm 121 "Omni-grip"

Psalm for Today = 121:3-4

³He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

Comments:

I love this psalm. I have commented on it about six times now. Verse 3 reminds me of my late pastor’s book, God Works the Night Shift. There are times when we come to realize that the world’s solutions  can’t help our situation (v.1-2) but we are forced to turn to the Lord. Isn’t it comforting to know that He is always there? I don't have to call during regular business hours!

However, the phrase that caught my attention today was the first part of verse 3, which says, “He will not let your foot be moved…” Did you ever have dreams as a child of slipping and not being able to stop or of trying to run but not being able to get any traction? I was working on my roof last weekend and twice stepped back onto an extension cord that rolled under my foot like a marble. My son thought he was going to have to tackle me to the roof to keep me from falling off the edge!

This section, verse 3-4 reminds me of something that happened when I was in China in 2011. One day went see the sights and climb a steep a section of the Great Wall. We started up from the parking lot with the crowds looking up to the fortification at the top. Thankfully the going was slow for the first third of the way to what we thought was the top. This section of the wall ascended like a stair and the rise on each step varied drastically, though most steps were tall 12” to 18” each. Reaching the building we could see the wall climbing again for we were only at the 1/3 mark. It was there that most of the crowds turned back. We decided to continue all the way to the top. While waiting for the last of our group (I won’t name you!) to catch up and finish the climb it began to rain. To make things worse, now our legs began to shake as a result of waiting after the long climb. Now we not only had to climb down, but we had to do it with shaking legs in the rain. I was wearing some new outdoor shoes (I had purchased from our local Columbia Sportswear outlet before leaving for China) which had a pretty aggressive traction sole that the label trumpeted as “Omni-grip.” I decided this was a great opportunity to give “Omni-grip” a test climbing down the Great Wall in a rainstorm.



Second Part of our Climb

As we started down (a different way for a change of scenery) several people had to cling to the handrail and sing praise songs to take their minds off their shaking legs and the scary height as they were descending. I found going slowly actually made it harder so I began to run down the wall only lightly touching every third to sixth step. I can’t remember a time when I was ever more focused on my next step! What took almost three hours to climb up only took me about 15 minutes to run down. While I am thankful the shoes performed well providing traction on the rain-soaked and dirty steps of the Wall, I am even more thankful that God provides the “Omni-grip” for my whole life, 24/7 and his grip doesn’t wear out like the tread on my shoes!

It is a loving God who keeps me from slipping! His power keeps me, his grace strengthens me, his peace calms me, his word guides me…

What would you add from your own experience?

Psalm 120 "Meshech & Kedar"

Psalm for Today = 120:5-7

⁵ Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech,
    that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
⁶ Too long have I had my dwelling
    among those who hate peace.
⁷ I am for peace,
    but when I speak, they are for war!

Comments:

How many times have you read over verse 5 without a thought to where Meshech and Kedar might be…and if they may be adding something to what the psalmist is saying? Yeah, I confess I have done so more times than I should.

Meshech is in the far north…probably as far north as the psalmist would have known the names of the peoples, near the Black Sea. Kedar is the name of an Arab nomadic tribe in the south of the Arabian Peninsula. Both extremes of distance. Both people groups were barbarians. Astute observers have raised the question as to how the psalmist could dwell among both peoples at the same time. The consensus answer by commentators is that he can’t… and that the description is metaphorical and poetically inclusive of all that is in between.

The psalmist is basically saying that those he lives with are no better than the barbarian tribes on the fringes of civilization. They lie, they deceive, and they always want to argue and fight over everything. It is as if he is saying to Israel, the covenant people of God, “We should know better!” And to the Lord, he cries in a confession of the common condition, 
   "Deliver me, O Lord,
            from lying lips,             from a deceitful tongue." (v.2)

Sounds a bit like today! Even well-intended efforts at bridge-building and reconciliation are mocked and demonized by those who would rather fight and rage than promote peace and the common good. I think we can also see the levels of invective continue to rise as we communicate less frequently face-to-face and more from behind the cover of a digital avatar in comment threads and social media posts.

Do we sigh with the psalmist, “Woe is me" and "too long”? I think we probably do. Likewise, do we cry out to the Lord like the psalmist did? I hope so.

Here are several passages that may help us in our weariness and frustration at the meanness of the world around us.

Isaiah 40:28-29 “Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.”

Galatians 6:8-10 “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”

Hebrews 12: 2-4 “…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

We are neither immune to the fallen condition of the world nor are we to isolate ourselves from the pain in the world for Jesus was not isolated from our pain.

We are neither alone in the struggle we face, nor are we without hope of final victory.

We are neither powerless before the tsunami of hate, nor are we without a message of reconciling love! From the far north to the far south we all need to be transformed—from the inside out—by the love of Jesus Christ!

[See --> Rom. 3:23; Dan. 9:11; Matt. 9:35; Isa. 53:4-6; 2 Cor. 1:3-5; Acts 9:4-5; Heb. 13:5; John 14:25-27; 15:26-27; Rom. 5:1-8; 8:18-25; 12:12; 2 Cor. 5:16-21; Eph. 3:14:21]