PSALM 124
Advantage of the LORD on our side verse 1- 2
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side
now may Israel say
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side
when men rose up against us
Consequence if the LORD not on our side verse 3- 5
THEN they had swallowed us up quick
when their wrath was kindled against us
THEN the waters had overwhelmed us
the stream had gone over our soul
THEN the proud waters had gone over our soul
Praise the LORD for protection verse 6- 8
Blessed be the LORD
WHO hath not given us as a prey to their teeth
our soul is escaped as a bird
out of the snare of the fowlers
the snare is broken – and we are escaped
Our help is in the name of the LORD
WHO made heaven and earth
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
:3 “Then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us; The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Ps 124:3. (Swallowed – 1104 בָּלַע, בָּלַע, בָּלַע [balaʿ /beh·lah/] v. A primitive root; TWOT 251; GK 1180 and 1181 and 1182; 49 occurrences; AV translates as “swallow …” 34 times, “destroy” nine times, “devour” three times, “covered” once, and “at … end” once. 1 to swallow down, swallow up, engulf, eat up. 1A (Qal). 1A1 to swallow down. 1A2 to swallow up, engulf. 1B (Niphal) to be swallowed up. 1C (Piel). 1C1 to swallow. 1C2 to swallow up, engulf. 1C3 squandering (fig.). James Strong, Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2001).
DEVOTION: It is hard to have faith when the obstacle facing you is immense. The psalmist felt that way as he compared the size Israel to their enemies. Israel was a small nation and the ones coming against it were large and fearsome. The difference maker was that the God of Israel was the creator of heaven and earth! An old saying is “One and God makes a majority!” and Israel needed to be reminded of this as they faced overwhelming odds.
Do you feel at times like David facing Goliath, or Moses looking at the Red Sea, or Joshua facing a swollen, overflowing river? It may be financial, or work related or medical but you are able to meet the impossible with the Lord by your side. “For with God nothing will be impossible.” Luke 1:37
CHALLENGE: Don’t look at the size of your enemy or obstacle, look at the size of your God! (Dr. Brian Miller – board member)
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul (5314 “soul” [nephesh] means life, person, heart, mind, appetite, desire, or self. DEVOTION:
DEVOTION: The children of Israel know that they need the LORD. HE has helped them in the past. HE is helping them in the present. HE will help them in the future. That is what trust is all about.
The Psalmist makes the statement that there will always be people who don’t like the followers of the LORD. There will always be a majority who will side against the LORD and HIS people. The fact is that human beings are selfish and lazy with a consequence that they don’t want to answer to anyone for their actions. If they had to answer to someone they would normally rebel against that individual or group.
Next the Psalmist lists some consequences if the LORD had not come to their defense. The enemy would swallow them up. Their anger would win. It would be like going into a flood and not knowing how to swim. The water would keep coming up on us until we were drowned. The life would be taken out of our body. Our heart would stop beating.
The end of life is something the Psalmist wasn’t wanting at the present. He wanted to be delivered from those individuals who wanted to end his life. The thought was overwhelming to him.
We are made up of three parts: body, soul and spirit. Our body is our physical flesh. Our soul is our personality. Our spirit is our God-consciousness. Our body can die but our soul and spirit goes on throughout eternity. Those with Christ will have their soul leave their body and it will go into the presence of the LORD at the point of death. Those without Christ will have their soul leave their body and will immediately go into a place of torment awaiting their final judgment in the Lake of Fire.
CHALLENGE: When facing trials remember that they don’t have to overwhelm us because we should know that the LORD is on our side. Face the challenge with courage. Don’t doubt the LORD!!!
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: 6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth. (2964 “prey” [tereph] means meat, spoil, food, an animal hunted or caught for food, or nourishment.)
DEVOTION: Sometimes we can be deceived by the enemy the devil that the LORD is not going to help us in difficult situations. Our enemy the devil wants to deceive us into thinking that the LORD doesn’t really care what is happening to us. It is a lie but he can be very convincing.
Today we need to realize that the LORD will not let anything happen to us that will not cause us to grow in our knowledge of how HE works in our lives. HE wants us to trust HIM every moment of every day.
This is not easy unless we genuinely study the Old Testament and realize that HE was always there to help HIS people. HE did judge them when they were disobedient but HE also restored them to a good relationship to HIM when they repented of their sins.
This was true then and it is true today. We need to trust the LORD with our whole heart and not lean on our own understanding because it is not a good test of truth.
Our lives are going to be full of ups and downs but if we learn to turn to the LORD especially during those down times we will realize that HE was always there for us.
The children of Israel had to learn this lesson and we have the Old Testament to teach us that HE wants to help those who are obedient to HIM. HE doesn’t forget those who turn to HIM for help.
We need to be thankful for this verse and the truth that it teaches us because there are days when we doubt this truth.
CHALLENGE: We need to never doubt the LORD’S love for HIS servants. If we have made a genuine commitment to Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit is just a prayer away.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. (4422 “escaped” [malat] means to flee to safety, to save someone, to successfully run away from or avoid confinement or danger, to reach safety, flee, or to slip away.)
DEVOTION: It is not hard to believer that there are many traps set for believers by the devil, his angels and those who love him that are humans. It seems that every moment of every day we have temptations set before us to cause us not to serve the LORD with our whole heart and soul.
It seems that it is hard to live a life that is pleasing to the LORD without our full-time commitment to prayer and study of HIS love letter to us. We need the help of fellow believers to get though many days.
The LORD knows what is going on and HE is always watching over those who are committed to HIM. HE sends a way to escape from every temptation HE allows in our life.
We have to be looking through our study of the Bible and prayer for ways to escape what is wrong in our world. We have the help of fellow believers to help us as well through their friendships and prayer.
We need each other as we face the daily trials that we find in our world. I have never been a hunter of birds or any animal. I don’t know what types of snares there are to trap them but I do know the kinds of traps that the enemy uses to get me to not trust the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Victory is promised to those who trust in the LORD with all their heart and lean not on their own understanding. WE can’t do it on our own so we need to be prayed up each morning and throughout the day.
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: 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth. (6213 “made” [‘asah] means to do, fashion, accomplish, produce, or put in order.
DEVOTION: This world has traps set for all those who follow the LORD. These individuals do not like us. Too often we think that if we are nice, they will like us. Too often we think if we don’t witness to them, they will like us. Too often we think if we don’t condemn sin, they will like us. These thought only come from the enemy.
They will never like us. They never liked Jesus. We are his servants. HE is our only help and hope. HE created the world out of nothing is six twenty-four hour periods. HE rested on the seventh day. Everything that HE created was good.
Sin corrupted this world. HE is going to create a new heaven and a new earth in the future. HE is going to purge this present world of all the sin of the ages.
If the LORD put order in the world, can HE take care of our challenges? If the LORD fashioned the world, can He fashion our lives successfully? If the LORD can accomplish HIS will on the world, can HE fulfill HIS designed will for our lives?
The answer is YES. Our God is in control. Our God is sovereign. HE is Elohim. Our God is not limited by time. HE is Jehovah. We need to call upon the name of the LORD when any challenge comes our way in this life.
With this verse we need to be training future generations with the fact that the LORD created our world and will continue to be in control. Those who fail to train the next generation will give them no hope. We have many parents and grandparents who are not instructing or setting a good example to the next generation. If parents or grandparents are not obedient to the Word of God their children and grandchildren will follow their example.
The Psalmist knew this was important. Where was he going for the training? The house of worship was the place he was going to in obedience to the Word of God. In our time the place of learning is not only the home but the place of worship. Those who disobey the LORD regarding their attendance in church are causing their children and grandchildren to watch and learn that worship is not important with other people. This is condemning them to eternity without Christ.
Set the right example for your children and grandchildren. That example should include training in the Word of God at home and at church. Remember that command not to forsake the assembling together as some are doing. It is sin. It is practicing the example of the wicked and hypocrites.
CHALLENGE: Believers understand that they need the fellowship of other believers to rub off the rough edges of our life. We all need worship in the house of the LORD in order to understand the Creator of the Universe.)
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 1, 2, 6, 8
Name of the LORD verse 8
Creator: heaven and earth verse 8
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Soul verse 4, 5
Created beings verse 8
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Humans rise up against believers verse 2
Wrath against believers verse 3
Overwhelmed verse 4
Proud verse 5
Snare against believers verse 7
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
LORD on our side verse 1, 2
Blessed verse 6
Not give us as prey to enemies verse 6
Soul has escaped verse 7
Help verse 8
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Israel verse 1
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
4, 5. The raging torrent may be doubly apt, since in fact it was God who broke through the Philistines ‘like a bursting flood’ on what seems to have been this very occasion (2 Sam. 5:20; cf. the introductory comments, above). For another instance of such a picture of an all-conquering army see Isaiah 8:7f. (Kidner, D. (1975). Psalms 73–150: An Introduction and Commentary (Vol. 16, p. 473). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.)
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The raging waters (lit., “proud waters”) suitably suggests the arrogance (cf. Ps. 123:4) of the enemies. This could apply to various times in Israel’s history, but it may affirm the Lord’s deliverance from the Babylonian Captivity. If the return from the Exile is in view, then David was not the author as the superscription, added later, states. Rather, “David” in this case would indicate a later Davidic “king” (i.e., a potential occupant of the Davidic throne). (Ross, A. P. (1985). Psalms. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 884). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)
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Ver. 5. Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.] The wicked, who, through their pride, persecute the poor saints: these proud tyrants and persecutors would prevail over them, to their ruin and destruction; who, for their number, force, and strength, and especially for their pride and haughtiness, are like to the strong, boisterous, and swelling waves of the sea, were they not stopped and bounded by him who has said, Thus far shall ye go, and no farther, Job 38:11. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 4, p. 250). London: Mathews and Leigh.)
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5. “Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.” The figure represents the waves as proud, and so they seem to be when they overleap the bulwarks of a frail bark, and threaten every moment to sink her. The opposition of men is usually embittered by a haughty scorn which derides all our godly efforts as mere fanaticism or obstinate ignorance. In all the persecutions of the church a cruel contempt has largely mingled with the oppression, and this is overpowering to the soul. Had not God been with us our disdainful enemies would have made nothing of us, and dashed over us as a mountain torrent sweeps down the side of a hill, driving everything before it. Not only would our goods and possessions have been carried off, but our soul, our courage, our hope would have been borne away by the impetuous assault, and buried beneath the insults of our antagonists. Let us pause here, and as we see what might have been, let us adore the guardian power which has kept us in the flood, and yet above the flood. In our hours of dire peril we must have perished had not our Preserver prevailed for our safe keeping.
6 Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. (Spurgeon, C. H. (n.d.). The treasury of David: Psalms 120-150 (Vol. 6, p. 49). London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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Sanctification begins with regeneration, the implanting of spiritual life in a believer. From that starting point sanctification is God’s progressively separating a believer from sin to Himself and transforming his total life experience toward holiness and purity. The process of sanctification for a believer never ends while he is on earth in his mortal body. It is consummated in glorification when that believer through death and resurrection or through the Rapture stands in the presence of God “conformed to the likeness of His Son” (8:29). A believer’s identification with Jesus Christ by faith is both the ground and the goal of sanctification. (p. 462, Bible Knowledge Commentary)
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