Psalm 124:1-8 1 If the LORD had not been on our side– let Israel say– 2 if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us, 3 when their anger flared against us, they would have swallowed us alive; 4 the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, 5 the raging waters would have swept us away. 6 Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. 7 We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
The Jewish people had seen God deliver them time after time after time after time, and the times they were taken into captivity, it wasn’t because their enemy was greater than God, but it was because God was disciplining them and was teaching them a lesson. Hear me this morning, God has never been defeated. He never will be defeated. That is why we want Him on our side. We may be surprised by the attack, but nothing takes Him by surprise. He is never caught off guard, and He will always be greater than the opponent. God can never be ganged up on or overcome. King David knew that the skill and experience and resources of their enemies often superseded Israel’s own, so he knew that Israel needed to have the Lord on their side.
1. You need to have the Lord on your side during a sudden attack.
Maybe it isn’t necessarily a major circumstance, but maybe it is a feeling that overcomes you suddenly because you are anticipating what is yet to come. You dread giving that oral report in class and the thought of it makes you sick to your stomach. You have to do a medical test that causes you instant anxiety the minute you hear the doctor say it will be scheduled, and even though it is weeks away, you are already losing sleep over it. When you think about getting on a plane, there is panic and a feeling of losing control that overwhelms you.
Fear is a sudden attack. Those of you who deal with panic attacks know how debilitating and how all-consuming they can be in an instant. We need the assurance as we deal with life’s sudden attacks that the Lord is on our side.
2. You need to have the Lord on your side when things go from bad to worse.
The Psalmist describes a bad situation that escalates. When flood waters rise and you know you are in trouble, but you can’t climb higher and you can’t swim to safety. When the current becomes a torrent and the waters rush in with a force you go where the water sends you. You lose all options. You have no control. You are forced to do whatever the water wants you to do and the weight of the water and the force of the current will send you under. This is the picture the Psalmist is painting.
Maybe this describes those long stretches where it seems like it is one thing after another. You can’t keep your head above water because as soon as you come up for air, something else is dumped on you and it might push you further down and take you longer to come up.
God’s grace is sufficient for us. It doesn’t matter how terrible the storm gets, how much is piled on us or how much is taken from us, God’s grace is sufficient to keep us in peace and to give us a future that looks far different than the storm and struggle. God’s love for us it perfect. His power in us and presence in our lives will satisfy our soul even when our hearts are broken. Romans 8:35-39 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Our ability to weather the pressures and pains of life even when they pile up and push us under isn’t found in our ability to just look on the bright side or to put one foot in front of the other, or to grin and bear it, but our ability is found in receiving and resting in the grace of God which has sustaining and keeping power that is unmatched. God has got you. You need to know that. And if God has got you, His grace has got you, His love has got you, and His power has got you, and if you are connected to Him, you are good to go!
Psalm 124:6-8 6 Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. 7 We have escaped like a bird out of the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.
The picture that is being painted is the portrait of a helpless bird that has walked into a trap. Food lured the bird into a trap. Whatever was there to eat looked good to the bird. The bird saw the food placed there as beneficial as something that could sustain him, satisfy him, and take his hunger away. Verse seven tells us that not only was the bird rescued, now watch this, not only was the bird rescued from the fowler’s snare, but what happened to the snare? What happened to the trap? It has been broken. In other words, when the Lord is on our side, emancipation comes to us, rescue comes to us, freedom comes to us that can be permanent and lasting because that which trapped us before can be broken off from our lives. Hallelujah!
3. You need to have the Lord on your side to live free.
Some of us today are living trapped instead of free. Some of us are trapped in addiction.
Some of us today are trapped by our hurt. Some of us are trapped by anger. Some of us are trapped by the need for approval. Some of us are trapped by the lust for sensual pleasure.
Satan wants to take advantage of you. He wants to appeal to you on a low level, on a lustful level where he can set a trap. Satan wants to gain control over you so that you have to remain trapped in that low-level, low-life place.
The Psalmist says in 124 that when the Lord is on your side, you can be freed from the trap and that the trap can be broken, never to hold you down again. Can you claim the words of Amazing Grace? The words that say, “Through many dangers, toils, and snare, I have already come. Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”
Who is on your side today? I know the Lord wants to be. He wants to be on your side when you experience a sudden attack. He wants to be on your side when things go from bad to worse. He wants to sustain you with His powerful grace. He wants to be on your side when you fall into temptation and are trapped by the enemy so that He can free you. He wants to be on your side because He wants you to be free to soar and enjoy the best possible life. Maybe the question isn’t, “Who is on your side today,” but “Whose side are you on?” You won’t have to convince the Lord to help you when you give you heart and life to Him. He will just be God in your life. Get to God today and allow Him to be in you, with you, and for you all the days of your life.
