Psalm 120: The Lord Answered Me

Today’s reading is Psalm 120.

Seek Your Servant

Obviously, Psalm 119 stood out as a singularly unique psalm. And, no doubt, the Songs of Ascents by the very nature of their headings demonstrate they are a unit of songs to themselves. However, as is often the case in the psalms, while we struggle to outline an overarching order and structure, we often see hints as to why the psalms were placed next to each other.

Why go from Psalm 119 into the Songs of Ascents? I obviously can only speculate. But can we who have spent almost three months walking step by step through the acrostic poem in memorial to God’s Word miss a connection? How many times in Psalm 119 did the psalmist declare distress and ask for God’s deliverance? The longest psalm ends with the surprising request:

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
for I do not forget your commandments.
Psalm 119:176 (ESV)

Prais the Lord, the Songs of Ascents begin:

In my distress I called to the LORD,
and he answered me.
Psalm 120:1 (ESV)

Most certainly, that declaration has a point in the psalm itself. Liars and false accusers abound around the Ascents psalmist. He has already laid his plea before the Lord and he has already received an answer. However, surely we can’t help but find comfort that immediately following the desperate plea of the straying sheep who longs to be close to his Shepherd but cannot traverse the way on his own are the words, “I called to the LORD, and he answered me.” And if the LORD will answer that sheep’s bleating cries, we who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb can trust He will respond to ours.

Recognize this. We are on a pilgrimage. It will be a long journey. We will go through pleasant fields but also through harsh wilderness. As in Psalm 23, we will sometimes lie down in green pastures and drink from still waters, but sometimes we will go through the valley of the shadow of death. Enemies will surround us. They will attack us. They will distract us. But we are not traveling alone. The Lord is our Shepherd. We know His voice. He hears ours.

We can climb this hill and make this pilgrimage because when we cry to the Lord, He listens. When we call out to Him, He responds.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 120.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 120 admonish you?

Psalm 107: Let the Wise Attend to These Things

Today’s reading is Psalm 107.

The Wise Must Pay Attention

Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things;
let them consider the steadfast love of the LORD.
-Psalm 107:43 (ESV)

What an odd way to end this psalm. The wise need to pay attention. The wise need to meditate on what this psalm says. The wise need to mull it over.

Certainly, this may just be a contrast with the fool of Psalm 107:17. Maybe the psalmist simply wants to make a contrast and say the fool gets into trouble, but the wise cry out to the Lord in their distress.

Maybe that’s all there is too it. Maybe at this point we’ve wisely figured out the simple meaning of this psalm.

However, I can’t help but think the psalmist is calling us to think about it again. And again. And again. I can’t help but think the psalmist is trying to get the wise to perceive something that may not be seen at first glance.

An Undercurrent of Wisdom

At the risk of bordering on arrogance, I’d like to take a stab at the deeper message. The surface message is obvious. When you’re in trouble, call on the Lord. He’s the only Redeemer. When He redeems give thanks.

As I read the psalm again and again, I start to notice something. God the Redeemer does some really great stuff. He redeems (vs. 2). He gathers (vs. 3). He leads in straight ways until the wanderers reach the city (vs. 7). He satisfies the soul and fills the hungry with good things (vs. 9). He brings them out of darkness and bursts their bonds (vs. 14). He shatters the door of bronze and cuts in two the bars of iron (vs. 16). He sends out His Word and heals them. He delivers them from destruction (vs. 20). He calms the storm and quiets the sea. He brings the people to their desired haven (vss. 29-30). He turns deserts into pools and makes a parched land into a spring of water (vs. 35). He blesses people and livestock with multiplication (vs. 38). He raises the needy up out of affliction (vs. 41). All of that is fantastic, isn’t it? Don’t you just love that about God?

However, that’s not all He does in this psalm. It’s true he brings the prisoners out of their affliction, but did you notice He is actually the one who causes their affliction? It doesn’t say a foreign nation or a prison guard does it. It says, “So *he* bowed their hearts down with hard labor; they fell down, with none to help” (vs. 12). He does quiet the storm and calm the waves and wind. But He actually causes them as well. “For *he* commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea” (vs. 25). Yes, He turns deserts into pools and parched lands into springs of water, but only after He turns rivers into deserts and fruitful lands into salty wastes (vss. 33-34). He does multiply fruit and offspring, but He also diminishes and brings low (vs. 39). In vs. 4, we hear about folks wandering in desert wastes, but no reason is given. Can we miss in vs. 40 it says, “he pours contempt on princes and makes them wander in trackless wastes”? (ESV). Hmmm.

The Lord does those negative things in response to sin and folly. Sure. But don’t miss the point. When do the people cry out to the Lord? When they are in trouble. Not simply when they are in trouble. They cry out when they are in so much obvious trouble they can’t miss it. Very often, we tell people don’t treat prayer as a last resort. Don’t wait until the last thing to cry out to the Lord. The problem is it’s very often only when people reach their wits’ end they finally realize the only way to look is up. It’s very often only when people reach the end of the rope they realize they need what only God can provide.

Yes, the Lord will redeem us when we cry out to Him. Any fool can recognize that. It takes a wise person to realize the Lord will often raise the storm because we already need redemption but don’t know it. We need the trouble, the affliction, the distress to realize how much we really need the Lord. And that distress is as much part of the Lord redeeming His people as the redemption from the distress.

Fools look at the distress and decide there is no God. The wise look at the distress and realize not only is there a God, but we need Him. Don’t be a fool. Be wise. Cry out to the Lord. He is there. He is waiting to hear from you.

Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 107.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 107 prompt or improve your hope in God?