Expository - Songs of Degrees

Psalm 125

In Psalm 125, we see the heart of one who has been delivered from the clutches of the world; one who has been set free. In the previous Psalm, the world was revealed in various forms: as a beast, as a flood and as an enticing snare set to entangle us. But Christ has set us free. The one who was once ensnared will have a heart of love, a grateful heart and, more than that, a heart that will trust the Lord who has delivered him.

Trust

Romans 12 vv 1,2 explains the matter of consecration in terms of presenting our bodies in reasonable service. As you do so, the Lord will give you revelation concerning His will. As you trust Him and commit your life to Him, the way ahead will become clearer.

The Psalmist here is receiving revelation from God about those that trust in Him, about the future and about security in Him. Trust is a key word here. As we give our lives to the Lord, we must trust Him. We have to stop trying to arrange things for ourselves. We have to stop manipulating situations and influencing other people, even though we might think that we are doing it for the Lord. God wants us to trust Him. Unfortunately, the way that we are brought up in evangelical circles is to arrange things, but we must not.

The problem is that we are tempted to set things up according to our logic. We do not have to find special meetings for evangelism for someone that needs to be saved, or for healing for someone who needs healing, or for worship when we feel in need of a 'pep up'. Now it sounds as if I am saying that we should not go to other meetings. No, what I am saying is that you must not get the idea that you can arrange circumstances in order to get the desired result. Listen to the Word of God.

It is possible that you might feel rebellious as you read these words. No one likes to be told that they are going about things in the wrong way. God wants us to take our hands, the hands of flesh, off His work. Paul said, "In my flesh dwells no good thing." If we let fleshly principles arrange things, it will be an abomination in the sight of God. If you want people to be saved, do it God's way. Tell them the gospel. Share your testimony. "Be ready always to give an answer to everyone that asks you a reason of the hope that is within you with meekness and fear." (I Peter 3v15) Trust the Lord. Tell them. God gave YOU the opportunity. Use it! If people need to be healed, be obedient to the word of God. "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord." (James 5v14). There is no authority to drag to the other side of the country, following some famous name. If you want to worship the Lord, gather together with the Lord's people, in the place where you are, and worship Him there. Obey the Lord! In the end it comes down to trust.

According to this Psalm, those that trust the Lord are wonderfully blessed. Trying to make God's promises happen by arranging circumstances is not trust. It may be 'good' psychology; it may be salesmanship; it is not trust. Trust is believing that God will do the work. Trust is being committed to God and His word. It is believing still, even when things do NOT seem to be working out. We walk by faith, NOT by sight. You are happy to arrange things because you can SEE something happening, but that is not faith. Take your hands off God's work.

Living in the Heavenlies

Zion speaks of where God dwells; it speaks of the heavenly place of God's sovereign rule. Is your heart God's dwelling place? Is Zion where you also dwell? For the one who trusts the Lord will be as mount Zion, having the character of mount Zion - God's dwelling place, immovable, eternal. In Ephesians, it tells us that God has raised us up to be seated together with Christ in heavenly places. That is where we are today if we are born again. We have been raised to sit with Christ in the heavenlies where God reigns.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We are dwelling in the place where God's will is always done and our prayer is that His will may be done on earth - as it will eventually in the millennial kingdom.

We are dwelling in the heavenly places where God reigns supreme. There, God's will is being done; it can never be overthrown. Mount Zion cannot be removed but it abides for ever. It is eternal. In the Lord we are in the same position. We are in a place of eternal security. If you like, our roots, like the upward-reaching, aerial roots of the vine - are there, in the heavenly places. We can never be removed. At the end of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul exhorts us: "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, foreasmuch as ye know that your labour is NOT in vain in the Lord."

Stedfast and Unmoveable

Now, we have not come to a system of rules and regulations. We have not come to the law. In Hebrews 12 v22 it says we have not come to mount Sinai but to mount Zion... unmoveable, eternal... "and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling..." We sing the hymn "We're marching to Zion..." but Hebrews 12 tells us that we have already arrived.

Those that trust the Lord will be like mount Zion. Nothing shall overthrow them. Nothing will bring them down to utter and permanent defeat. If God be for us, who can be against us? Hallelujah!

Kept by His Mighty Power

At the end of Psalm 124, David said that our help is in the name of the Lord. That word 'help', in Hebrew, comes from a root that means 'surround'. Our help is from the Lord; He surrounds us. From far off the city is hidden from view, because it is surrounded. We are in this world, but not of it. The Lord surrounds us with His protecting and guiding care. The people who trust the Lord are like mount Zion that shall never be removed, but they are also like Jerusalem, surrounded by God's keeping power. They are secure.

In Colossians 3, it assures us that our lives are hid with Christ in God. We are kept by Him. Does that mean we are now incapable of sinning? No, it does not, but it does mean that God protects us from the evil and wickedness that would seek to destroy us, to swallow us up alive. The Lord keeps us. In v.3 it speaks of the rod or sceptre of wickedness. The sceptre represents rule, power and authority. They that trust the Lord are kept. Although that rod of wickedness might come against us, nevertheless, we have an eternal salvation. We are kept securely. Although the flesh might lust against the spirit (Galatians) and sometimes it might seem as though we cannot live as we should (Romans 7), yet, there is a place of victory. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus makes us free from the law of sin and death. Although there might be battles, within and without, to withstand evil and wickedness, we have a wonderful victory in the Lord. That sceptre of wickedness shall not prevail. Sin shall not have dominion over you.

The victorious promise for every believer is that sin shall not have dominion over us. We are not its slaves any longer. So the rod of wickedness shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous. This word 'lot' means the portion or destiny of the righteous. Do you see what that means? - as you trust the Lord, you will be kept eternally by Him. Like mount Zion, you will not be moved. You are surrounded by the mountains of God's protection and care and even though wickedness may be working in the outward manifestation of the kingdom of God, even though there might be enticements to sin, you have an assurance from the word of God, you have a victory in our Lord Jesus Christ, that sin will not rule over you. The rule of sin is broken. You will never lose your salvation, for that sceptre of wickedness will not rest upon the final portion or lot of the righteous. You are in victory. You will never lose it. Jesus has broken Satan's power. In Hebrews 2 it says that Jesus destroyed death and him that had the power of death, that is the devil.

Conclusion

So the Psalmist concludes: But peace shall be upon Israel. Those that trust the Lord are so secure in Him that they know nothing but God's peace in their lives all the time. God will also fill our hearts with His love, His joy and the peace that passes all understanding. We are forgiven and secure in Him. Peace shall be upon all the people of God, for being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.