Psalm 124 is a psalm of ascent- meaning that it was sung literally as the Israelites ascended to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. As you read the Psalm imagine physically walking up a mountain as it is sung out loud.
The Psalm starts out repeating the same phrase- ‘If the Lord had not been on our side” and then goes on to list the awful outcomes that would have come from of a variety of circumstances without the Lord on their side. They range from circumstances due to other people (v. 2,3, 6) to circumstances due to natural disasters (v. 4,5).
The end of the Psalm (or the crescendo of the ascent) blesses the Lord for their escape from all of these circumstances and recognizes that our help comes from the Lord and that He alone is the maker of heaven and earth.
Look back on your life and think about the things that Lord has brought you through. What has the Lord rescued you from?
There is beauty (I think) in looking back and seeing that not only has the Lord rescued me from sin because of Jesus, but he is continually rescuing me. It might sound funny, but I had a friend who talked about recognizing God’s grace (and rescue) daily through driving. She talked about how many times there were close calls in almost being hit or almost hitting someone else (holla Dallas traffic) but she came out of these circumstances without a scratch (on her or her car). “I know that it is God’s grace that this is the case,” she told me, and now I also recognize this as God’s grace in my own daily life. Let’s be a people who are constantly looking around at God’s grace and rescue in our daily lives, whether it’s our rescue from hell or rescue from something as mundane as driving close calls.
And as we look back on what God has done in the past, let us recognize that God is still rescuing us in the present and will continue to do so in the future. Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
—Ally Landis