Relating to the Psalms

Last week I have been studying Psalm 124. To be honest, in the beginning I had a difficult time relating to all the talk about being destroyed, swallowed up, chewn alive, swept away by the enemy armies, etc. Clearly David was thinking about military campaigns and national survival.

However, to understand and relate to these psalms, it is helpful to remind ourselves of the continuity between Israel and the Church. God's people, whether in the Old Testament or the New, have always faced pressures. They may look different for national Israel than they do for the church, but God's people have always been under attack. Sometimes the armies have been physical, other times they are unseen.

The point of Psalm 124 is to remind us and call us to give thanks that God has rescued us. In many ways, we have been rescued from dangers far worse then enemy armies who would kill or enslave our bodies. We have been delivered from sin and Satan and death - spiritual enemies that would not only destroy our bodies, but seek to enslave and destroy our souls.

Thanks be to God! "He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him" (Colossians 2:15,ESV).