Psalm 124, 30 Sep 18

A song of ascent
A song of ascent

If God be for us, who can be against us?

This well-known verse is found not in the psalms but in Romans 8:31. It contains the same message as Psalm 124, and in particular the last verse which has become a standard line in many liturgies:

Our help is in the name of the Lord.

As another song of ascent (the fifth), Psalm 124 recalls and relishes divine protection and deliverance as good grounds for trust and a confident approach.

Imagery is typically vivid, picturing first raging waters that would have swept over us without such protection, if God were not ‘on our side’ (verses 1, 4, 5).

Then, imagery that would sit just as happily in the New Testament as in the Old, a bird avoiding the fowler’s trap:

The snare is broken and we have escaped (v. 7)

This is the verse quoted in the refrain in The Emergent Psalter.

“Guide my feet while I walk this path” will cook along happily with this Psalm. Word-sheet here> Ps124 Guide my feet, or a simpler version in New Century 497.

* * * * *

A prayer for peace, graffiti on the Berlin Wall

PS: Your webmaster has just reached Berlin yet again this Sunday.

— What do you mean “Yet again”?

Try putting “Berlin” in the search field above.

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