Seeing What Is Really There

Psalm 125

A song for the ascent to Jerusalem.

1Those who trust in the LORD are as secure as Mount Zion;

they will not be defeated but will endure forever.

2Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem,

so the LORD surrounds and protects his people, both now and forever.

3The wicked will not rule the godly,

for then the godly might be forced to do wrong.

4O LORD, do good to those who are good,

whose hearts are in tune with you.

5But banish those who turn to crooked ways, O LORD.

Take them away with those who do evil.

And let Israel have quietness and peace.

Life under Louis XIV was not easy for the French Huguenots. They loved to sing psalms, but the king made an edict that forbade the singing of the Psalms almost everywhere. So the Huguenots went out to the fields and forests and continued their singing. Psalm 125 was a favorite of theirs, maybe because it said that the wicked would not rule the godly. Or maybe it was because the Huguenots could see something that Louis XIV couldn’t see.

Remember the story of Elisha and his servant (2 Kings 6:8-23)? The servant couldn’t understand why Elisha wasn’t bothered about the hordes of enemy soldiers surrounding them. It looked like disaster, but Elisha could see horses and chariots of fire surrounding the enemy soldiers.

The same has been true for many other saints, including Paul and Silas, who sang at midnight in the Philippian jail, and Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego, who calmly entered the fiery furnace.

When John Woolman, a Quaker missionary to American Indians, was faced with danger, he wrote: “I found my soul filled with comfort as I meditated on the love of God.”

John Paton, missionary to South Sea Island natives, was surrounded by men seeking to assassinate him, but he wrote: “I was never left without hearing that promise ‘Lo, I am with you always.’ ”

How does it look to you today? Hopeless? Then take another look.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,

Bid my anxious fears subside;

Death of death, and hell’s destruction,

Land me safe on Canaan’s side:

Songs of praises, I will ever give to thee.

WILLIAM WILLIAMS

Bible Networking

When our heart is right (verse 4), all is right. See Proverbs 4:23.

Notable Quotable

“Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace. It is so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”

MARTIN LUTHER