Psalm 124
Tuesdays are important corporate days of Prayer and Fasting for the Kansas City Underground as we pray along with our family and friends throughout the world. In North America as we bring the summer of 2023 to a close, we continue to invite everyone to focus on a Psalm on the first Tuesday of each month. This Tuesday, we’re going to look at Psalm 124 and consider again how good it is to have the LORD by our side (with us) as well as on our side (for us) in light of what has been revealed through all His promises being “Yes!” And “Amen!” in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20).
This week, take a moment to praise and pray through Psalm 124 with Romans 8:31-34 as a complementary New Testament passage:
“What, then, shall we say in response to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”
Theme:
If The LORD Had Not Been On Our Side (Yet, He Is) ...
Today’s scriptures:
Psalm 124 in the NIV, The Message (MSG)
Read Psalm 124:1-5:
NIV: If the LORD had not been on our side—let Israel say—if the LORD had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.
MSG: If GOD hadn’t been for us—all together now, Israel, sing out!—If God hadn’t been for us when everyone went against us, we would have been swallowed alive by their violent anger, swept away by the flood of rage, drowned in the torrent; we would have lost our lives in the wild, raging water.
Reflect:
In keeping with who He is, God has kept every promise to You. You are here. You are His. You are secure.
Pray:
Ask the Spirit to make God’s loving protection a reality to you now. You are not swept away. You are safe.
Read Psalm 124:6-8:
NIV: Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
MSG: Oh, blessed be GOD! He didn’t go off and leave us. He didn’t abandon us defenseless, helpless as a rabbit in a pack of snarling dogs. We’ve flown free from their fangs, free of their traps, free as a bird. Their grip is broken; we’re free as a bird in flight.
Reflect:
What has God helped you escape from before? What does He want to help you escape from now?
Pray:
Evil is crouching, seeking to devour, but God is stronger. Pray for evil’s grip to be broken. God’s got you.
Praise:
“...Your grace abounds in deepest waters. Your sovereign hand will be my guide where feet may fail and fear surrounds me. You’ve never failed, and You won’t start now... I am Yours, and You are mine.... Spirit, lead me where my trust is without borders. Let me walk upon the waters wherever You would call me. Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander, and my faith will be made stronger in the presence of my Savior...”
These words above are some of the most sung praise lyrics (beyond the Psalms while still complementing the themes of Psalm 124) that Jesus’ Church has used to glorify God throughout the world in the past decade. Meditate on them now. Your help is in the name of the LORD. Praise Him.