Psalm 129
Notes
Transcript
Psalm 129 is the next of the songs of degrees, or songs of ascent.
These songs would be sung as they travelled to Jerusalem.
There is a lot of agricultural imagery which suggests that it was used at one of the pilgrim feasts, which would not only celebrate God’s historical deliverance of the nation, but also his provision at harvest time.
The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians ahs been described as a “plowing”.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, And Jerusalem shall become heaps, And the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
Because of this this psalm may have been written after the exiles returned to Jerusalem.
God was definitely with the nation, even though they were surrounded by their enemies, they knew that God was with them.
The church of God has also suffered and still is suffering persecution.
12 Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
What should we do when we find ourselves suffering for Jesus Christ.
Whether at the hand of someone at work, someone in our neighborhood, or someone in our family.
How should we react.
I believe this Psalm shows us three steps, I borrowed this simple outline from Warren Wiersbe, because it is so simple but so true.
What do we do when we find ourselves suffering for Jesus?
I. Accept It
I. Accept It
1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, May Israel now say:
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: Yet they have not prevailed against me.
Persecution is not new.
It is not unusual in the life of Christians throughout time or across this planet.
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
It’s not strange that a Christian should suffer trials or persecution.
We have been told from the beginning this will happen.
Warren Wiersbe said, “To ask ‘Why, Lord?’ is to confess our ignorance of the place of God’s people in this present evil world.”
In other words we are confessing that we are not aware that we are pilgrims here, and with that pilgrimage comes suffering.
Israel has known throughout the centuries that some would curse them.
Abraham, at the beginning, was told by God...
1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
But God told him that He was there with him, and He would avenge for him.
Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael
The Jews were oppressed in Egypt
However, the more they were persecuted, the more they increased.
There in Egypt God made a family into a nation.
Egypt tried to drown the Jews, but the Lord drowned them.
The Assyrians tried to surround them and starve them out, but God took care of their armies and burned them out.
Nebuchadnezzar tried to burn them in the fiery furnace, but God delivered them by going through the fire with them.
Belshazzar defiled God and the temple vessels, but the Medes and Persians killed him.
The Persian magicians and soothsayers tried to get Daniel eaten alive by the lions, but in turn Daniel was protected and they were eaten alive.
Hitler killed over 6 million Jews, yet he was defeated, and the nation of Israel was born just a few years later.
Israel has suffered more than any nation on earth, and yet God has protected His people.
God’s Church has been persecuted through the years, and yet it still stands.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Every Christian can identify with the words of Paul in:
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
We tend to look at protection by God as being protection from suffering, but we are told often…that isn’t the way it works.
And yet he blesses us and molds us through the suffering.
Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: Yet they have not prevailed against me.
Which leads us to the second point, A—Accept it.
II. Benefit from It
II. Benefit from It
3 The plowers plowed upon my back: They made long their furrows.
4 The Lord is righteous: He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
You can just feel the pain of the scourging of the plow.
Their enemies treated them awful.
The plowing of the back is generally agreed to be the scourging received in captivity.
As the prisoners are whipped it leaves long deep gashes on their back.
If this is true, The Lord endured the same suffering that these exiles experienced.
Yet by his stripes we are healed.
6 I gave my back to the smiters, And my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.
This nation had been plowed, but when it came time, the harvest was a blessing to the world.
The day came when the cords had been cut assunder, a picture of yoked oxen being released.
The day came when they were set free to return to their land.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: The snare is broken, and we are escaped.
They returned home ready to serve the Lord once again.
Instead of blaming God for their suffering they confessed, “The Lord is righteous.”
For the Christian the image of plowing is motivating, As we prepare to spread the gospel as seeds in the ground, the preparation of suffering is very beneficial to the harvest.
When the world around you sees you suffer with grace, their hearts are softened, they are open to hear and allow that seed of truth grow in their hearts and minds.
One of the blessings of suffering is the effect that it has on those who watch you go through it.
Never forget, others are watching you!
You have a responsibility to shine forth the light of God, even in the midst of suffering!
12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
God uses us, as he comforts us in our trials by His grace, to turn and comfort others who are suffering.
4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
You can benefit from the suffering you endure, but it only comes from a choice.
If we plant the seeds of hatred and resentment, then suffering will produce bitterness.
But if we plant faith, hope, love and cling to the promises of God’s Word we will then harvest a great blessing for us and plenty to share with others around us.
Everyone suffers!
But those who suffer through grace, end up blessing us.
I have read the many posts that Shelly Hamilton has written as she has suffered in watching her husband slowly fade with the disease of dementia.
I love her honesty, she does not put on a facade, but is real.
And yet shining through her suffering is a brilliant light of truth, so often given in such a simple and easy to understand way.
It has given me a number of blessings as I read as she poured out her heart in her writing.
And I know I am not the only one of her 43 thousand followers who have been blessed by her as she has gone through her suffering by God’s grace.
What a testimony!
We will probably never know who all is watching us.
But we need to remember that they are!
Whether in our church, or our neighborhood…people know when we are going through a trial.
We try to hide it, but people see!
But we need to trust the Lord…Accept the trial, choose to benefit from it and
III. Commit to the Lord
III. Commit to the Lord
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back That hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, Which withereth afore it groweth up:
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; Nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the Lord be upon you: We bless you in the name of the Lord.
The Psalmist trusts in the Lord as he says, “Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.”
He realizes that God will take care of the enemies.
As the harvest image continues, he moves from the fields to the housetops.
Roofs were usually flat and usually made of a mixture of mud and mortar, wood and thatching.
When the wind picked up the seed would get blown up on to the rooftops at time.
But although they found a place in the roof to spring up, it had no depth to thrive, and the sun would scorch it and it would die.
Jesus used this image in His parable of the sower.
5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
But here the prayer is that the enemies would be like this grass upon the housetops.
That even though they would spring up, they wouldn’t last long.
They would be scorched by the sun, and wither away.
He asked for this to happen to those who hate Zion.
It begs the question, why would anyone hate the Jews?
Why has their entire history been the story of struggle?
Why have they been attacked so viciously ?
The answer is simple…Satan hates them, because God loves them!
He has been at war with her.
Because, simply, God had a plan for Israel and Satan wants to thwart those plans.
Satan has also been at war with the church!
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you.
14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.
The world around us that hates us that do not join them in their evil plans are only acting on their leaders commands.
The Devil hates God’s church!
But the gates of hell shall not prevail against her!
Instead of attacking their enemies, they followed God’s lead and let Him take care of their enemies.
And we must do the same!
17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.
18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.
19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.
21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.
God will take care of our enemies, just as he will take care of the enemies of Israel.
God will answer the prayer:
They will be turned back in disgrace because they could not win.
Then they will wither away because they have no ground to grow.
There will be nothing left for the mower to gather, nor the man binding the sheaves together to gather to make a bundle.
God will fully take care of it.
Those who walk past the enemy will not bless them, as was customary in the day as they passed.
No good day was given to them.
No blessing requested from the Lord.
And yet the rest of the world will receive the blessing if we will just do what we are supposed to do.
Let God take care of it—Commit it to the Lord!
The truth of God came from Israel’s suffering, and we have the Word of God because of it.
The church has grown and spread due to the persecution that the church experienced.
Even today, in persecuted lands, the Word of God is spreading and cannot be stamped out.
Let us be faithful while things are safe, or we will never do it when persecution is strong.
When people treat you bad because you are a Christian, just remember you are God’s child and ....Accept it…Benefit from it… and commit it to the Lord.