Psalm 125

As I pen (proverbially speaking) this editorial today I want you to know that it is an absolutely gorgeous day here my area. Even though our valley is now pretty much covered by people and buildings, on days like this, surrounded by 7000 feet of mountains, it's still beautiful. It somehow seems clean and pure. Today it's these majestic mountains, combined with some current news thoughts that serve as my inspiration for our lesson.

We're in the midst of the holiday season and I've always believed this to be the best time of the year in this area. The nights are cool and the days warm with the skies almost always clear, clean and bright. We've recently enjoyed some great fellowship (with great food) and we're looking forward to more of the same before the season ends.

We're also looking forward to the coming new year. Looking forward to see what lies ahead for our lives. With the news reports lately, about all we're seeing coming at us is "doom and gloom" of some sort. IE: we're going over the "fiscal cliff." Of course, with politics and government involved, if it wasn't this crisis, it would be something else foreboding, wouldn't it?

If you listen much to the news at all, you soon get the idea that we're surrounded by troubles and woes. By some sort of menace coming at us from all directions. As I consider the mountains around me, coupled with the various looming problems and travails reportedly headed our way, I'm inspired to offer a few words of encouragement today.

In applying my thoughts to a Biblical relevance I'd like to direct your attention to some words given us by the Psalmist in Psalm 125. As you read this Psalm, I'd like you to let your mind go back to the time of the Psalmist. I think this might help us to grasp what he's saying here in his song.

Imagine that you're the Psalmist and you're standing atop one of the elevations overlooking Jerusalem. By looking out over the city, in every direction, past perils and coming perils can be seen. In "past" perils, you see Jerusalem being set upon by many enemies. By looking North, you see where the Syrians had come down and assailed Israel. When you look to the East, this is where the Babylonian army came from that destroyed the city and carried the people off into captivity.

From the South came the Edomites, constant enemies of Jerusalem and from the West, the Philistines. There was no direction you can look that doesn't remind you of threats that Jerusalem faced or from where troubles didn't come.

If we were standing on that elevated ground today we'd still see Israel surrounded by enemies and facing constant threats to its very life. Doesn't seem like much has changed in that part of the world, does it? Let's see if we can't take this little exercise and apply it to a spiritual lesson. Maybe change our "elevated looking" to a spiritual viewpoint.

We stand here in our lives and look in all directions and what do we see - the world coming at us from all directions. We see constant threats to our spiritual lives. Satan's army seems to be coming at us from every direction. We see worldly storm clouds gathering all around us in the form of financial woes (taxes, etc.), terrorists attacks, crimes and tragedies, all of which have an effect on our spiritual lives.

Yes, there are simply scads of worldly woes that seem to surround us and wherever we look there appears to be problems and dangers there. Like the Psalmist must have felt as he looked out over Jerusalem and thought about all the things that had come and were coming upon them.

But then, the Psalmist looked a little further out. Sort of refocused his sight, if you will. He saw the mountains of Judea off in the distance. He saw them as a natural barrier between Jerusalem and her enemies. I believe that it was then that he was inspired to write the words we read in verse 2 of his Psalm. "As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about his people from henceforth even forever."

As (or like) the mountains surrounding Jerusalem, the Lord surrounds His people. In other words, He forms a protective barrier around them. In the same sense as several passages in the Bible refer to God as a "fortress." I particularly appreciate Jeremiah's application of this metaphor found in Jer. 16:19 "O Lord, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of my affliction...."

I like the picture of God being my "mountains." The picture of Him being a "fortress" which protects His people from the onslaughts of their enemies. I like the idea of Him placing Himself between me and my adversaries.

Then we read some additional words of the Psalmist that should serve as a most comforting and encouraging thought to Christians, especially as we go into the new year and face all of its' potential problems and woes. Look at what he says in Psa. 125, verse 1: "They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever."

Let me just wrap up my thoughts today with these words. He is our "fortress." He is our "mountains." He serves as a barrier between His people and the armies of Satan. Nothing can surmount Him. Nothing can remove His barrier. His "fortress" is impregnable. It cannot be breached.

Nothing can get to us - we're safe, but only so long as we stay behind His "mountains." As long as we stay inside the "fort." He will not "remove" His "mountain" nor will He take down His "fortress." But, we can leave the safety of His "mountains" and His "fortress" if we so choose as He won't keep us there against our will. But, we have to understand that, should we choose our own source of safety, then we will not have His barrier, His "mountains" nor His "fortress" to protect us.

I just don't think that I want to face the new year, nor any other year that I'm blessed to have, outside that protection. How about you?

Ron Covey