Introduction: This is the fifth Song of Ascent (Ps. 120–134). In modern translations, David is listed as the author. But, like Psalm 122, the Greek Septuagint omits the words “of David” from this psalm.1 Psalm 121, which a Jewish pilgrim drafted, also has similar wording (Ps. 121:2; 124:8). Thus, some dispute David’s authorship. Many of the praises regarding God’s deliverance from certain defeat could also apply to Esther’s time. Other references borrow from Isaiah’s descriptions of the Assyrians’ invasion of Israel. Regardless of the authorship, the message is inspired (2 Tim. 3:16). Here, based upon Psalm 124’s praises, God reveals seven reasons for praising Him when you are attacked. These include His: (1) faithfulness, (2) protection, (3) confidence / stability, (4) grace, (5) deliverance, (6) support, and (7) sovereignty.
First, the psalmist proclaimed that the Jews would have suffered defeat if God had not been on their side. You can praise God because He will also never leave you nor forsake you. He will always be faithful to keep His promises to you. Second, the psalmist also praised God for the protection that He gave the Jews throughout their history. God also deserves your praise for the protection that He offers you. Third, the psalmist stated that chaos would have overwhelmed the Jews if it had not been for God’s intervention. God also deserves your praise because He offers you stability during your times of chaos. Fourth, the psalmist praised God for His grace in protecting the Jews from death at the hands of their enemies. God also deserves your praise for the grace He offers you in the face of eternal death. Fifth, the psalmist praised God for the deliverance and freedom that He provided the Jews. God also deserves your praise for the deliverance and freedom that He offers you. Sixth, the psalmist praised God for the help and support that He offered the Jews. God also deserves your help for the help and support that He offers you through the Holy Spirit. Finally, the psalmist praised God as the Creator of heaven and Earth. God also deserves your praise because He is sovereign and in control of your life.
God is faithful to keep His promises to you. The psalmist, who is identified as David, twice proclaimed for emphasis that Israel would not have continued to exist if God were not faithful to continually protect it: “A Song of Ascents, of David. 1 ‘Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,’ let Israel say, 2 ‘Had it not been the Lord who was on our side when people rose up against us,” (Ps. 124:1-2). “The glorious Lord became our ally; he took our part, and entered into treaty with us. If Jehovah were not our protector where should we be? Nothing but his power and wisdom could have guarded us from the cunning and malice of our adversaries; therefore, let all his people say so, and openly give him the honour of his preserving goodness.” (Charles Spurgeon on Ps. 124:1).2
Praise God for the miracles of protection that He alone makes possible. Moses gave thanks that Israel served an all-powerful living God who was always there to protect it. “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him?” (Dt. 4:7). David also praised God for His faithfulness to watch over and protect His people: “All the paths of the LORD are faithfulness and truth to those who comply with His covenant and His testimonies.” (Ps. 25:10). “You, LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your mercy and Your truth will continually watch over me.” (Ps. 40:11). “A Song. God is our refuge and strength, a very ready help in trouble.” (Ps. 46:1). “He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may take refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and wall.” (Ps. 91:4). Paul gave a similar praise when he declared: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (Ro. 8:31). Thus, you can praise God for His faithfulness.
Praise God by recognizing what would have happened to you without His protection. In a similar praise, another psalmist recognized that his soul would have dwelt in the “land of silence” if God had not intervened for him. “If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in the land of silence.” (Ps. 94:17). The prophet Jeremiah also gave the Jews a prophecy to let them know that they owed their freedom to God. “For the LORD is going to destroy Babylon, and He will make her loud noise vanish from her. And their waves will roar like many waters; the clamor of their voices sounds forth.” (Jer. 51:55). The Jews today also celebrate the feast of Purim to remember the certain death they would have faced in Esther’s time were it not for God’s intervention.3 In 1524, Martin Luther was so moved by this verse that he made a German hymn “Wär Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit” or “Were God not with us at this time”.4 This Hebrew phase “had not” (לוּלֵ֣י (lū·lê)) been on our side (שֶׁהָ֣יָה (še·hā·yāh)) also directly connects with Jesus because it is the past tense of Immanuel (עמנו אל) (‘God is with us’). You can praise Jesus for every calamity that He saved you from because He is always present.
God will never leave you nor forsake you. Even though He knew in advance that they would rebel against Him, God promised the Jews that He would never forsake them. “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the LORD your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.” (Dt. 31:6). He makes this same promise to you (Heb. 13:5). Thus, even when you suffer the consequences of your sins, you can still praise God for what He spared you from. Even though you will suffer and die a physical death, Jesus offers you eternal life (Jo. 3:16).
Even when you suffer, praise God for His greater plans. David suffered many times as God molded him for His greater purposes as a leader of Israel. God also molded the Jews through their suffering. As a result of their time in Babylonian captivity, paganism ceased to be an organized movement amongst traditional Jews. You can also praise God because He remains with you during your suffering to mold you as part of His greater plans for good. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” (Ro. 8:28).
Praise God for being your shield against evil. The psalmist further credited God with sparing the Jews from a foreign enemy that intended to completely destroy them. “3 then they would have swallowed us alive, when their anger was kindled against us;” (Ps. 124:3). “Then they had swallowed us up quick,.... Or ‘alive’; as the earth swallowed up Korah and his company; or as the fish swallowed up Jonah; or rather as ravenous beasts swallow their prey; to which the allusion is. The people of God are comparable to sheep and lambs, and such like innocent creatures: and the wicked to lions, tigers, wolves, bears, and such like beasts of prey that devour living creatures; when their wrath was kindled against us; which is cruel and outrageous; there is no standing against it, nor before it; it is like a fierce flame of fire that burns furiously, and there is no stopping it; none but God can restrain it.” (John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible, Ps. 124:3).5
The Jews’ enemies understood and feared God’s power. When Esther was Queen, God protected the Jews from an enemy that sought to kill them by filling then with fear. “And many among the peoples of the land became Jews, because the dread of the Jews had fallen on them.” (Esther 8:17b; 9:2). The fear that the Jews’ enemies felt fulfilled prophesies that God’s prophets had given: “It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.” (Jer. 33:9; Is. 31:9). This also fulfilled promises that God gave Moses: “10 So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you.” (Dt. 28:10). “May those who are enemies of my soul be put to shame and consumed; may they be covered with disgrace and dishonor, who seek to injure me.” (Ps. 71:13). “My tongue also will tell of Your righteousness all day long; for they are put to shame, for they are humiliated who seek my harm.” (Ps. 71:24). “All my enemies will be put to shame and greatly horrified; they shall turn back, they will suddenly be put to shame.” (Ps. 6:10). “May those be ashamed and humiliated together who seek my life to destroy it; may those be turned back and dishonored who delight in my hurt.” (Ps. 40:14). “Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; the leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. Terror and dread fall upon them; by the greatness of Your arm they are motionless as stone; until Your people pass over, O LORD, until the people pass over whom You have purchased.” (Ex. 15:15-16). All who oppose Israel are subject to the curse that God promised to Abraham (Gen. 12:3).
Pray for Jesus to be your shield and to strengthen you when you are attacked. When you are attacked, Jesus promises to be your shield if you take refuge in Him: “He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.” (Prov. 30:5(b); 2 Sam. 22:31). When you are attacked or threatened, Jesus will also strengthen you if you pray for His help: “On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul.” (Ps. 138:3). “The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart exults, and with my song I shall thank Him.” (Ps. 28:7). “But You, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the One who lifts my head.” (Ps. 3:3). If you feel that you are under spiritual attack, are you praying for Jesus to strengthen you?
Trust in Jesus for protection. You never need to fear evil people when you are doing Jesus’ will: “The LORD is for me; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” (Ps. 118:6). “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” (Ro. 8:31). “Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call; this I know, that God is for me.” (Ps. 56:9). If you are feeling fear when you are serving Jesus, that is not from Him. Pray for Jesus’ protection and rebuke Satan in Jesus’ name.
Praise and worship Jesus for His protection. Jesus is your rock. Thus, He deserves your praise for His protection: “The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock; and exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,” (2 Sam. 22:47). “My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my savior, You save me from violence.” (2 Sam. 22:3). “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He.” (Dt. 32:4). “The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” (Ps. 18:2, 31, 46; 19:14). Worship helps to clear your mind to receive Jesus’ Word when you are in turmoil. Do you praise Jesus for His protection in your life?
Cry out for protection when you are attacked. You can show your faith in Jesus’ protection by crying out to Him when you need protection. “My heart is in anguish within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.” (Ps. 55:4). “The snares of death encompassed me and the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow.” (Ps. 116:3). Jesus knows your struggles. Thus, you can be honest with Him.
Praise Jesus for the stability that He offers during your trials. Jesus does not promise to spare you from chaos in the world. Instead, He offers you the ability to be confident in Him in face of any trial. “4 then the waters would have flooded over us, the stream would have swept over our souls; 5 then the raging waters would have swept over our souls.’” (Ps. 124:4-5). The language here borrows from Isaiah. “The language is reminiscent of Isaiah 8:5-12 in which the massive invasion by the Assyrians is described in terms of the Euphrates River overflowing its banks and flooding of the whole land of Israel…if the LORD had not delivered them they would have been destroyed suddenly and swiftly without leaving a truce.” (Allen Ross on Ps. 124:4-5).6
Cry out to God when you feel overwhelmed. David could have also been the author. He frequently used the imagery of floods for the evil that at times almost overwhelmed and killed him. “For the waves of death encompassed me; the floods of destruction terrified me; the snares of death encompassed me and the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow.” (2 Sam. 22:5-6). “A Psalm of David. Save me, God, for the waters have threatened my life. I have sunk in deep mud, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me.. . . May the flood of water not overflow me nor the deep swallow me up, nor the pit close its mouth on me.” (Ps. 69:1-2, 15). “The ropes of death encompassed me, and the torrents of destruction terrified me. The ropes of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me…He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.” (Ps. 18:4, 16). “They have surrounded me like water all day long; they have encircled me altogether.” (Ps. 88:17). “Reach out with Your hand from on high; rescue me and save me from great waters, from the hand of foreigners.” (Ps. 144:7). “David poetically described many of the troubles that face our soul: · Sometimes our troubles swallow and devour us. · Sometimes our troubles overwhelm us like a flood. · Sometimes our troubles sweep us away like a torrent.” (David Guzik on Ps. 124:4-5) (emphasis in original).7
God can rescue you from the chaos in your life. David also used the imagery of a flood to credit God for saving him from certain death at the hands of his enemies. “He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters.” (Ps. 18:16). “The voice of the LORD is on the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD is over many waters.” (Ps. 29:3). “Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; certainly in a flood of great waters, they will not reach him.” (Ps. 32:6).
Jesus fulfilled His promise to bring the Jews peace and rest during times of tribulation. God has not promised a pain free life. We live in a cursed world (Gen. 3:17). Yet, when the Jews acted in faith, God promised to give them peace and rest from their struggles: “And He said, ‘My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”’ (Ex. 33:14). “6 I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land.” (Lev. 26:6). “When you cross the Jordan and live in the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all your enemies around you so that you live in security,” (Dt. 12:10; Ps. 4:8).
Jesus also offers you peace and courage during times of tribulation. Just as the Jews encountered, Jesus warns that you will also experience tribulation in the world (Jo. 16:33). But when your faith leads to obedience, He promises you the peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil. 4:7). This includes giving you courage in the face of any trial. “For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.” (2 Tim. 1:7). You may not be able to control your environment. But Jesus will help you control your response to your environment to give you peace and confidence.
Praise and bless God for your unearned deliverance. The psalmist stressed that God deserved to be blessed because He alone saved the Jews. “6 Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.” (Ps. 124:6). “We are not devoured - we are not ‘swallowed up’ - thanks to the interposition of the merciful and gracious Lord, to whom therefore praise and blessing are due.” (Pulpit Commentary on Ps. 124).8
Praise God because He saves you out of grace. In other psalms, David stressed that his enemies perished only because of God’s grace. “When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before You.” (Ps. 9:3). “When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.” (Ps. 27:2). God also deserves your praise because He alone is responsible for your salvation. And He saves you out of grace and love for you through the blood that Jesus spilled at the cross.
Praise God because He saves you out of love. During the time of the exile, many might have assumed that God had given up on the Jews because of their rebellions against Him. But God loved His people. Thus, He saved them the way a mother protects a nursing baby. “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.” (Is. 49:15). God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die for us so that we might live (Jo. 3:16).
Praise God for delivering you and giving you freedom from sin. The psalmist also credited God with freeing the Jews from the enemy’s trap. “7 Our souls have escaped like a bird from the trapper’s snare; the snare is broken and we have escaped.” (Ps. 124:7). “Our soul is like a bird for many reasons; but in this case the point of likeness is weakness, folly, and the ease with which it is enticed into the snare. Fowlers have many methods of taking small birds, and Satan has many methods of entrapping souls… Fowlers know their birds, and how to take them; but the birds see not the snare so as to avoid it, and they cannot break it so as to escape from it. Happy is the bird that hath a deliverer strong, and mighty, and ready in the moment of peril: happier still is the soul over which time Lord watches day and night to pluck its feet out of the net. What joy there is in this song, ‘our soul is escaped.’” (Charles Spurgeon on Ps. 124:7).9
Continually pray for deliverance from Satan’s traps. David and other psalmists regularly used the imagery of nets to convey the ever present threats of the enemy seeking to ensnare them. “My eyes are continually toward the LORD, for He will rescue my feet from the net.” (Ps. 25:15). “You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength …The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears and rescues them from all their troubles.” (Ps. 34:1, 17). “For it is He who rescues you from the net of the trapper and from the deadly plague.” (Ps. 91:3). “May the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.” (Ps. 141:10). “And David said, ‘The LORD who saved me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear, He will save me from the hand of this Philistine.’ So Saul said to David, ‘Go, and may the LORD be with you.’” (1 Sam. 17:37). “If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will rescue us from your hand, O king.” (Dan. 3:17).
Continually pray for Jesus to deliver you from evil. Jesus’ model prayer also includes a request for Him to deliver you from evil. ‘“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”’ (Matt. 6:13). “who rescued us from so great a danger of death, and will rescue us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us,” (2 Cor. 1:10). “The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (2 Tim. 4:18).
Jesus offers deliverance from your enemies. When the Jews were faithful and obedient, God promised the Jews victory over their enemies: “7 But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; 8 five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword.” (Lev. 26:7-8; Ex. 23:22; Nu 10:9, 35; Is. 54:17; Gen. 22:17). “The Lord shall cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you; they will come out against you one way and will flee before you seven ways.” (Dt. 28:7). With His help, Jonathon killed 20 enemy soldiers (1 Sam. 14:14). Likewise, it was God’s blessing that allowed David to kill Goliath (1 Sam. 17:50-58). As another example, God used Gideon’s small army of 300 soldiers to kill 120,000 Midianites (Jdgs. 7:16-22; 8:10). After Hezekiah prayed, God also wiped out an army of 185,000 Assyrian soldiers before they could even begin a siege against Jerusalem (2 Kgs. 19:35-37; 2 Chr. 32:21-22).
With faith, Jesus can also deliver you from any struggle. Through faith in Jesus, all things are possible (Phil. 4:13). If you have been freed from being a slave to sin, God instead wants you to become a slave to righteousness (Rom. 6:17-18). Your body has been bought with a terrible price (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Through both faith and obedience, God gave you the power to break free from any kind of bondage or addiction. If you are struggling with sin, are you following Jesus to break your chains of bondage?
Praise Jesus for the help He made possible through the Spirit. The psalmist credited God as being the Jews’ help in times of trouble. “8a Our help is in the name of the Lord,…” (Ps. 124:8a). “God is the Author of all our deliverances, and he must have the glory. The enemies lay snares for God’s people, to bring them into sin and trouble, and to hold them there. Sometimes they seem to prevail; but in the Lord let us put our trust, and we shall not be put to confusion. The believer will ascribe all the honour of his salvation, to the power, mercy, and truth of God, and look back with wonder and thanksgiving on the way in which the Lord has led him. Let us rejoice that our help for the time to come is in him who made heaven and earth.” (Matthew Henry on Ps. 124:6-8).10
The Helper, the Holy Spirit, will help you. In a prior psalm, the psalmist also called God, “My help...” (Ps. 121:2). God promised that that the Holy Spirit would come with the Messiah. “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” (Is. 11:2). Through faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit now teaches you and helps you when you turn to God for help. “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you.” (Jo. 14:26). At all times, pray for the Holy Spirit to help and protect you.
The Holy Spirit strengthens you when you serve God. As your strength, the Holy Spirit can give you the power to continue when you are attacked. “that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner self,” (Eph. 3:16). But His strength and power are fulfilled when you empty yourself of your own power and pride. “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” (2 Cor. 12:9).
The Holy Spirit also empowers you to serve as Jesus’ witness. For those who spread Jesus’ Good News, the Spirit can also empower you. “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).
The Holy Spirit also renews you when you are attacked. When you feel beaten down as you serve Jesus, the Holy Spirit can also renew you to allow you to persevere. “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we did in righteousness, but in accordance with His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,” (Titus 3:5).
Depend upon God alone for your support. When Jehoshaphat faced powerful pagan armies, he turned to God alone for support. “Our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.” (2 Chron. 20:12). “Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” (Is. 45:22).
Because God is the Author of all creation, you can trust Him. The psalmist praised God as trustworthy to keep His promises because He is the Creator of everything. “8b … who made heaven and earth.” (Ps. 124:8b). “Psalm 124 concludes in verse 8 with a reiteration of Ps 121:2, perhaps signaling the keynote status of Ps 121 in the Song of Ascents. The maker of heaven and earth, unparalleled awesome power, helps his people, though they are outmanned by human armies like twigs before a torrent of water, like birds facing fowlers. Were it not for Yahweh they would not escape, but Yahweh helps and delivers, winning praise for his gracious love.” (James Hamilton on Ps. 124:8).11
Praise God the Creator because He keeps His promises. The Bible is filled with praises for God as Creator. “May you be blessed of the LORD, maker of heaven and earth.” (Ps. 115:15). “Who made heaven and earth, the sea and everything that is in them; who keeps faith forever;” (Ps. 146:6). “You alone are the LORD. You have made the heavens, the heaven of heavens with all their lights, the earth and everything that is on it, the seas and everything that is in them. You give life to all of them, and the heavenly lights bow down before You.” (Neh. 9:6). “And when they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind and said, ‘Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and everything that is in them,” (Acts 4:24). Because He is the Creator, you can trust that He is in control and faithful to keep His promises. “He will sit enthroned before God forever; appoint faithfulness and truth that they may watch over him.” (Ps. 61:7).
Praise God for using His power out of love to save you. “The great Creator; the true God. Our deliverances have led us up to him. They are such as can be ascribed to him alone. They could not have come from ourselves; from our fellow-men; from angels; from any or all created beings. Often in life, when delivered from danger, we may feel this; we always may feel this, and should feel this, when we think of the redemption of our souls. That is a work which we of ourselves could never have performed; which could not have been done for us by our fellow-men; which no angel could have accomplished; which all creation combined could not have worked out; which could have been effected by no one but by him who ‘made heaven and earth;’ by him who created all things. See Colossians 1:13-17.” (Albert Barnes Notes’ on the Bible, Ps. 124:8).12