PSALMS 120
A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
1 I took my troubles to the Lord;
I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.
2 Rescue me, O Lord, from liars
and from all deceitful people.
3 O deceptive tongue, what will God do to you?
How will he increase your punishment?
4 You will be pierced with sharp arrows
and burned with glowing coals.
5 How I suffer in far-off Meshech.
It pains me to live in distant Kedar.
6 I am tired of living
among people who hate peace.
7 I search for peace;
but when I speak of peace, they want war!
MAIN POINT: If you want peace, then call out to the Lord and come out from among the murderous companions in this world. In short, REPENT and SEEK THE LORD.
As I read Psalm 120 I kept thinking of this phrase found in a few verses in the Bible.
“Their feet are swift to shed blood”
This idea (expressed in slightly different ways) which doesn’t appear in Psalm 120 but does appear in Proverbs 1:16, 6:18 and Isaiah 59:7-8 is the characteristic of mankind since Cain killed Abel. Contrary to what society wants to tell you, humans are bent on murder. And it is this love of killing, war and being the judge, jury and executioner of our fellow man that has characterised human relationships. I have witnessed a murder and seen a man die while living in Sheffield, England. When I was a teenager, I carried the casket of a neighbour who was shot in the face with a sawed off shotgun only a few hundred yards from my home. A girl in our youth group sat in a car next to the wife of a jealous man, after babysitting for their children, when the husband showed up and shot his wife in cold blood while the girl just sat there. Our games are often all about killing, our films are often all about killing, and our daily news is full of war my whole life.
And Jesus takes it one step further.
“You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”
6 I am tired of living
among people who hate peace.
7 I search for peace;
but when I speak of peace, they want war!
I am not judging you. I have to look no further than in the mirror. I am the person I hate to live among. I know I am a murderer at heart. If it were not for Jesus saving me, I’m sure I would have run to kill in one way or another. Notice the chapter starts with lying. And we are great at killing people with words. Assassinating people with lies and slander. Somehow we think that we are innocent of killing but we are not. Our hearts, at least my heart, has been filled with foul, black, dark, vitriolic hate. And this is the meaning, at least in part, of these two places mentioned in verse 5:
5 How I suffer in far-off Meshech.
It pains me to live in distant Kedar.
Did you notice when this song is to be sung and who sings it? That is found in the title at the top. This is a song for pilgrims to sing on their way up to Jerusalem.
Maybe you will find this fanciful but I see Jerusalem as the place of the Prince of peace who has changed the hearts of those who have repented and left behind a heart of hate and are now filled with love for the King and thus also a love for others.
Read what Ezekiel says God is going to do with the hearts of those He has called back, called back to their land (Jerusalem), here in the Message:
“‘For here’s what I’m going to do: I’m going to take you out of these countries, gather you from all over, and bring you back to your own land. I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God!
Ezekiel 36:24-28 The Message (MSG)
How I long for peace. I long for the Prince of Peace to calm the raging nations and bring them with new hearts to His holy city.
Jesus was also weary of the lying, murdering people. So listen to the Psalmist in verse 1 who gives great advice:
I took my troubles to the Lord;
I cried out to him, and he answered my prayer.
Conclusion:
I need to be rescued from myself and the world around me. So I call out to the Prince of peace who can change my heart and make me glad to leave the ways of the world and to enter into His kingdom of peace.
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| Handwritten Psalm 120 |
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