Psalm 120 - Chambers, Oswald
We can judge a nation by its songs. The minor note is indicative of a crushed, but unconquered people. In the bible there is nothing altogether minor; nothing, that is, of the nature of despair. The bible deals with terrors and upsets, with people who have got into despairin fact, the bible deals with all that the devil can do, and yet all through there is the uncrushable certainty that in the end everything will be all right.
The songs of ascents are the autobiography of the children of god; they reveal their inner secrets. These psalms express not the outward, but the inward condition of the children of god, when they realise that they are pilgrims. We do not immediately realise that we are pilgrims; when a child is born into the world it is welcomed and for a time it feels perfectly happy and at home. Neither when we are born again do we realise at once that we are pilgrims; rather, we feel more at home on the earth than ever; we have come into contact with the creator of it all, and
heaven above is brighter blue, earth around a sweeter green.
George Robinson but as we go on, this sense of at-homeness dis- appears and ultimately we realise a deep alienation to all that the world represents, and we recognise that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth, that here we have no continuing city. That mood is rep- resented in these psalms. God seems to delight to stir up our nests; it is not the devil who does it, but god; this is curiously unrecognised on our part. The peace of this world can never be the peace of god.
The peace of physical health, of mental healthy-mindedness, of prosperous circumstances, of civilisation not one of these is the peace of god, but the outcome of the souls of men being garrisoned by the prince of this world (see luke 11:21). When we are born again from above (rv mg) and realise that we belong to god, we begin to recognise the element of destruction that there is imbedded in many of our lords words, e. G. , think not that i came to cast [mg] peace on the earth: i came not to cast [mg] peace, but a sword (rv ). We realise that the reason- ing of the world is not in accordance with the bible, and we find we are alien to it.
1. Direction in distress in my distress
i cried unto the lord, and he answered me. (psalm 120:1 rv )
If i am a child of god, distress will lead me to him for direction. The distress comes not because i have done wrong, it is part of the inevitable result of not being at home in the world, of being in contact with those who reason and live from a different stand- point. We blunder when we try to make out that the prosperity referred to in the old testament is intended for us in this dispensation. Plainly that prosperity has never yet been fulfilled in the history
Of the world; it is going to be fulfilled, but it does not refer to this dispensation, which is the dispensation of the humiliation of the saints, not of their glorification. One of satans greatest delusions is to decoy folks off on to blessings that are merely secondary. We become side-tracked if we make physical health our aim and imagine that because we are children of god we shall always be perfectly well; that there will be great mani- festations of gods power, thousands saved, etc. In my distress . . . There are elements in our circumstances if we are children of god that can only be described by the word distress; it would be untruthful to say it was otherwise. Then will i go unto . . . God, says the psalmist, not with joy, but unto god [who is] my exceeding joy. We go to god when we have no joy in ourselves and find that his joy is our strength. Are our hearts resting in the certainty that god is full of joy although with us it is clouds and darkness because we are pilgrims? . . . I cried unto the lord, and he answered me. It is one thing to cry to god and another thing to hear him answer. We don’t give god time to answer. We come in a great fuss and panic, but when all that is taken out of our hearts and we are silent before god, the quiet certainty comes i know god has heard me.
2. Deliverance from deception
deliver my soul, o lord , from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue. (psalm 120:2)
One of the hardest things on earth to bear is deception, especially when it comes through our friends. We do not need the grace of god to stand the deception or slander of an enemy, human pride will stand that; but to be wounded in the house of our friends takes us unawares. Judas had lying lips; we read that he kissed Jesus much (rv mg). Are we honest with our lips? It is only Christians who can be frank with one another, because their disposition has been altered by god (cf. Ephesians 4:29).
What shall be given unto thee, and what shall be done more unto thee, thou deceitful tongue? (psalm 120:3 rv)
Most of our relationships are carried on with discreet deceit. The words shrewdness, diplomacy, aye keep a bittie to yersel, express an attitude essential in the life of the world, but a christian has no time to be a dabster8 with his tongue, no time to profit by being clever. The teaching of the sermon on the mount is never to look for justice but never to cease to give it. We waste our time looking for justice; we have to see that we always give it to others. If you are my disciple, Jesus says, people wont play you fair; but never mind that, see that you play fair. Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper. (psalm 120:4) the bible reveals the tongue to be the worst enemy a man has (see James 3:68)sharp arrows of the mighty they never miss their mark. The same thing is true when we are born again, god sees that our words get home; but if we are not born again our words rankle and sting and annoy and spread destruction. Sarcasm is the weapon of a weak, spiteful nature, its literal meaning is to tear the flesh from the bone. The antipodes of sarcasm is iron ycon- veying your meaning by saying the opposite; irony is frequently used by the prophets.
3. Distraction for a dwelling
woe is me, that i sojourn in meshech, that i dwell among the tents of kedar! My soul hath long had her dwelling with him that hateth peace. (psalm 120:56 rv)
Our lord lived for thirty years in that atmosphere (see john 7:5). We sing, theres no place like home, but the author of that song was far away from home when he wrote it. The description the bible gives of home is that it is a place of discipline. Naturally we do not like what god makes; we prefer our friends to our god-made relations. We are undressed morally in our home life and are apt to be meaner9 there than anywhere else. If we have been captious and mean with our relations, we will always exhibit that spirit until we become new creatures in Christ Jesus. That is why it is easier to go somewhere else, much easier often to go as a missionary than to stay at home. God alters the thing that matters.
4. In a dilemma by the disputers
i am for peace: but when i speak they are for war. (psalm 120:7) there is nothing more terrible than for people to take what you say and to turn it into dispute (cf. Psalm 109:4).
We are not to keep things back, but we realise that if we stand for god there will be the dilemma of dispute. They say: what say they? Let them say. Paul says the same thing but with me it is a very small thing that i should be judged of you, or of mans judgement: yea, i judge not mine own self (1 Corinthians 4:3).
In a crisis we are always in danger of standing true to something that is acclaimed by this world rather than standing absolutely loyal to god. Had our lord been a patriot, he would have been a traitor to his country in submitting to the roman dominance; he ought to have led an insurrection this dominance is wrong; we must break it. Instead of that, he bowed his head to it. He submitted to the providential order of tyranny knowing that through it god was working out his purposes. Knowest thou not that i have power to release thee, and have power to crucify thee? Jesus answered him, thou couldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above ( john 19:1011 rv ).