Psalm 124
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side—
let Israel say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
What if?
We’re good at asking that question. We might ask it in regret: “What if I hadn’t turned down that big job offer?” Or we might ask out of fear: “What if I lose something or someone that I love?”
Other times, the question comes up when we realize how narrowly we escaped disaster. “What if that were my car on the side of the QEII?” “What if I made a different choice and never met my spouse?” “What if the doctors hadn’t thought to test for one more thing ‘just in case’?”
In Psalm 124, David points out another close call—with a question we can ask in any of those scenarios and more: What if the Lord had not been on our side?
Maybe that’s a question you haven’t considered as much, since God has been on your side since before you can remember. Or maybe you can remember very well a time of your life when you were certainly not on God’s side. Either way, David paints a clear picture of what the only alternative would be: Disaster.
If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say—if the Lord had not been on our side when…[1] Fill in the blank. Here are some scenarios David came up with:
…when the people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us.[2]
The flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.[3]
We can easily think of ways things could go horribly wrong if God weren’t watching over us. Dozens of disasters could have occurred just on your daily commute—in addition to all the close calls we actually notice. We do what we can to mitigate those risks, but we know that ultimately it’s up to God what happens.
But this psalm isn’t only talking about God watching over us—we heard that from Psalm 121 a few weeks ago. This psalm is talking about God being “on our side.” In other words: What if God were against you? What if he were your enemy?
Then things get a little more frightening. Then we read this hypothetical in a new light:
If the Lord had not been on our side… he would have swallowed us alive when his anger flared against us.
It wouldn’t be without precedent. God once did exactly that—a man named Korah led a rebellion against Moses, which was really a rebellion against God, who had put Moses in charge. So the Lord dealt swift judgment: the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households… They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned.[4] What if there were nothing to stop his righteous anger from flaring again?
If the Lord had not been on our side… the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us…
We’ve seen God do that before too, haven’t we? What if he hadn’t given Noah the rainbow as a contract, or if he had included a clause that let him sweep us away with some other natural disaster?
Natural disasters aren’t even the greatest of our concerns. Here’s another scenario that I’ll be thinking about the next few days: If the Lord had not been on our side, there would be no Holy Week. No reason for God to enter Jerusalem in the flesh on Palm Sunday. No gift of Holy Communion instituted for our forgiveness on Holy Thursday. No one to suffer hell in our place on Good Friday. No guarantee that we have anything but death to look forward to on Easter morning.
What if the Lord had not been on our side? We shudder to imagine—because there’s only one alternative.
After considering how near we were to our doom, Psalm 124 leaves us asking another question: Why? How are we even breathing? What could have caused God to take our side, to go to such great lengths to rescue us from certain death, when we rebellious sinners would have murdered his own Son if given the chance?
David doesn’t give a direct answer. He doesn’t try to rationalize God’s inexplicable, incredible love for us. He simply praises God that he did not withhold his love when we needed it most.
Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped.[5]
When we were as helpless as a lion’s lunch, God’s perfect Lamb went without complaint to be slaughtered in our place. Though we have many times stuck our heads into the devil’s snares and trapped ourselves in temptation like a bird caught in a noose, Jesus allowed himself to be bound, nailed, and entombed to free us from the bonds of sin and death forever.
God did not simply switch sides—he brought us over to his side, converting enemies into allies and placing our souls under his eternal care. So David declares what could be our battle cry: Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.[6]
As we wrap up this series of songs on the way up, nearing the peak of Jerusalem and the high point of all history, here is one more question to consider: What if the Lord is on our side? What if God did enter Jerusalem in the flesh on Palm Sunday, and offered the gift of his body and blood for our forgiveness on Holy Thursday, and suffered hell in our place on Good Friday, and rose from the dead to guarantee us eternal life on Easter morning? What if our help comes from the one who reveals not only his power, but also his unwavering commitment to his people?
Well, then nothing in heaven or on earth can take us from his side. Then we can always count on the Lord to deliver our souls from disaster. Then we can answer every “What if?” with the promise of what is in Christ.
Then we can join our hearts in an eternal song: Praise be to the Lord—our help, our Maker, our God on our side. Amen.
[1] Psalm 124:1,2
[2] Psalm 124:2,3
[3] Psalm 124:4,5
[4] Numbers 16:31-33
[5] Psalm 124:6,7
[6] Psalm 124:8