THE SONGS OF ASCENT – PART 2 – PSALM 120 – TROUBLE AND PERSECUTION
(A). O, THE GRIEF OF THE TROUBLED SOUL
{{Psalm 120:1 “In my trouble I cried to the LORD and He answered me.”}}
The Introduction for these Psalms has been done in Part 1, and today we commence with Psalm 120, obviously the first of the Psalms of Ascent.
Each person has a different set of experiences in life and very few people know very much of what other persons are going through. Most people clam up in their problems and some are suffering greatly and we do not even know it. It is tragic.
People are reluctant to share because they think others will think ill of them and they will look foolish and then be greatly embarrassed. I can understand that happening in the outside world – that is outside a church fellowship – as people generally are callous and indifferent and critical and judgemental. However in the safety of a church fellowship that should not be the case, but it often is to the church’s shame.
I despair often as to where hurting and desperate people can go. I don’t bother watching Dr Phil but just happened to see a couple minutes of one program just recently right at the point where a hurting person was on the show. Then this supposed expert came on with a board of about 12 points to help the person in need. I was saddened by all that because nearly all those points were from the New Age practices. It also embraced humanism; for example one point was, “You have the ability in yourself to lift yourself from the situation.” This “power of positive thinking” is not Christian; it is humanism. It will do not one atom of good.
Many people carry grief and emotional scarring for a great deal of their lives. The old gospel truth of what Jesus said is always pertinent – {{Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest. Matt 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you shall find rest for your souls, Matt 11:30 for My yoke is easy and My load is light.”}}
Our great problem is to match hurting people with the Saviour. Far too often they do not want to know the solution that lies only a prayer away. Then again has the church lost its mission and strength to seek these people? I think it may have. It is interesting to note in these verses the commands. Jesus will not barge in, but all who come, and all who take, and all who learn, will never be disappointed.
The psalmist knew the correct balm of Gilead and the correct soothing oil to apply in his great need. When he was in trouble he cried to the Lord. There can be no other solution. What other refuge had he? He had none. I have often said this, that men and women use the Lord as the last resort. They run around, seek doctors and psychologists, seek the world’s counsellors or analysts when in fact many analysts and psychologists have their own therapists! It is like consulting an ugly toad and asking it, “How can I become beautiful?” The Lord Jesus is not the last resort for mankind’s problems; He should be the first.
Verse 1 is the lovely testimony of a faithful heart – “In my trouble I cried to the LORD.” I think the Psalms contain help for every type of human emotion and failing. Many times have I resorted to them in pain or trouble or when waves are too high and come crashing down on me. The Psalms can be called, “The Book of Greatest Comfort”. Psalm 120:1 is not the only case of the Lord being a Refuge of comfort in trouble. Here are three other examples of comforting help -
(B). GOD, THE COMFORT FOR THE HURTING SOUL
[1]. {{Psalm 46:1“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in TROUBLE.”}} It is no good having a refuge if it is not strong and can be demolished by a wind gust. God is all powerful and Almighty. In that verse I love the words “A VERY PRESENT HELP,” as they convey a God right at your right hand ready to step in at a moment’s call. He is there always for you. He is with us until the end of the (Church) age.
[2]. {{Psalm 81:6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden. His hands were freed from the basket. Psa 81:7 You called in TROUBLE, and I rescued you. I answered you in the hiding place of thunder. I proved you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.”}}
The appeal here is to Israel’s history when it proved the faithfulness of God when Israel called to Him. He delivered them from Egypt and kept them in the way. Will we never understand that the Lord is faithful and we must walk hand in hand with Him? Too many of us are “intermittent Christians,” like a light bulb that flickers on and off. We are inconsistent, and when trouble comes we are like the disciples on that stormy lake who exhausted themselves battling in trouble to find their own way out. Then the Lord was in their midst and there was calm. The Lord is always in our midst; the problem is that we don’t see Him because we are looking at the troublesome storm and the fiercest wind, and act in panic. O, realise the Lord is there with you, even in the darkest night and the fiercest storm.
(3). {{Psalm 91:14 “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him securely on high because he has known My name. Psa 91:15 He will call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in TROUBLE. I will rescue him, and honour him.”}} There are glorious promises contained here for those who love the Lord and have committed their lives to Him. Those who call will be answered like the psalmist was in the opening verse of our Psalm for today. In trouble the Lord is always there. Faith does the calling. Trust holds that call in place.
What the psalmist confirms in 120:1 is common to all God’s people. God answered him. All those pilgrims who came from all over can verify those words with one accord. It becomes the pilgrim’s chorus. He cried to the Lord and was answered. That is the faithfulness of God. Those who call in humility will be answered.
The devoted pilgrims begin their journey but acknowledged that God is faithful to all those who called on Him.
(C). LORD, DELIVER FROM LIARS AND DECEIT
{{Psalm 120:2 “Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. They bring us down.
Psalm 120:3 What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?
Psalm 120:4 Sharp arrows of the warrior, with the burning coals of the broom tree.”}}
The deceitful tongue! The tongue is just a physical organ in the body but its control lies in the will and action of the owner of that tongue. The verses speak about the deceitful tongue but it is the heart of man that is deceitful and desperately wicked according to Jeremiah.
However again, the heart is another physical organ, of itself, not evil. These are terms we use to describe sinful conditions, and even nicer conditions – a loving heart and an honest tongue. The fault lies not with any physical organ but with the inner condition of the human being. All our members are under control to be used for good or evil.
The problem is that all human beings are evil. I know when that is said, condemnation comes from the humanists and the do-gooders who think men and women are basically good, and all you need is to control their behaviour. “Behaviour modification” is the term misled psychologists use in dealing with incorrigible children. It never works.
The bible is clear that not one person is good. This is what will forever divide God and humanist. Until a person recognises his own pathetic state in God’s sight, he can never be changed. God must deal with the old nature. How does He do that? Well God can't really do anything with the old fallen, sinful nature because it is corrupt. What He does is give repentant men a new nature and that is the secret. The new nature belongs to the new person in Christ – {{2Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. The old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”}} Those in Jesus Christ become new creations through the miraculous changing power of Calvary. Paul could add – {{Galatians 6:15 “Neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation”}} It is all the work of God.
(D). LET GOD TAKE CARE OF THE LYING LIPS AND DECEITFUL TONGUE
So how do you fix the deceitful tongue and the lying lips? There is only one way and that is through a miracle performed by God - the creation of a new person. Converted from death unto life; redeemed from the fires of hell to the presence of God; changed from the control of the old nature to being controlled by the new nature in Christ Jesus.
The psalmist is pleading with God here to deliver him from lying lips and a deceitful tongue. I would say he is not speaking about his own inner condition (his own lips and tongue), but rather, the damage done to him by others, evil men who malign and become enemies. Believe me, the righteous man has many enemies.
Satan hates righteous men/women and will raise up enemies against them. Christians are maligned and lied about and persecuted for no other reason than that they belong to the Lord. That is all it takes. Those who live godly lives for Jesus Christ will suffer persecution. The present world hates Christians, and our Governments are legislating against Christians and legalising increasing evil. What that does is isolate true Christians even further. We must recognise that this is what we will face in these last days of the Church age before the Rapture comes.
Just looking again at verse 2 – {{Psalm 120:2 “Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue. They bring us down.”}} They bring us down. Who are the “they” who bring us down? Some may say it means our own lips and tongue (that is our actions) that will bring us down. (That is internalising it all). I don’t think that is what is meant. When you go to verse 6 which we will do shortly there you see the psalmist had dealings with those who hate peace.
I think those of the lying lips and deceitful tongue are none other than his enemies. In fact it is a general theme in the Psalms that the righteous man has enemies and often there are prayers for deliverance from these enemies of the Lord, the following three verses testifying to that fact - {{Psalm 25:2 “O my God, in You I trust. Do not let me be ashamed. Do not let my ENEMIES exult over me.” Psalm 25:19 “Look upon my ENEMIES for they are many, and they hate me with violent hatred.” Psalm 31:15 “My times are in Your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my ENEMIES, and from those who persecute me.”}}
(E). LEAVE ALL YOUR TROUBLE AND BURDEN WITH THE LORD
His question stated in verse 3 – {{Psalm 120:3 “What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?”}} – is almost a resignation to continued opposition and persecution. There is nothing the psalmist can do personally about the evil attacks from the enemy. That is why God is called a Refuge and a Mighty Rock in other psalms. We recognise how evil the world is but we must shelter in God’s refuge and in the shadow of the mighty Rock. He is our hope and life and refuge from all trouble. He keeps us from this ? {{Psalm 91:5 “You will not be afraid of the terror by night or of the arrow that flies by day; Psa 91:6 of the pestilence that stalks in darkness or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.”}}
Yes, God does that and He does it marvelously as the psalmist knew – {{Psalm 91:2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!” Psa 91:3 It is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. Psa 91:4 He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”}}
Some Christians worry too much about the evil that is in the world. We know it is there and every day some Government brings in some new evil and policies of destruction, but what must we do? We must NOT become occupied by the evil of wickedness. It will increase. Our concentration must be on the Lord who keeps us steadfast; who gives us understanding and builds us up in the face of increasing evil.
What will be done about the deceitful tongue? Well, it will have its day and all lying tongues will be stopped. All the harm done to God’s people and all the travesties of injustice will face the day of reckoning. We leave it with the Lord.
Having said that, we do suffer the consequences. Take a look at verse 4. {{Psalm 120:4 “Sharp arrows of the warrior, with the burning coals of the broom tree.”}}
Sharp arrows hurt. Burning coals scorch deeply. Those on the receiving end of the maliciousness of the lying lips and the deceitful tongue feel as if they are shot by sharp arrows and are displayed to the coals from the broom tree. What is the significance of the broom tree? The AV uses “juniper tree” but here are two contributions from commentators:-
ALFRED BARNES
[[The idea here is, that coals made from that [particular] tree would be intensely hot, and would cause severer pain than if made from other wood. The word refers to a species of broom or shrub growing in the deserts of Arabia, with yellowish flowers and a bitter root. Burchardt says that he found the Bedouin of Sinai burning the roots into coal, and says that they make the best charcoal, and throw out the most intense heat. The shrub sometimes grows so large as to furnish a shade to those exposed to the heat of the sun in the desert, 1 Kings 19:4.]]
I am of the view that 120:4 is speaking about being on the receiving end of persecution and pain from the enemies of the gospel and by wicked people in the world because it is not only Christians who suffer because of lies and deception. Commentator Gill takes another view and thinks it is the punishment from God against wickedness:-
GILL’S EXPOSITION
[[Some think these words describe lying lips, and a false tongue; which are like arrows, sharp ones, sent out from a bow drawn with a mighty hand, which come with great force, suddenly and swiftly, and do much mischief; see Psalm 11:2; and to "coals of juniper", very distressing and tormenting; the tongue being a fire, set on fire of hell, and sets on fire the course of nature; and throws out devouring words, which consume like fire, James 3:6. But rather the punishment of an evil tongue from the Lord is intended, whose sore judgments are often compared to arrows, Deuteronomy 32:23; because they come from above, and bring swift and sudden destruction with them; and are very sharp in the hearts of his enemies; are very severe and cutting, and come with power irresistible, being the arrows of the Almighty,]]
(F). THE PSALMIST’S BACKGROUND WAS NOT PLEASANT
{{Psalm 120:5 “Woe is me, for I sojourn in Meshech, for I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
Psa 120:6 Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace.
Psa 120:7 I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.”}}
What a wonderful relief to be among the pilgrims making their way to Jerusalem, and away from the very presence of wickedness. I think we can all recall times when we have withdrawn from the evil in the world and from conniving and blasphemous people, just to be in the presence of God’s people, people of a like mind.
Let us examine this passage.
The perfect tenses of the Hebrew in this passage are rightly translated by the present. The experience is not a thing of the past. He has long dwelt and still must dwell among these unpleasant neighbours. The Great Bible of 1539 translates as {{“Woe is me that I am constrained to dwell with Mesech and to have my habitation among the tents of Kedar.”}}
[[Meshech, mentioned in Genesis 10:2 as a son of Japheth, was a barbarous people living between the Black Sea and the Caspian, probably the Moschi of Herodotus and Mushki of the Assyrian inscriptions: Kedar, mentioned in Genesis 25:13 as the second son of Ishmael, was one of the wild tribes which roamed through the Arabian desert, “whose hand was against every man” (Genesis 16:12). Obviously the Psalmist cannot mean to describe himself as actually living among peoples so remote from one another, but applies these typical names of barbarian tribes to his own compatriots, as we might speak of Turks and Tartars. In verses 5-7 the Psalmist laments that he is compelled to live among neighbours who are as hostile as rude barbarians.]] (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
What a terrible thing it is to live in a hostile world, when your desires fashioned by God, are not the ambitions of the people around. The psalmist was forced to live in that hostile environment that hated peace. It was a great disappointment, but how joyous he must have been to have been part of that throng singing their way to Jerusalem as they ascended the slopes. Others in that crowd or in small groups also had similar experiences they could relate. What a great time of sharing it was on pilgrimage. What a time of strengthening.
Next time we will look at the next Psalm 121.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
