Psalm 129

On our pilgrimage through this life there is an issue faced by every pilgrim, an issue that for some seems impossible to overcome.  The Psalmist in vs.1-2 refers to afflictions he has had since his childhood.  We refer to them as lifelong oppressions.  These are issues that date back to our childhood.  They may involve some traumatic experience, some debilitating handicap, or something about the way we were raised. 

The assumption often expressed is that for the pilgrim to successfully complete his journey he must heal his memories.  There are a myriad of therapy solutions offered, some quite strange, but others seeming to have occasional success. 

This Pilgrim Song addresses this issue with a refreshing, though challenging viewpoint.

These oppressions are real, according to vs.1-2.  Israel as a nation had suffered much from the hostility of others beginning with the Egyptian bondage out of which the nation was born.  All through her history Israel suffered miserably at the hands of Canaanites, Ammonites, Edomites, Philistines, Aramaeans, Assyrians, Chaldeans, Moabites, and others.  The pilgrim recognizes that the simple fact of having parents who were themselves imperfect means that he will have things in his background that must be overcome.  Add to that the inevitable traumatic experience (an abusive parent, a rape, belittling by a teacher, coach or fellow-student, a physical or social abnormality, etc.) and most people have little trouble thinking of something that has afflicted them from their youth.

Further, these oppressions are of fearful proportions.  They have gone on for a long time (from my youth).  They have been recurring (many times, v2).  And they are truly grievous, like someone dragging a plow over one's back (v3).  Don't think otherwise: the Lord we desire to know Himself knows our lifelong oppressions.  Are you aware of this type of thing in your life?

Pay attention to v2.  The pilgrim is aware of his affliction.  But he is not obsessed with it, or with some need to go back and correct the past.  When he remembers his lifelong oppression he is overcome by one thought: yet they have not prevailed against me.  If we are going to complete our journey to God we must understand this: the concern is not about changing the past, but living in the present.  And the present truth that cannot be denied is simply this: no matter how devastating these afflictions, I am still here, I am still on the journey.  They have not prevailed!

* * * * *

We continue to think about lifelong oppressions.  We can always be thankful that, though the afflictions are serious, yet they have not overcome us.  But the Psalm goes much beyond this and tells us that these afflictions are, in fact, for our good.  To quote the Scottish preacher, Alexander McLaren, The right use of retrospect is to make it the ground of hope.  How can we do this?

Unlocking the chains of the past that debilitate us is the subject of v4, the apex of the Psalm.  Having referred to his longtime and recurring afflictions and their grievous nature (v1-3), the Psalmist makes a simple but profound statement: the Lord is righteous.

We can never grow in our afflictions as long as we are convinced that the God we seek to know is somehow unfair with us.  God's men and women have always suffered affliction and have had to come to the place of trusting that God is right. 

Jeremiah lived in a difficult time in Israel.  His own ministry, which God had given him, was one failure after another.  No one listened to his sermons, no one responded.  While Jeremiah suffered, the wicked around him seemed to do well.  He had to come to recognize God's righteousness (Jer. 12:1).  Again, after Israel fell to the Babylonians, Jeremiah had to reckon with the fact that in all the suffering, God was righteous (Lamentations 1:18).  Failure to see this would not have changed Jeremiah's situation, but it would have left him bitter and broken.

The pilgrim must trust God's righteousness in his trials.

The pilgrim must believe God is righteous in sovereignty.

In other words, God has not made a mistake in allowing our affliction.

The pilgrim must believe God is righteous in love.

He must believe that, even in affliction, God is not unkind or hateful but is concerned with the pilgrim's good.  God is doing something for the pilgrim that cannot be done apart from affliction.  These trials break up the fallow ground of the pilgrim's proud and stiff heart.  As Spurgeon said, God uses these afflictions to manure the church.  What a picture.  Manure is stinky, unclean, and hot.  And yet the plant thrives with it.  And so God loves the pilgrim so as to permit his enemies (trials) to aid in the journey.

The pilgrim must believe God is righteous in faithfulness.

  The pilgrim must trust God's timing, and that He will be true to His promises.  He will eventually cut the cords of the wicked, He will always keep His word and accomplish His will.

* * * * *

Let us again consider this wonderful Song that sustains the pilgrim along his way.  We can be thankful that our lifelong afflictions have not overcome us.  They can work for our good, but only if we trust the Creator of Heaven and Earth.  But let us now ask, What good can the pilgrim expect to see from his afflictions?

Trials are for our SAFETY.

Without trials we would never turn to God, and thus we would never have that holy discontent with Meshech (Ps. 120) so essential for the pilgrim in his journey to God.  As one has said, God is said to choose His people in the furnace, because they oftenest choose Him there.

Trials enable us to know GOD.

It is only in affliction that God is sought, so by many it is only in affliction God is known.  We only know God as deliverer if we have been in trouble and experienced His deliverance.

Trials enable us to know OURSELVES.

We will think of ourselves as quite self-sufficient for life unless we be found in situations where our strength is exhausted.  It is only when they are crushed as the worm they are made to feel that the dust is their source; only when earthly props are withdrawn will they take hold of that arm of omnipotence that Jesus offers, and which He has offered so long in vain.

Trials enable us to know OUR SIN.

Not only do we know our weaknesses of personality or strength, we also come to see our sin and our need of a Savior.  Nothing so effectively teaches this than our responses to trials.

Trials enable the world to know GOD.

It is further that the world comes to know God by seeing the pilgrim in his affliction.  As the pilgrim comes to grips with God's righteousness and experiences the Creator's comfort in trial, it is then that the world sees God at work and wonders about the pilgrim's hope (1 Peter 3:15).

So in the face of trial, let the prayer of vs. 5-8 be yours.  The Psalmist prays that these trials (he calls them enemies) will...

               Lose their integrity (v5, be put to shame, be seen as nothing compared to the Creator's provision).

               Lose their effectiveness (v6-7a, like the grass growing on the housetops in the shallow dirt, insufficient for harvest).

               Lose their supporters (v7b-8, people or events whose presence can lengthen or intensify the affliction).