Psalm 125

This Psalm highlights the significant characteristic of those who trust in the Lord.

It says that they shall be unmoved by circumstances or people that come against them, in the same manner as mount Zion is, vs 1, and so, will abide forever! This is because, just like the mountains surround Jerusalem, so also the Lord surrounds His people who trust in Him, both now and forevermore, vs 2.

God will watch over His people and see to it that the evil plans of the wicked do not prosper against those who trust in Him and love Him. On the contrary, He will use those plans to conform His people into the image of His Son so that they will be victorious and will not fall into sin as a result vs 3; Romans 8:28,29.
A revelation of this truth will bring tremendous rest and security in our lives! The Psalmist reminds God to do good to those who choose to be good and remain upright in their hearts inspite of how badly others treat them, vs 4!

He is also confident that those who turn aside into crooked ways will inevitably be led away by God with the workers of iniquity, but peace shall be experienced by the Israel of God, vs 5.

This Psalm gives us an opportunity to examine our lives honestly and see whether we are shaken by the bad way in which people treat us and so end up returning evil for evil, or whether difficult circumstances cause us to react in despair and depression.

If so, then we must honestly admit that we don’t really trust in God even though we profess, with our lips, that we indeed do!

As we allow people and circumstances to reveal the true condition of our hearts, and are honest about our distrust in God’s Word and our wrong reaction that results, without blaming people and ircumstances for the same, God will surely give us grace to be among those who truly trust in Him and so radiate His glory through our lives and bring honour to His Name, despite the trying times that lay ahead of us

Psalm 126

This Psalm reveals the secret of how we can get God to set us free from our bondages and captivity to sin, our flesh and Satan. It begins by saying that when the Lord delivered the people of Zion from their captivity, they could hardly believe that it really happened and it seemed like a dream, vs 1! This resulted in joyous laughter, singing and even the heathen nations were marvelling at the great things that the Lord had done for Zion, vs 2. Yes, indeed, the Lord had done the near impossible for them and they were naturally glad, vs 3.

However, verse 4 reveals that, once again, they got into captivity because of their sin! This is something that we all can easily identify with, because we have a flesh in which there dwells no good thing, Romans 7:18; and so we inevitably keep stumbling into sin. However, in the 5th and 6th verse the Psalmist gives us the remedy for overcoming our sin, and so for being freed from our captivity!

He says, that the only way to reap in joy, is by sowing in tears, vs 5, meaning that each time we sin by disobeying God’s Word (which is likened to precious seed), we need to mourn and weep over the same, vs 6; and receive cleansing and forgiveness by the blood of Christ, 1 John 1:9; and he gives us a written guarantee that, as we do so, we shall have reason to rejoice once again bearing forth fruit (the fruit of the Holy Spirit), viz. love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and temperance, Galatians 5:22,23.

And this fruit will not be put on or artificial, but genuinely brought forth from within us by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, even as we are cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for us on the Cross of Calvary!

So, let us be encouraged and praise God for this glorious Gospel of Christ, whereby our salvation is not based on our good works, but rather on our ability to acknowledge that there is no good thing that dwells in our flesh and so receive salvation through repentance and faith in Christ not just once in our lifetime, but on a daily basis!
Amen.

Rowena Thomas
Mumbai, India.