Secure

A generation ago there were folk quite proud of the fact that they had never had a key to their house. Today everyone is much more security conscious.

The events of September 11 last year have made nations more security conscious too. We are aware of it at the airport. It is also "the issue behind the issue" of asylum seekers. It is thought unsafe to have the more "open door" policy of the past.

Psalm 124 was written in the awareness that as a nation Israel had almost been swallowed up in battle except that the Lord had been "on their side." We read the Psalm wondering to what extent today’s Israel takes literal comfort in these words.

Modern Israel is a mixture. There are certainly Jews who would look to this Psalm in confirmation of some of their amazing battle successes. There are others who wouldn’t make that literal application. Then there are those like the young Jewish soldier, interviewed by the media last year, who said he didn’t go for this religious stuff, that he was trusting, not in God, but in his automatic rifle.

"Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth" (v. 8) - words that remind us of Psalm 121.

Of course, that might be so very presumptuous and one-sided if taken outside the context of the Lord’s relationship with his people. The message Moses took to the Israelite leaders in slavery in Egypt was, "I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord" (Ex. 6.6-8).

Being the Lord’s people involved responsibilities and a life-style. So we hear the Lord’s instructions, "I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the Lord who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy" (Lev. 11.44-45).

One of the early tests of this relationship was when Moses was up Mount Sinai receiving the Law from God. The people came to Aaron asking for "gods who will go before us" (Ex. 32.1). They made a golden calf and began worshipping it. Moses was angry when he returned. He stood at the entrance of the camp and called out, "Whoever is on the Lord’s side, come to me" (v. 26).

We reflect on those words as we return to Psalm 124 - "If the Lord had not been on our side..." The Psalmist is assuming the relationship we have been talking about. It is those who are "on the Lord’s side" who can have the confident assurance that the Lord is on their side. It is a covenant relationship. It is mutual.

Too often we talk as if God is a little message boy dedicated to fulfil our merest whim. Then we are disappointed when things don’t turn out the way we have demanded - God has let us down.

But we need to keep our relationship with God fresh and open. Come to him with humility. Receive his forgiveness. Seek to know what he desires of us through his Word.

When we live that way, we will know we are safe, no matter what happens. Choose to be on the Lord’s side and know the security that he is on ours.

Prayer: Lord God, we praise you. You are King and Lord over all. Sometimes, Lord, we have made you our servant and have complained when you haven’t come running to our need. Help us to live in the security of your love and grace. Enable us to bring encouragement to others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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