Sharing What God Did For Us - Psalm 124

A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A psalm of David.

What if the Lord had not been on our side?
Let all Israel repeat:
What if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us?
They would have swallowed us alive in their burning anger.
The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us.
Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives.

Praise the Lord, who did not let their teeth tear us apart!
We escaped like a bird from a hunter’s trap.
The trap is broken, and we are free!
Our help is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

-Psalm 124 (NLT)

The normal Christian life is a life of deliverance.  We experience deliverance from our enemies when we first get saved, just like how the Israelite's escaped the Egyptian army, that perished in the the Red Sea.  That is Salvation History and songs are sung, like this one, to commemorate God's activity to save his people.

God is a God who intervenes and God's intervention on our behalf, is something we all have in common and can celebrate together.  We all celebrate or give thanks for God saving us and his continuing to act on our behalf.  Each one has stories of salvation brought by God in our lives - salvation stories or testimonies.

We can all say together, "what if God had not been on our side?" Without God, without God's intervention or acting on our behalf, where would we be?  Some of us would be dead and most of us would have far different lives.

This is what makes God the living God and and Christianity a living faith that is real and dynamic.  God is not a concept invented by man.  God is not distant and removed from mankind.  

God, the living God, is there for us.  If we are humbly submitted to him, he moves in mercy on our behalf.  God is constantly on the move in our lives. 

We can look back on our week, our month, our year, and years; seeing God's hand in our lives.  And we give God glory for what he does and has done.  We can truly say, "if God had not been our side".

Some people love to share other people's stories, in a 'town-crier' fashion.  But this is really an avoidance of intimacy with God and the brother or sister in front of them.  We want to know what God is doing in your life and we want to be community with you and together with you.

To see God in your life is harder than to hear and read other's stories.  While the later may entertain and even edify you, the former is where the growth is and the deeper benefit.  When we stand before the Lord, it won't be about other people's stories, but about your story.  So, we ask you again, "what is God doing in your life?"

We learn to expect God to deliver us, and to answer our prayers. So, we have boldness, as we walk through life, when we face enemies.  We are humble towards God, asking for help.  We cry for mercy and seek an expansion of God's grace on the ground where we stand.

We not only live a life of expectancy and boldness in prayer for God's help, deliverance, salvation, or healing.  We also cultivate a life of thanksgiving or giving glory to God.  

An important part of fellowship is to tell what God has done in your life.  God is glorious and we need to cultivate the habit of giving God glory.  If we slow down and turn down the chatter of the world, we can see more of what God is doing daily and then share it with others, to the glory of God

This is the fifth song of the steps, or song of ascents.  Let's review the first four and this one:

1. We learn to call upon God and that God saves us and answers prayers.
2. We learn that God is our guardian, watching over us.
3. We learn to be worshipers, desiring God.
4. We choose to humble ourselves as servants as we ask for mercy.
5. We cultivate seeing God's workings in our lives, then sharing the stories.