Psalm 120

The next 15 psalms are categorized as “songs of ascents.” These are psalms that made up a small hymn book that pilgrims going to Jerusalem would sing on their journey for the annual feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles.

This first Psalm of Ascents is one of lament. He asks God for deliverance from those who are lying about him.  Have you ever had that happen to you?  Have you ever had someone give “false testimony” about you?  It hurts, doesn’t it?  Maybe someone misrepresented you and then you had to clarify and correct it, looking like a fool who was trying to cover their tracks.

The psalmist uses war-like imagery, talking about the burning coals of the broom tree.  This references the type of wood used for hours lit with fire before they are launched.  This type of wood would burn for a long time.  Have you ever wondered, if watching a movie where arrows are used, how they would stay lit once launched in the air?  This is how: by using a special wood!  I never knew that before myself.  This imagery is used in another section of the bible, particularly Ephesians 6:

in everything taking up the shield of faith, with which you are able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one,

Paul, in that chapter, is writing about spiritual warfare and clothing ourselves in the armor of God.  He starts the passage in verses 10-12 saying this:

10 Finally, become strong in the Lord and in the might of his strength. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil, 12 because our struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

While people may come against us with lies and slander, we must remember who our battle is really against!  It isn’t easy, for sure, to consider that when someone speaks falsely or deceptively against or about us, to realize it’s the demonic realm and not the person who is speaking.  Certainly, the person doing it has responsibility to bear, but we know ultimately that if someone falsely accuses you of something or spreads untrue rumors, that comes from somewhere else through them.  In John 8, Jesus exposed this truth and really ticked some people off!  In verse 44 he reveals:

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father! That one was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand firm in the truth, because truth is not in him. Whenever he speaks the lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father ⌊of lies⌋. 

Wow, what a conviction!  Imagine someone saying that to you!  I’m sure you wouldn’t say, “you know, you’re right.  I’m sorry.” 

Now, it is often the case when I read the bible that random names of locations get skipped over…but today I am attempting to not do that.  The psalmist mentions being in Meshech and Kedar…but why?  Meshech is located in what is known as Turkey today, and Kedar was known as a powerful Arabian tribe.  What is he saying here?  It is a metaphor that he is living among foreigners, otherwise considered to be “sinful” people.  It would be easy to consider that this doesn’t apply to us, but let us not forget that we too live among foreigners.  If we are people of God’s Kingdom, then anywhere we live on this earth, we are not of this world and therefore not “at home!”  We are surrounded by people in a foreign land.  This is why dealing with others is sometimes so difficult.  Yet Christ, through His Spirit, has empowered us to be light in the darkness of the foreign land so that He may be glorified by all nations.

In our broken humanness, it is tempting to use the enemy’s tactics against those who seem to come against us.  However, Jesus encourages us that He is always with us, to the end of the age.  Our mission is to share His Truth amidst the lies that surround us.  Essentially, then, this psalm is one we can relate to because we are surrounded by liars, cheats, thieves, and murderers!  Jesus’ encouragement in John 16 is the response to our lament echoed in Psalm 120. Take some time to read through it and then offer up a prayer of thankfulness for His presence in our lives!