Had it not been the Lord who was on our side

Psalm 124(NASB) from the Daily Reading in the One Year Bible

Praise for Rescue from Enemies.

“Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say,
² “Had it not been the Lord who was on our side
When men rose up against us,
³ Then they would have swallowed us alive,
When their anger was kindled against us;
⁴ Then the waters would have engulfed us,
The stream would have swept over our soul;
⁵ Then the raging waters would have swept over our soul.”

⁶ Blessed be the Lord,
Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.
⁷ Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper;
The snare is broken and we have escaped.
⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.

There are times that we see and acknowledge the Lord for His hand of protection and deliverance. We, like the psalmist praise Him for keeping us safe, perhaps from a near miss on the highway or from a fall or some other accident from which we come out unscathed. How many times though, throughout our days and weeks might the Lord’s hand of protection be over us in unseen ways? How often does He protect us from things without our knowledge? In Psalm 91:11-12 the psalmist says: For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. ¹² They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone.   That is the promise of protection the devil used to try to tempt Jesus and Jesus responded saying: "It is said, 'YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.'" (Luke 4:12)

The promise of protection from God and His angels though was not only for Jesus. The psalmist declares those promises to: He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.(Psalm 91:1)   There is a great deal of comfort and protection for the one who dwells and abides with God. The psalmist continues:

I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”
³ For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper And from the deadly pestilence.
⁴ He will cover you with His pinions, And under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. ⁵ You will not be afraid of the terror by night, Or of the arrow that flies by day; ⁶ Of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, Or of the destruction that lays waste at noon. ⁷ A thousand may fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand, But it shall not approach you. ⁸ You will only look on with your eyes And see the recompense of the wicked. ⁹ For you have made the Lord, my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place. ¹⁰ No evil will befall you, Nor will any plague come near your tent. ¹¹ For He will give His angels charge concerning you, To guard you in all your ways. ¹² They will bear you up in their hands, That you do not strike your foot against a stone. ¹³ You will tread upon the lion and cobra, The young lion and the serpent you will trample down. ¹⁴ “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. ¹⁵ “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. ¹⁶ “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.”

All of that promised to the one who abides and dwells in the presence of God. That’s the key, we need to learn to dwell and abide in God’s presence, not to set aside short periods of our day to draw close to Him, not merely to speak to Him from afar. Prayer is not intended to be a long distance call. Look at this account in Matthew 14, when Peter walked on water with Jesus.

²⁶ When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid.” ²⁸ Peter said to Him, “Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹ And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But seeing the wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” ³¹ Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and *said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” ³² When they got into the boat, the wind stopped.  

Peter got distracted by the realities of the physical, natural realm, seeing the very real waves and wind he became frightened, He lost sight of Jesus. When he cried out though, immediately Jesus stretched out His hand. Jesus often said that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. When the realities of the circumstances of this physical realm seem to be overwhelming, we need to remember that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We don’t cry out to a God who is far off. If we abide and dwell in the Lord He is right at hand. We may not always see the realities of heaven change the circumstances of the realities of this physical realm. There can be a disconnect,or delay.

Jesus taught us to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven.” We need the realities of heaven to be manifested into the circumstances on earth. We need to reach out our hand and take hold of the hand of the Lord and the promises and realities of the kingdom of heaven.

Paul also acknowledges the protection of the Lord in Romans 8:31-39.

³¹ What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? ³² He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? ³³ Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; ³⁴ who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. ³⁵ Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ³⁶ Just as it is written,

“For Your sake we are being put to death all day long;
We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If God be for us who can be against us? What can separate us from the love of God? The kingdom of heaven is at hand, reach out and take hold of it.

 Blessed be the Lord, Who has not given us to be torn by their teeth.  Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; The snare is broken and we have escaped.  Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.   Thank You.   Amen.