A Reflection on Psalm 124

Recently, two of my kids were sick with a horrific virus that lasted for six weeks. It was one of the lowest points In all my seventeen years of mothering experience.

I felt desperate to help them, and yet I couldn’t. In my desperation, I cried out to God hourly, as I watched my babies in the most pain I’ve ever seen anyone experience. I have a strong faith, and I know God hears our cries and sees our pain. Yet, in my deepest hour of need, He seemed silent. No answers came (at least from my human vantage point), and there was no relief from the pain.

Didn’t God care? Why wouldn’t He answer me? My deep-seeded faith, that I’ve carried with me since I was a small child, was challenged to the core. I’ve served Him faithfully, proclaimed His name, and dedicated my life to full-time ministry. Yet God seemed silent.

Seemed.

It’s the operative word. I couldn’t see or hear what God was doing, yet in His sovereign grace He gently and lovingly lead me to Psalm 124. The Psalm of one who knows that God is our salvation and without Him, we are hopeless.

If the Lord had not been on our side—

   let Israel say—

if the Lord had not been on our side

   when people attacked us,

they would have swallowed us alive

   when their anger flared against us;

the flood would have engulfed us,

   the torrent would have swept over us,

the raging waters

   would have swept us away.

Praise be to the Lord,

   who has not let us be torn by their teeth.

We have escaped like a bird

   from the fowler’s snare;

the snare has been broken,

   and we have escaped.

Our help is in the name of the Lord,

   the Maker of heaven and earth.

-Psalm 124 (NIV)

 

If God would not have been on my side, my babies would have been eaten alive by the virus; and worse yet, my faith would have crumbled, and I would never have been able to withstand the struggle I endured.

My Friend, ministry is much the same way. Do you ever wonder, “Does God even hear me? Does He see the sacrifice we’re making as a ministry family? Why does He allow the attacks to come, the hurtful words, and the discouragement to crush me?”

Does your heart cry out, desperate for an answer that seems like it never comes?

Cling to the truth of Psalm 124.

“If the Lord had not been on your side….”

 

He hears, He listens, He knows, and He alone sustains you.

Cry out to Him.