Psalm 124
Proper 16 / Year A
Let
Israel now say, If the Lord had not
been on our side when our enemies
rose up against us they would have swallowed us alive.
Bob
Dylan’s 1964 album The Times They are
a-Changin’ contains a song titled With
God on Our Side. The light, hummable
melody played on an acoustic guitar belies the blistering criticism of the
song’s lyrics:
Oh my name
it is nothin’
My age it
means less
The country
I come from
Is called
the Midwest
I’s taught
and brought up there
The laws to
abide
And that the
land that I live in
Has God on its side
Oh the
history books tell it
They tell it
so well
The
cavalries charged
The Indians
fell
The
cavalries charged
The Indians
died
Oh the
country was young
With God on its side
Subsequent verses speak of the Spanish-American War, the
Civil War, two World Wars, the Cold War, and the threat of nuclear annulation;
all with God on our side. The final verse
puts forward this idea…
So now as
I’m leavin’
I’m weary as
Hell
The
confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no
tongue can tell
The words
fill my head
And fall to
the floor
If God’s on
our side
He’ll stop the next war
What do we
mean when we say God is on our side?
During the Civil War someone asked Abraham Lincoln if he
thought God was on his side. The
President responded, “My concern is not whether God in on our side. My concern is whether we are on God’s side,
for God is always on the side of right.”
Though the word changes may be subtle, the meaning it conveys is
anything but. It rejects any thinking
and theology assuming it is God’s duty to bless and prosper everything we
undertake and places responsibility on us to ponder, prayer for, and then
pursue what is just, right, and good. Sometimes
this path may in fact call for military engagement, but I sense for far too
many people God-on-our-side thinking is far too cozy and far less challenging
than it should be.
The 124th Psalm is one of the Psalms of Ascent we
talked about last week. Pilgrims said or
sang it as they walked to Jerusalem to attend a religious festival. In terms of its theology, it sits at a
mid-point in Israel’s thinking. At the
time of the Exodus, God was not only on Israel’s side, God was entirely
responsible for the people’s welfare.
God provided food, water, direction, protection, everything. The people were passive and not always
pleased.
Written hundreds of years later, the psalms reflect a
different reality. The people are now engaged
and responsible for their well-being.
God’s role has shifted from provider to partner. Israel acts and God assists. The people expect God to be on their side and
are grateful for it. And the psalm’s confession
“Our help is in the Name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth” remains a
central tenant of our prayer life to this day.
Late in the development of the Old Testament another new kind
of thinking begin to emerge called Wisdom literature. Found most prominently in the Book of
Proverbs, it holds God’s help is woven into the very fabric of creation. The wise perceive it, live according to it,
and typically prosper because of it. The
lazy and the ignorant do not look for God’s wisdom, live by their own will and
whim, and generally come to disaster.
If you purchase a new car you have two choices. Either you can maintain it in the way
recommended by the automaker or you cannot.
If you change the oil when you are supposed to, have the appropriate
servicing done at the appointed time, and operate your car in a safe manner,
you can expect it will provide reliable transportation for a long time. This ‘wisdom’ is built into the nuts and
bolts of the car. If you never change
the oil, don’t have it serviced, and drive like a maniac your car is going to
need more than God’s help in short order.
This is analogous to the theology of the bible’s wisdom
tradition. Our help is in the name of
the Lord and we receive it not because God is obligated to give it to our side, but because we look for it
in order to live by it.
Where do you see yourself in this progression? Is it up to God to provide for your every
need? There are times when this may be
appropriate, like when you as so sick or so broken you don’t have the ability
to care for yourself. In times like this
God’s help is real and it will get you through the moment and guide you to a
better place. Or, do you live life on
your own terms, expecting God to be there to back you up? There may be times when this too is
appropriate, like when you feel it is necessary to take a risk and do something
daring – perhaps changing your career or setting out to college for the first
time. The possibility of failure is
real, but God’s help will be there no matter what. Or, do you put your trust in who God is and
how God has made this world and how God’s will is expressed in God’s word and
seek to live in harmony with it? I
suspect this is how most of us try to live out our faith most of the time.
New Testament thinking develops this progression one step
further. It does not extol a God who is
on our side, it speaks of a God who
is on the inside. At each baptism we proclaim this reality as
we bid the Holy Spirit to come into the life of the infant, child, or
person. This Spirit on the inside
comforts, strengthens, encourages, instructs, inspires, empowers, and generally
seeks to animate everything about us as we live and move and have our being in
God.
The Spirit manifests itself in different people in different
ways. Some became charismatic holy rollers
while others listen for the Spirit’s still, small, calming voice. No matter where you fall on this continuum,
how do you sense your help is in the Name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and
earth? How and when do you sense and
seek this help? Do you feel the Spirit
more present in your heart or in your head?
How is God on the inside manifested on the outside?
