Devotional Short Note on Psalm
121: This person enjoys security in the Lord amid problems that surrounded him.
He says that he was in distress (120:1b). The Lord answered him. It may be
called the “Migrationist Psalm.”
Ever experienced a wave of gossip
but wrongly? For the faithful person there will always be gossip but it will
not disturb him or her, because only if the gossip has some element of truth in
it that is negative to the relationship to God or to humanity then it will be a
source of concern. The psalmist is wishing for deliverance from lying lips
(120: 2a). They are gossiping but manufacturing lies. There is a danger that
our frail human set-up can constantly role the eyes to see who is gossiping.
Satan will park the right person whispering to create a misunderstanding. When
people whisper looking in your direction, they have a reason and mostly it will
be a good comment. If they still smile in your direction it would have been
good otherwise they are psychopaths, living a double life. Some cultures teach
their citizens to keep smiling while the knife of criticism is held behind the
back. The true believer has nothing to fear .
It is the responsibility of every
believer to make sure that they are not causing a stumbling block so the
psalmist asked the question rightfully, “what shall be given to you [the
gossiping person], what shall be done more to you, deceitful tongue?” (120:3).
Today we visited in South Korea
the tomb of the 700 slain soldiers who died in August 1592 in Geumsan here and
in the museum is still a Japanese arrow-head of that date. Very sharp with four
sides and it must be a painful experience to be killed by one of those
arrow-heads. It was in the time of the Warrior of Japan, Hideyoshi. The
psalmist says: “sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of furnaces” (120:4). One
can put the Mighty in capital letters. The psalmist can see down the line the
eschatological “Hell” after the millennium when the fire of Hell will burn and the
Warrior Messiah (Christ) will be active then to destroy the evil in finality.
The psalmist is a sojourner or
merchant or someone persecuted or fleeing, even migrating. “Woe is me, that I
sojourn Meschech” (120:5a). It is said to be near the Black Sea and the Caspian
Sea. From there the psalmist moved to “dwell/tent with the tents of Kedar”
which is the Bedouin Arabs (120:5b).
It is quite a distance that this
person had to travel. “There was a long tenting with her, my soul with him who
hates [Satan] peace” (120:6).
Even though he enters with the
best of intentions in a foreign country or land among people of different
cultures than himself, yet there is a problem. He discovered that the problem
of people are beyond the surface. There is a metaphysical power and creature
called Satan “who hates peace” and this is a deeper problem than he can handle.
“I am peace and when I speak, they
are for war” (120:7). He found this principle: even if he keeps peace as his
motto and expects that all cultures will also keep peace as their motto, he
found that “he who hates peace = Satan” is ‘throwing spanners in the bicycle
wheels’, as we use to say in South Africa. Heterophobia is created by Satan. He
first give the basis for the phobia and then turn around to the observers to
lame their best intentions toward foreigners with self-inflamed and social induced
fear that is called a phobia and hetero means “for the other [culture/race]. It
is also true that true religion of the Bible cannot embrace. Only God can.
Humans are not assigned the task of embracing what is beyond their ability to
handle. Ecumenism is one of those aspects that should be totally left in the
hands of God and humans should follow all the examples in the Bible for keeping
the remnant pure and separated from the Trojan Horse of Liberalism. If the
church should encourage moving towards the wrong aspects in culture, how will
they be able to listen to the call of the Spirit finally: “Come out of her my
people so that you do not be affected by the plaques that will be brought upon
the evil ones?”.