Psalm 129

Thank You, Lord, for the reading of Your Word.

Song of Victory over Zion’s Enemies

A Song of Ascents.

1 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth,” Let Israel now say—

2 “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth; Yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 The plowers plowed on my back; They made their furrows long.”

Something that’s been on my mind for a couple of weeks now, or, really, ever since I read it:

“A lot of bad luck is just the long-term consequence of lack of self-respect“

This implies that if we’re on a streak of all sorts of bad things happening to us, that’s out of our thinking lowly of ourselves, or, consider from another perspective: It’s out of our thinking that we don’t deserve anything good which consequently implies that we deserve all that’s bad.

‘But aren’t we supposed to be humble?‘

Humility is not a lack of self-respect. It is not self-condemnation.

Humility is level estimation. It is a proper assessment of who we are, what we’ve been through, what we see before us, and what we are experiencing in the present.

Humility is not denying the pain that we experience, but neither is it our identifying with the pain. In the case of these verses, it is Israel properly recognizing their affliction since years past, and being realistic with those who would torment, or, well, plow their backs.

4 The LORD is righteous; He has cut in pieces the cords of the wicked.

Here’s the key to humility, particularly for us in the body of Christ: Humility is a level estimation of all that is going on, in us, around us, and beyond – from the perspective of the goodness and greatness of the Most High.

It can be summarized by one notable line off of Psalm 8:

³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

We have a level estimation of ourselves (and all that we have going on), which naturally follows a proper assessment of who God is and what He has done.

What does this mean for us? What does this mean for me?

Simply that, if we find ourselves in a streak of bad things happening, or, sure, a series of unfortunate events, let’s not shrivel into self-pity and make things even worse.

With hearts made humble by the Holy Spirit, let us look to the Holy and Mighty One, let us look to our glorious and gracious Father, and see Him in all things going on, per His assessment.

5 Let all those who hate Zion Be put to shame and turned back.

6 Let them be as the grass on the housetops, Which withers before it grows up,

7 With which the reaper does not fill his hand, Nor he who binds sheaves, his arms.

8 Neither let those who pass by them say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you; We bless you in the name of the LORD!”

Our Father is the Lord Almighty, infinite in power and eternal in wisdom, Creator infinitely superior to all we encounter and experience in all of Creation.

Our God is the everlasting Father, who loves us with an everlasting love; He demonstrated His love ultimately by way of Christ’s birth, death, resurrection and ascension, that we who believe shall not perish but have everlasting life.

In the face of all that is happening, and all the movement that is going on in and around us,

With more and more situations out of our control either popping up or progressing,

Through all the uncertainty, all the anxiety, all the frustration, all the disappointment,

Let us continue to fix our eyes upon the Lord, and be transformed by the renewing of our minds!

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