SERIES: Songs of Ascents
TEXT: Psalm 125
MESSAGE: “Learning To Let Go”
“Do not take me for some conjuror of cheap tricks. I am not trying to rob you, I’m trying to help you.” — Gandalf (Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)
Q: How do we learn to let go? By seeing…(1. A Picture 2. A Protector 3. A Pathway)
1. A Picture (v. 1-2) — “Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. 2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time forth and forevermore.”
“Those who find their confidence in (God) are immovable like Zion, the bedrock upon which Jerusalem was constructed. This image, then, speaks of the unshakable and secure foundation the Lord’s people find in him. Throughout the OT Zion is portrayed as the site where the Lord lives and rules (Ps 132:13–18). It is the cornerstone of his justice (Isa 28:16–17). Zion will prevail over all the mountains of the earth (Isa 2:2–4). The other mountains may totter (Ps 46:2[3]) but not Zion and those who put their trust in the Lord (Ps 46:5[6]). Trusting in the Lord provides stability for life, just as the bedrock of Mount Zion provides stability for the city of Jerusalem.” — Daniel J. Estes
“Let Mount Zion be glad! Let the daughters of Judah rejoice because of your judgments! 12 Walk about Zion, go around her, number her towers, 13 consider well her ramparts, go through her citadels, that you may tell the next generation 14 that this is God, our God forever and ever. He will guide us forever.”
— Psalm 48:11–14
“The surrounding mountains protected the city. Invading armies would have to march up the mountains or through the mountain passes (leaving them vulnerable). Jerusalem was thus defensible. The hills served as a great wall. The psalmist is saying that God similarly surrounds his people (cf. Ps 34:7). Nothing will come into our lives that isn’t permitted by God, for the good of the person trusting in him, and for the glory of God. He will protect you…When the King of kings is with you and is protecting you like this, you’re secure!” — Daniel Akin
What can we look to for security instead of God?
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money (mammon).” — Matthew 6:24
“…if you have (money) or had it or can imagine having it, why would you need God? Who needs God? When you can get what you want, whatever you want, when you want it, when you know how much you have, you can store it and you don’t have to be any particular kind of person to get what you want. Who needs God when you have money?…this is the first reason you can’t serve (money), because this is the most direct rival to God in human affairs. And the reason people come to you and the reason you and I live with anxieties about money with hopes for money is because of the kind of power we imagine that it will give us.” — Andy Crouch
2. A Protector (v. 3) — “For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous stretch out their hands to do wrong.”
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority…” — Lord Acton
“The early church concluded that Mammon was not just an idea or a principle, but the name of a being in service of the enemy of all that is good. The opponent of all of God’s works in the world that we sometimes call Satan or the devil. That Mammon is this demonic force at work in history with a kind of quasi personal ability to whisper and speak to human beings and to arrange and distort human affairs in a particular direction…It wants us never to depend on God.” — Andy Crouch
3. A Pathway (v. 4-5) — “Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts! 5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways the Lord will lead away with evildoers! Peace be upon Israel!”
“Teach me your way, Lord, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.” — Psalm 86:11
“And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.” — Isaiah 30:20–21
“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come out of Jacob; a scepter will rise out of Israel.” — Numbers 24:17
“A star coming out of Jacob meant that Yahweh himself was coming out of Jacob, He was going to become an Israelite.” — Joel Kramer
TAKEAWAYS: How can we trust God enough to let go? By asking…
* Who do I believe surrounds me?
“Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me. Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in
quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.” (“St. Patrick’s Breastplate”)
* Who do I believe protects me?
* Who do I believe guides me?
“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” — Matthew 2:1
“Since the magi came to Jerusalem from the east, the logical route they would have taken is the road that passed by Beth-Peor, since this is the main approach to Jerusalem from the east…the star prophecy is fulfilled when Jesus is born in Bethlehem. The magi are going to worship the star and the scepter, the God King who has become an Israelite….they were coming 1400 years later past the site where Balaam gave the star prophecy.” — Joel Kramer
But about the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.” — Hebrews 1:8