Psalm of Ascent: Thursday

All week, we've been taking a meditative approach to reading scripture. For today's meditation, I want you to ask yourself, "What is the theme of Psalm 124?" Look for repeated words and ideas. What is this Psalm's central focus? Once you've arrived at a theme, ask yourself how that theme applies to your life today and to the church more broadly. It will apply differently to us than it did to David and the ancient Israelites, but the central ideas should still ring true to the present time.

Psalm 124

A song of ascents. Of David.

1 If the Lord had not been on our side—
    let Israel say—
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
    when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
    when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
    the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
    would have swept us away.

6 Praise be to the Lord,
    who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
    from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
    and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.