Peace of God

DEVOTION

PSALMS

PEACE OF GOD

Ps 125

125:1 A song of ascents.

Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. 2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people both now and forevermore. 3 The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil. 4 Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart. 5 But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

NIV

The sixth of fifteen psalms of ascent for the sixth step up to the temple. There is a promise and a warning within this psalm for Israel and thus also for us. First the promise which is a mighty promise. Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. Because we trust in the Lord we will not be shaken. Nothing will disturb us, nothing will cause us to fear. We are secure, steadfast, unmovable, and indestructible and we will last forever. We will endure. There is nothing which can dismantle us, dig us up and make us into flat land, we will forever be as Mount Zion, surrounded by the Lord. He surrounds us both now and forever more. In current times upon this earth, the wicked have some control over the land, the earth. Their force will upon people, they govern from self-interest and greed. Their agenda is anti-God. The warning for the people of God is not to partnership with them in any way for if we do then it might seem we have put our hand to evil. God says there scepter will not remain to which has been allotted to us. This speaks about the land of Israel for those of that day, but also speaks of the kingdom of God, the new city of Jerusalem which has been allotted to those who trust in the Lord. The wicked will not be there. But for now, we do live in an era where the wicked hold the scepter. This warning should give us enough reason to withdraw from being involved with the wicked, those who do evil with their hands. Yes, we live among them and yes, we are to speak with them, do life with them so we can talk with them about Jesus, about salvation, about the eternal things of God. But this partnering with them in their endeavors is not good. Our hearts must remain upright, rooted in Jesus. This is doing good, trusting God. If we want to know what the work of God is, what the ultimate good deed is, we merely have to read it from his own lips.

John 6:28-29

28 Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

29 Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent." 

NIV

So often we want to make a list of good deeds that will make us look like “Good Christians”. Then we also have that list of don’ts, the list of bad deeds. It is kind of a weighting contest. Do our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds? But if we simply want to have an upright heart then we do the work of God and believe in Jesus. We trust in him, our faith is in the one God sent, Jesus. It is all about faith and trust that makes our heart upright. It is not about how much we do in this life, yet we also are not supposed to sit on our hands either. The warning for us believers is in this last line of the psalm. If we turn to crooked ways, we will be banished with the evil doers. What does it mean to turn to crooked ways? If we add anything to Jesus that might be defined as crooked or perverting the gospel. The Hebrew word translated crooked means winding as not straight. This would be getting diverted from the path of God. This would be getting too close to the lifestyle of the evil doers. This would be making deeds as important as salvation. This would be adding lists of what are good and what are bad, such as the Pharisees did. Adding all sorts of extra laws or defining the laws of God by the mind of man. What it all bowls down to, is that we trust in the Lord and we want to please him so we live in accordance with his word. This is loving him with our whole being and loving our neighbor as ourselves. This will govern our lifestyle, not lists, not out of a sense of obligation, but from our love for God. Because we trust in him and him alone he gives us his peace, not as the world gives, but as he gives. We live in the peace of God.