Psalm 129 is a psalm which talks of tough times and tough faith (mentioning oppression, persecution and difficulties), but which also reminds us of God’s righteousness and the way He develops perseverance in us.
Christians are not exempt from life’s suffering. The sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous, indeed, but the rain rains on both too! (Matt 5:45) Disasters don’t only happen to ‘great sinners’, as Jesus made clear when He was talking about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices or the Gentiles who had been killed by the tower of Siloam falling on them. (Luke 13:1-5) Suffering is real and present and can strike any one of us at any time (as the book of Job makes clear), and although it can be used for good by God, we cannot escape from oppression (see 2 Tim 3:12, 1 Pet 4:12, Jn 16:33).
Our initial response to suffering is often anger and impatience. The psalm reminds us that we can be honest with God, bringing those emotions to Him (Ps 129:5-7), reminding us that the psalms are honest in recording the raw emotion often felt in situations that are far from helpful; they are real prayers prayed by real people. All emotions can be expressed to God; anger, resentment and bitterness may not be the ‘right’ response to situations, but God is able to sift us and remove from us all that is offensive to Him, leaving behind only that which can be refined.
Ps 129 reminds us of the need for perseverance and the fact that ultimately it is God who keeps us going and who will continue to keep us going. God’s people may know all about people who oppress them, but they also declare ‘they have not gained the victory over me.’ (Ps 129:2) When a person is ploughing, they hitch up the animals and ploughs and begin cutting long furrows in the soil (or, in this metaphor, in the back of Israel.) The animals and plough go back and forth, working the hard soil until it is churned up enough to receive the seed. It’s hard work for all concerned; for a person on the receiving end of this treatment, however, this would mean pain upon pain: raw wounds, blood, excruciating pain. Then, suddenly, the harness cords which connect the plough to the oxen have been severed. The oxen may continue to walk up and down, but the persecution is no longer having the effect of breaking and demoralising the person. Those intent on persecuting God’s people are often dismayed – and frustrated – that in essence, they don’t have the last word. We have no reason to fear those who oppose God and His people in our modern society, because we know ultimately that God has the last word. God Himself gives us the endurance and encouragement we need to persevere (Rom 15:4-5), and perseverance works character in us (see Js 1:1-5; Rom 5:3).
We are urged to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus: ‘Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’ (Heb 12:3) In the Message version, this reads ‘When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he ploughed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls!’
We can continue in the face of adversity and persecution because God is righteous; He has done all that is necessary to establish a personal relationship with us and He sticks with it and with us through thick and thin. Eugene Peterson reminds us that ‘Christian discipleship is a process of paying more and more attention to God’s righteousness and less and less attention to our own; finding the meaning of our lives not by probing our moods and morals but by believing in God’s will and purposes; making a map of the faithfulness of God, not charting the rise and fall of our enthusiasms. It is out of such a reality that we acquire perseverance.’ (‘The Journey’, P 118)