These three psalms (Ps 123-125) take us on a journey from scorn to security, with God’s help (succour) the thing that makes all the difference. Ps 123:3-4 talks of contempt and ridicule, synonyms of which include scorn, disdain, disrespect, derision and mockery. This often leaves us feeling demoralised and discouraged, but the psalmist encourages us to live in humility before God as a servant attentive to his master (Ps 123:2). The problems we face may well be caused by people, but there is always a spiritual element to opposition (see Eph 6:12), and solutions are not to be found in our own strength or cleverness, but in the mercy and grace of God. (Ps 123:2-3)
We can be confident in all situations because of God’s help which means that the long-awaited disasters plotted against us lose their power over us. (Ps 124:2-6) God is able to thwart the most complex of plots (see Neh 4:15) (whilst no plan of His can be thwarted, as Job 42:2 reminds us) and set us free from other people’s traps and snares. (Ps 124:7) This confidence sustains us through life’s journey. Ps 125 likens God’s presence with us to the mountains surrounding Jerusalem (Ps 125:1-2) and we are reassured by the fact God does not change. (Mal 3:6) Heb 12 takes up this picture of being unshaken, reminding us that ‘we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.’ (Heb 12:28) Our stability ultimately comes from God’s stability.
