In Psalm 124 there is an answer to the faith mentioned in the previous Psalm. The dangers that have been passed bring the realization of the deliverance of the Lord-that He is on the side of His people.
(vss. 1-3) “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say; If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us: Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us.”
(vv. 4-5) They had escaped the overflowing scourge of waters sent out by their enemies which the Lord held back This should bring before us the Lord Jesus Christ whom the waters overflowed for our sakes. There were two different sources from which the waters came that overflowed Him. “All Thy waves and Thy billows are gone over Me” (Psalm 42:7) – the wrath of God’s judgment as to the sins He bore that we might never come into or under them. In Psalm 69 it is the waters of hatred against Him from the heart of man as led on by Satan (Rev. 12:15-16). We can feel something of the latter in fellowship with His sufferings, or it may be in His government He may allow us to taste of this hatred on account of our ways in order to bring us back to the point of our departure.
(vs. 7) “Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.” How came they to be in this snare? We learn elsewhere that it was on account of their failure to heed the Word of God, and their disobedience; He allowed them to go into captivity. In 1 Timothy we read of those who fall into snares; one is a religious snare, and the other is a worldly snare. In 2 Tim. 2:24-26 we have instructions for recovery out of the snare of the devil-those who are taken captive by him at his will; when out of communion a path is pursued in self-will, and we come under the power of the enemy.
(vs. 8) “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” There is no looking for worldly help now. The world has its organizations of various kinds for the help of its own. The more simple and dependent we are, the less we know of these. But we taste of that grace and mercy ministered to us from on high, and we also learn of the practical side of those bonds of Christ which unite us together in Him.