Psalm 125

[DeanZF]

Psalm 125

The LORD Surrounds His People

A Song of Ascents<LIST type="decimal">

1. <LI>
2. Those who trust in the LORD
   
   Are as Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides forever.</LI>
   <LI>
3. As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
   
   So the LORD surrounds His people
   
   From this time forth and forever.</LI>
   <LI>
4. For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest upon the land of the righteous,
   
   So that the righteous will not put forth their hands to do wrong.</LI>
   
   <LI>
5. Do good, O LORD, to those who are good
   
   And to those who are upright in their hearts.</LI>
   <LI>
6. But as for those who turn aside to their crooked ways,
   
   The LORD will lead them away with the doers of iniquity.
   
   Peace be upon Israel.</LI>

</LIST>We're almost a third of the way to Jerusalem and we're steadily moving upward. We're going to the spiritual capital of the world, the place God claims as His own, Mount Zion, a mountain that cannot and will not be moved. Zion stands as a monument to remind us that we, too, are not to be moved. We, too, are chosen by God. The Hebrew children are chosen from the day Moses was found by the Burning Bush. As believers in Messiah, we were chosen from before the world began. How great is that?!



The psalmist again proclaims the Word over Jerusalem and Israel, that God surrounds His people and that the rule of the wicked will not reign over the land of the righteous, that sin will not hold sway over us. His design is that we will be righteous and not put our hands to the works of sin. It's up to us to work at staying upright in heart, to stay on the straight and narrow. We don't want to be caught in their camp, sorted with the goats instead of the sheep. The sheep live in the Shalom of the Almighty.



The last verse reminds me of Ignorance in A Pilgrim's Progress. He walked the path, but alone. He did not know much about the Lord of the Celestial City and surely did not understand the rules of the road. Jesus sent the shining ones to escort him to the short cut door to Hell, where the doers of iniquity will be led!