Psalm 125: Our Protector
Mayhem is everywhere. This motto is used by one of America’s biggest insurance companies. The television commercial portrays “mayhem” in the form of a man running amok and destroying everything most people value, like our families, homes, and cars. If you want peace of mind and protection from “mayhem,” the ad says, then purchase its expensive insurance.
Sounds assuring.
Have you noticed that almost all insurance commercials sell peace of mind in a chaotic world?
They know that safety often guides our choices. But nothing we buy can really protect us in this crazy, mixed-up world.
The only one who can truly promise us security is the Lord Himself: “Those who trust in the Lᴏʀᴅ are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lᴏʀᴅ surrounds His people from this time forth and forever” (Ps. 125:1–2).
Mount Zion personifies someone who places his trust in the Lord. The psalmist chose Mount Zion because it is hedged between the beautiful mountains of Jerusalem that protect it from its enemies and the chaotic world around it. The Lord is a refuge and place of protection for those who trust in Him the same way the mountains shield Mount Zion.
Even though the psalmist wrote this song millennia ago, the locations he mentioned still bear witness to God’s powerful message. In fact, I have stood on Mount Zion, looking out over the mountains of Jerusalem, and taught about trusting the Lord from Psalm 125. God promises that those who trust in Him cannot be moved and will remain forever.
Certainly, the area has had its share of enemies throughout history. Some have even broken through to cause damage. Yet such trouble was not outside God’s plan.
In fact, Israel’s enemies all had one thing in common: They hated what Mount Zion stood for, the covenant people who lived there, and the God who resided in the Temple. The residents knew that many wished to hurt them and take the land deeded to them by God. Yet the psalmist wrote, “For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous” (v. 3).
Mount Zion stands as a testimony to God’s ultimate protection of His people and His land, even though His people may be tempted to “reach out their hands to iniquity” (v. 3).
The psalm encourages us to stay strong in the Lord and know that trusting in Him is far better than being deceived by the enemy.
In a world of chaos and uncertainty, it is easy to give in to Satan, whom Jesus called the “ruler of this world” (Jn. 12:31) and the “prince of the power of the air” (Eph. 2:2). When the enemy surrounds us, urging us to embrace his empty promises, we, like the psalmist, can plead to God: “Do good, O Lᴏʀᴅ, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts” (Ps. 125:4), that is, to those who follow the will of God.
Genuine safety and security are found only in the loving arms of the Lord through faith and trust in His promises. There we can experience true peace, even when the battle rages.
As Mount Zion has endured, so will those who place their trust in the Protector of Israel.
