Read
(A song for worship.)
A Prayer for Protection
1Since the time I was young,
enemies have often attacked!
Let everyone in Israel say:
2“Since the time I was young,
enemies have often attacked!
But they have not defeated me,
3though my back is like a field
that has just been plowed.”
4The Lord always does right,
and he has set me free
from the ropes
of those cruel people.
5I pray that all who hate
the city of Zion
will be made ashamed
and forced to turn and run.
6May they be like grass
on the flat roof of a house,
grass that dries up
as soon as it sprouts.
7Don't let them be like wheat
gathered in bundles.
8And don't let anyone
who passes by say to them,
“The Lord bless you!
I give you my blessing
in the name of the Lord.”
Reflect
Today’s psalm offers the flip side of the perfect world we read about last week in Psalm 128. The two form a pair. Like Psalm 124, the repetition at the beginning indicates that it was intended for communal use, with the worship leader beginning with verse 1 and the congregation picking up the song in verse 2.
These people have been brutally treated. Verse 3 conjures up the picture of someone being thrown to the ground and having a plow driven over him, its blades cutting furrows in his flesh.
Even so, he is not defeated. The Israelites pray for vengeance on those who made them suffer like this.
Not very Christian, we think. At least, that’s what we think if we have never experienced cruelty. But those who have suffered at the hands of others will tell you that retribution is the first thought that comes to their minds.
The Psalms are brutally honest, and put into words thoughts that we would not dare to express like this. There is something very important and very healthy here. The Psalmist openly acknowledges that this is how he feels. But instead of trying to suppress his anger at what has been done to him, or doing what most of us do and acting out his vengeance, he takes it to God in prayer, leaving it to God to deal with the situation and bring justice.
Respond
Father, when we are wronged, help us to handle ourselves like the psalmist does here. Teach us to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, who, “when he suffered, . . . made no threats. Instead, he had faith in God, who judges fairly” (1 Peter 2:23). Amen.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.