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If the Lord had not been on our side\u2014let Israel say\u2014if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us, the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away. Praise be to the Lord, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. We have escaped like a bird from the fowler\u2019s snare; the snare has been broken, and we have escaped. Our help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. (Psalm 124)

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Psalm 124 is a song of witness and testimony to the God who is our help.\xa0 As a song that was sung trip after trip, year after year, it represented the accumulated testimony of the people of God.\xa0 And it continued to prove its truth.\xa0 Each time the song was sung, more meaning filled its lines.\xa0 More experiences filtered into the cracks of the song\u2019s lyrics to prove its truth and give credence to its word.

In that sense, Psalm 124 was to the Israelites much like some of our great anthems and hymns of the faith are to us: Great is Thy Faithfulness, Amazing Grace, When Peace Like a River, Holy, Holy, Holy, O God Our Help in Ages Past, and any number of others.\xa0

Over the years, these become more than just another number in the hymnbook or set of words on the screen.\xa0 They give voice to the truth of our lives and faith such that we\u2019re not only singing the words when we sing these hymns, we also find ourselves re-singing the memories of our lived experiences with God as we voice these tunes.

We remember the time when his peace, like a river, attended our way as we accompanied a loved one in the hospital.\xa0 Or, when a morning dawned in our lives after a long dark night where new mercies from the faithful hand of God appeared.\xa0 Or, how we sang Amazing Grace at our parent or grandparent\u2019s funeral\u2014and really felt the power and emotion of those words for the first time there.\xa0 And now we find that we cannot sing that hymn anymore without remembering the time, or times, in our lives where that text rang true.\xa0

These songs become our lived testimony of faith.\xa0 They become the words that we use to encourage one another in times of distress\u2014because the God of whom we sing is faithful, and He has shown it.\xa0

Faced with the pressing questions of whether or not God exists, or whether he\u2019s with us, or cares about us, or why he allows some of the awful things that destroy what we hold most dear\u2014the faith of the Psalms does not always offer proofs or logical explanations, clarifications or qualifications.\xa0 Instead, sometimes it just offers a song.\xa0 A testimony.\xa0 A living witness to what God has done that has a strange way of cutting through even some of the most thorny questions, fears, and heartaches of our lives.\xa0

Psalm 124 is a song like that.\xa0 It is an anthem of the faith to remind all the faithful, that indeed, \u201cOur help is in the name of the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.\u201d\xa0 On the road up to Jerusalem, that\u2019s just what the ancient people of Israel would do.\xa0 Sing, remember, and believe once again in that God who was their help in ages past, and their hope for the years to come.\xa0

Whatever road you\u2019re journeying on through life today\u2014will you hear their testimony?\xa0 Will you enter the song?\xa0

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