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If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say—if 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’s 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)

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

Over the years, these become more than just another number in the hymnbook or set of words on the screen.  They give voice to the truth of our lives and faith such that we’re 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.  Or, when a morning dawned in our lives after a long dark night where new mercies from the faithful hand of God appeared.  Or, how we sang Amazing Grace at our parent or grandparent’s funeral—and really felt the power and emotion of those words for the first time there.  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. 

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

Faced with the pressing questions of whether or not God exists, or whether he’s with us, or cares about us, or why he allows some of the awful things that destroy what we hold most dear—the faith of the Psalms does not always offer proofs or logical explanations, clarifications or qualifications.  Instead, sometimes it just offers a song.  A testimony.  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. 

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

Whatever road you’re journeying on through life today—will you hear their testimony?  Will you enter the song?