{"id":2456,"date":"2022-01-06T18:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-01-07T02:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/?p=2456"},"modified":"2022-01-03T09:59:23","modified_gmt":"2022-01-03T17:59:23","slug":"20220107-psalm-124","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/blog\/20220107-psalm-124\/","title":{"rendered":"Ascending to Meet with God – Psalm 124"},"content":{"rendered":"
1\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>If it had not been the Lord who was on our side\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 let Israel now say\u2014<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n2\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>if it had not been the Lord who was on our side<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 when people rose up against us,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>then they would have swallowed us up alive,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 when their anger was kindled against\u00a0us;<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n4\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>then the flood would have swept us away,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the torrent would have gone over\u00a0us;<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>then over us would have gone<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 the raging waters.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n6\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>Blessed be the Lord,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 who has not given\u00a0us<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 as prey to their teeth!<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n7\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>We have escaped like a bird<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 from the snare of the\u00a0fowlers;<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\nthe snare is broken,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and we have escaped!<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>Our help is in the name of the Lord,<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 who made heaven and\u00a0earth.<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

(Translated version, original article written in Chinese by Pastor Mickey Hsiao)<\/span><\/i>\u202f\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[Theme] If the\u202fLord\u202fhad not been on our side<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

This ascending poem clearly depicts the dangers faced by a person who ascends to the heights of the Holy Temple to worship God in Jerusalem.\u00a0 From the entire history of the Israelites, or the single example of David, we can glean that the people of Israel often needed to confront the encroachment of the surrounding nations – like ferocious beasts that swallow them or like rivers that drown them.\u00a0 However, in the end, the people of Israel were able to win!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Psalmist is willing to remind the people of Israel that all this comes from God\u2019s help. Because of God, they have the opportunity to be free from adversity and escape from the snare of the enemy. The people of God must remember:\u00a0<\/span>“<\/span><\/b>If the\u202fLord\u202fhad not been on our side; if the\u202fLord\u202fhad not been on our side; our help is in the name\u202fof the\u202fLord, the Maker of heaven\u202fand earth.<\/span><\/i><\/b>“<\/span><\/b>\u00a0(Psalm 124)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through this psalm, we can clearly realize:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The people of God may encounter great difficulties anddangers;<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. God has the power to help us, because He is the Lord who made the heavens and theearth;<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. We must take the initiative to draw near to Him.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [Meditation]<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Let us count the grace of God and reflect back on the difficulties we once had in our lives.\u00a0 Indeed, if the Lord had not been on our side, what would have been the consequences?\u00a0 Let us all be grateful for His grace and take this opportunity to offer our gratitude and praise to God!\u00a0 Let us continue to entrust our whole being in the hands of the Almighty God!<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    [Prayer]<\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Lord, you are the maker of heaven and earth! I don’t need to be afraid of any challenge, even it is a life-threatening one. I want to draw near to you, under your mighty arm, and offer my thanks to your salvation and all your grace in my life.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    [<\/b>Memory Verse<\/b>]\u202f<\/b>\u202f\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

    Psalm\u00a0<\/span>124:8<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/span>Our<\/span>\u00a0help is in the name\u202fof the\u202fLord, the Maker of heaven\u202fand earth.<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    1\u00a0If it had not been the Lord who was on our side\u2014\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 let Israel now say\u2014\u00a0 2\u00a0if it had not been the Lord who was on our side\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2432,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[77,71],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ascending-to-meet-with-god","category-pastor-mickey-hsiao"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2456"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2456\/revisions\/2468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cbcwla.org\/home\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}