6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth Psalm 124: 2-8
I once met a man who believed that because he had accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior that he would never experience death. He actually thought he would live in his fleshly body forever. Of course that was not truth; It was reaaaaallllly bad theology.
We laugh at such extremism but I have experienced this same mindset to varying degrees in many Christian brothers and sisters, devout men and women who take the Scriptures and make them say what they want rather than what they mean. Psalm 124 is a case in point. Some would take this Scripture and have it say “Because I know the God who made Heaven and Earth my enemies can never touch me.”
The problem of course is that sometimes the enemy can touch us. Sometimes the enemy can do far more than touch us. Just ask the man who wrote Psalm 24. On another day, in another place he said.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
2My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
3Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
4In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
5To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
7All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
8“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”
9Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
10From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.
12Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
13Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
14I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
15My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet. Psalm 22: 1-16 NIV
I know this is a prophetic Scripture about Jesus but it was also written out of the very real experiences of David’s life on the lam (no pun intended). So what happened to escaping from the fowler’s snare? What happened to God’s help? Well it was there all the time. Help just didn’t look like David wanted it to look at that particular moment.
God doesn’t promise to always spare us from trouble. In fact, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble” John 16. Heaven isn’t Earth and Earth isn’t Heaven, so let’s stop pretending they are the same.
Even in Psalm 124 God doesn’t promise that we would always escape from bodily harm, although in the NIV that looks to be what He is saying. The truth that is actually being taught though is,” our souls escape from the fowler’s snare” 124:7. (nephesh malat- souls escape)
Even when the enemy has the power to touch our physical realities, he has no power to touch our souls, because our lives are hid with God in Christ according to the Apostle Paul. Child of God, there is a place in the anointing which brings us blessing beyond the curse so that we can say with Paul, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. ” 2 Cor. 4:8,9
If it feels like you are under attack today and that you are trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea with no good way out, take heart. The devil may have a hold on you for now but his grip is slipping and he has no power whatever to capture your soul. The real you inside is safe in God’s hands and shall be so as God’s plans for your life are fulfilled. Your life cannot be touched by anything in this reality. The battle of the moment may go to Satan but the victory of forever belongs to you!
Lillie-Put 