Psalm 129: Cords

 

When I was a teenager, our family had a dog that we all loved. The only problem was that she didn’t love anyone but us. She as a Shar Pei named Honey, for the color of her coat. I don’t recall the details of how we got her, but she was probably what many today would consider a rescue. She was loyal and gentle to our family, but she was terribly frightened of thunder, of the sight of a gun and if anyone went near her wearing gloves, she went ballistic. The real problem with Honey was that she would try to bite anyone that came on our property without one of us present and if she ever got free from her leash, she would take off through the woods that surrounded our house and look for another dog to attack. We loved her, she loved us, but she was scary for anyone else. Because of this, whenever we took Honey outside, we had to put her on a chain so that she could not bolt away and hurt any other animals. 

One afternoon I went to bring Honey inside after she had been out in the yard for a few hours and I discovered that her collar was still connected to the chain, but the chain itself had come free from its anchor, she had been free all afternoon and didn’t know it. She had stayed anchored because she didn’t realize that her cords had been broken.

Psalm 129, another Song of Ascents begins with a leader declaring, “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”. The word translated “greatly” literally means “abundantly”. I love the way the King James Version translates this word, “Many a time”. The end of verse 1 calls for Israel to respond, “let Israel now say” and the congregation, the nation calls out, “Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth” (KJV). How true was that of Israel? The bondage of Egypt, the nations that rejected or even attacked her on the way to the Promised Land. There were the Philistines, the Moabites, the Midianites, the Amalekites, the Amorites, the Babylonians, we could keep going, Israel had been afflicted, attacked, rejected, despised and hated often. This was not drama, just truth, but the psalm is not about those who have hated her, but the One who loves her. 

The second half of verse 2 begins with an important word that leads to the key statement of the song, “yet they have not prevailed against me.” Can you imagine the congregation of Israel, gathered at the temple to give thanks to God, with one voice singing, shouting and declaring, “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.” Through slavery they had overcome. Through captivity they had overcome. Through wars and skirmishes, through families and droughts, through their own failures and the evil actions of others, they had overcome. Not one enemy had ever prevailed, which was a promise and a reminder that no enemy would ever prevail against them. 

Their overcoming was not of their own strength or effort. Verse 4 says, “The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.” The song is not about the weakness of their enemies but the righteousness of God. The only reason that the enemies had not prevailed was because God would not allow it. When everyone was against them, God had been for them. It’s reminiscent of Jeremiah’s words in Lamentations 3:22 “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” (NIV) As 70 years of captivity were about to begin, Jeremiah was reminding Judah that this trouble would not consume them, that it would not prevail against them, that it would not change, for a moment, God’s love, God’s care or God’s plans and promises for them. 

Look at the end of verse 4, “he (the LORD) has cut the cords of the wicked”. The psalmist calls on Israel to sing the truth that Jeremiah saw, “we are free!” Lamentations might have been Jeremiah’s most prophetic work. He had called to Judah and warned them of God’s judgment, called them to repent, foretold that if they did not turn from their sin that God would raise up an enemy to come and take them captive, but when Judah rejected his prophecy, when they were unwilling to soften their hearts, when they chose the way they wanted rather than the way God was calling, Jeremiah promised that even through this, God would be faithful, God would prevail, they would overcome, not just their enemies, but their sin. The cords were cut even before the bondage had begun. 

Romans 2:4 says that “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance”. I believe we might have largely read this wrong, or at least thought of this wrongly. It’s often thought of that the kind things that God does are to lead us to repentance, but I believe we should see it as anything that leads us to repentance is kind. Repentance is the kindest thing that God can offer us. Jesus told Nicodemus, in John 3:18, that everyone who does not believe in Him is “condemned already”. This is not a truth we realize often enough. Apart from Jesus we are not in danger of being condemned, we are condemned already. In our sin, outside of Christ, we are not just doomed, we are damned. God’s character, His love, His righteousness will not leave us where we are, will not just hand us over to what we deserve, His kindness doesn’t just invite us to repent, it desires repentance for us. 

Judah’s captivity in Babylon for 70 years was God’s kindness because it led to repentance. The drought in the time of Elijah was God’s kindness because it led to repentance. When Jesus turned over the tables in the temple, when Paul confronted the Corinthians, even when Peter rebuke Simon the Sorcerer, it was the kindness of God desiring and offering repentance. That means that the job you lost that caused you to search your heart and depend more fully on God was the kindness of God. The illness you suffered that caused you to search your heart and lean more fully on God’s care was the kindness of God. The lack that led you to trust God more than ever before was the kindness of God. It’s not that God turns difficult things into good, it’s that God’s kindness chooses the things that lead us to repent, even thought those things are often if not usually difficult. 

But here is the greatest truth I can share with you from Psalm 129, just like Israel, our cords have been broken. That’s what Jesus was whispering to our hearts when He shouted from the cross, “It is finished!” That sounds strange but follow me. He shouted to every enemy, every demon, every lie, even the devil himself, but He continues to whisper to us. Colossians 2:15 says Jesus “disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (NIV) He pushed them down in power, but He lifts us up in gentleness. Now, Jesus continues to whisper to us, when anxiety comes, “It is finished!” When fear arises, “It is finished!” When any thought tries to rise against the knowledge of God, we take it captive by hearing and believing the whisper of Jesus, “It is finished!” 

But it’s not just hearing Jesus, it’s obeying Him by believing Him. The rest of the psalm describes those that have afflicted Israel as grass on housetops and crops not worth being harvested or gathered. Believing what Jesus has done means that we must stop giving room to things that Jesus has defeated. Our enemies have lost their power and we must stop giving them value. I don’t mean to deny their existence, there is trouble, there is difficulty, there are trials, but we must experience them, even endure them with absolute confidence that they will not, they cannot prevail. Isn’t this what Paul was writing in II Corinthians 4:8-9? “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed.” I love the way J.B. Phillips translates the end of verse 9, “knocked down but never knocked out.” 

And so today I tell you, our enemies have lost their power, our cords have been cut, Jesus has prevailed! It is our calling and our opportunity to live in freedom. Too many of us are living as if we are still bound. We are waiting for freedom in heaven rather than living in heaven’s freedom here and now. Don’t let familiar feelings or hard things keep you from believing the absolute truth. What if the thing that tempts you to fear is God’s kindness leading you to freedom? What if the thing that tempts you to worry is God’s kindness leading you to peace? What if the thing that tempts you to despair is God’s kindness leading you to joy? Our cords have been cut, now every hard thing is a gift, every trial is an opportunity, every step of our lives are directed by God to lead us to become like Jesus. Believe in the cross, trust in God’s character and live in freedom from ALL your cords.