The protecting nature of God

Psalm 124 opens with a question that is met with a very positive response from every Christian I know. It is –
“What if the Lord had not been there?” A haunting question; but a reassuring answer. God as protector is the theme so beautifully expressed in this relatively short psalm of praise. Israel had been surrounded by enemy forces and the odds were greatly against them but then God, that one who “made both heaven and earth” stepped in and all is well. God himself sees the danger just around the next corner of time and moves to protect his own.
       History has always honored the protector, whether on the part of the brave soldier on the battlefield retrieving a fallen colleague at personal risk, or the mother explaining to a child the serious risks of the drug culture. Every proactive act calls for involvement in the life of another. It costs and that is why we honor those in whose life it plays a central roll. Israel honored God for protecting them from the angry assaults of others (v. 2), from being swept away by a flood (v. 4) from the sure death of being held in the hunter’s trap (v. 7). For Israel all help came from God so the psalmist closes his song of praise, “Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth” (v. 8 NLT).
 
So here is David’s concise but moving song:                        

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​What if the Lord had not been there
Right by our side when attacked?
They would have swallowed us alive in their anger
Leaving nothing at all intact.
 
We’d been swept away by raging water
Drowning in the flood;
Or held like a bird in a hunter’s trap
Waiting to shed our blood.
 
Praise be to God who brought us through
Our help is in the Lord;
It is he who made both heaven and earth
By all he is adored.

At 96 I have had any number of times to experience the protecting hand of God over my life. Some were physical others intellectual or spiritual. At 13 I was walking to school with friends when a large truck changed lanes to round the corner. My two friends jumped back and I took the impact, was dragged a half-block then dropped and the truck would run over my leg. I woke up two hours later and when my mother saw me she passed out and they put her in the next bed. God protected me. In careful New Testament research there are times when a secular interpretation makes sense but only at the cost of surrendering absolute confidence in the reliability of scripture. Yes, he has protected me there as well. So, in the words of our psalm, “Praise be to God who brought us through; our help is in the Lord.”