Psalm 124 Part 2 

It is easy to see how a psalm praising God’s protection from the early days of Israel’s national history might be incorporated into the songs pilgrims sang on their way to Jerusalem, which David had made his capital.Vs3-5continues the thought from the emphatic repetition of vs1-2 (if God had not helped). David tells of what would have happened; they would have been destroyed by their enemies. Yahweh wasn’t one of many possible solutions to their problem; He and He alone was their saviour! If you are entangled, trust in God for your escape. If the enemy of souls has heated the furnace seven times hotter because you stand for God, you will not be ‘swallowed’ or ‘overwhelmed’ (engulfed NASB). The torrent of troubles will not sweep you away. You are not bereft; though at the time you may not be vividly conscious or convinced that He is there. You will be set free from the trap like the bird in v7. The simile of a bird in a snare hints of feebleness and helplessness. Twice this verse was applied to deliverance. First with David and then with Hezekiah under the onslaught of Sennacherib, who declared in 691BC that he had “shut Hezekiah up in his city like a bird in a cage.”  

Like the bird trappers, satan has many methods of entrapping souls. Some are decoyed by evil companions, others are enticed by the love of pleasure and wealth; bad habits drive many into the trap, and fear impels numbers to fly into the net. Whatever has trapped you, the gracious hand that was once nailed to the cross has worked your rescue, saved you from the ‘teeth’ of your spiritual adversary. 

The great lesson of this Psalm, from the beginning to the end…is that for every deliverance, whether of a temporal or spiritual nature, we should, in imitation of David, Hezekiah, Ezra, and the pilgrims to Jerusalem ascribe salvation to God. As we worship the Creator (v8) let us increase our trust in our Comforter. Did he create all that we see, and can he not preserve us from evils which we cannot see?