All Our Afflictions

The Songs of Ascent

Text: Psalm 129

Title: All Our Afflictions

Introduction

We are in a sense back in Babylon, but as each triad advances over the previous one, this Psalm is filled with hope of deliverance. Still the focus is on the recounting of all the miseries that have been endured, of which, the Babylonian exile is only the latest. First the exiles must look out of their misery and sing a song of their mighty deliverer. The closer they get to Zion, the more hopeful their songs become. This is our lot and our pilgrimage too. Jesus said in John 16:33, I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. Jesus does not say He has overcome the trouble, but he has overcome the world which is the source of the trouble. Paul tells the Christians in 12:12 of his letter to the Romans, that they should be rejoicing in hope and patient in tribulation, and he tells them in II Corinthians 7:4 that we should be exceeding joyful in all our tribulations. It is necessary to life in this fearful fallen world that there be rainy days as well as sunny. C.H. Spurgeon said, “Persecution is the heirloom of the church and the en sign of the elect.” John Trappe wrote that the first man who ever died, died as a result of persecution for truth and religion. Another commentator said, “God had only one son without sin, only one-but never any without sorrow and affliction.” So we look in this Psalm at two things, the affliction of the righteous and the aspiration of the righteous.

I The Affliction of the Righteous

As the psalmist describes it in verses 1-3 he repeats the refrain as a way of expressing the intensity and then he says the afflictions are old, they are frequent, and they are grievous, They have greatly oppressed me from my youth— let Israel say—they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a textbook on the trials and tribulations beginning with Abel whom we have already mentioned. It continues with Moses, in verses 24-26 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. And in verses 35-38 he ends with unknown heroes a follows, Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. The history of Israel is replete with tribulation. They were enslaved in Egypt, tried in the wilderness, assailed in Canaan, and surrounded by idolatrous, deadly, bloodthirsty enemies in the promised land. Christians have suffered the same because they suffered in early centuries; imprisonment, confiscation of property, and loss of civil rights. They were beheaded, crucified, burned and eaten by wild beasts. The same thing has happened in numerous countries in the modern era, and yet every time it has happened the church grew. There are many Christians not willing to do what Moses did and give up honor, wealth, privilege, and position. But some are and they end up martyrs like Jim Elliot who said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” Those that are willing, know the truth of God’s care in Isaiah 63:9, In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. And as he was distressed then it was even more-so when he came to redeem us and the eternal Son of God died on the cross and Isaiah describes it in 53:4, Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. Yes Israel was afflicted early, often and grievously, but God was there.

II The Aspiration of the Righteous

What does the psalmist hope for? We read it in verses 4-8, But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked. May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame. May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow; with it the reaper cannot fill his hands, nor the one who gathers fill his arms. May those who pass by not say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD.” The psalmist prays for the destruction of his persecutors. He trusts in the Lord as a righteous judge. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right, writes Moses in Genesis 18:25. This is the psalmists conviction. This is personal but it is not merely personal revenge. It is a prayer for equity administered by a righteous and impartial judge. If God does this we see several results. The enemy is shamed. He is cursed, for if the righteous is like a tree planted by the rivers of water, the opposite is that nothing like the enemy grows or prospers. Such is the grass on the roof. The meaning of the passage regarding those that pass by may escape us who live in a modern non-agrarian culture. It was the standard custom in middle-eastern countries as William Thompson reports in his travelogue of the holy lands, “The latter expressions are most refreshingly Arabic. Nothing is more natural than for them, when passing by a fruit tree or corn field loaded with a rich crop to exclaim, “Barak Allah!” God bless you! We bless you in the name of the Lord!” There is nothing to bless here because there is no harvest for the ungodly persecutors. And I hope you notice the reason for the tribulation. The enemies hated Zion. They still do as Jesus said in John 15:18-21, If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me.