DUNCAN/He surrounds His people
If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Psalm 125. We don’t know the exact circumstances surrounding this psalm, but we do know this: there is wickedness in high places in Israel and this poses a challenge to the people of God. When the psalmist speaks of Mount Zion, he has in mind the people of God, and for those of us who live under the new covenant in the wake of the days of Pentecost, the people of God means the Church — Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, this is a psalm that speaks to the people of God, to the Church, and to the members of the Church particularly in a time in which the rule of wickedness is corroding and corrupting the hearts of the people.
The LORD stabilizes His People
And what does it say? Well, let’s look at verses 1 and 2 especially to see the encouraging word that the psalmist gives us. “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion.” Back in Psalm 121 verse 1 when the psalmist said, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?” The psalmist may have been tempted momentarily to look somewhere else for help except to the LORD. True religion begins at the center; the LORD, in whom all things hold together. And this psalm is about us cultivating a Gospel trust in the LORD.
To trust in the LORD is one of the great Old Testament phrases or descriptions for what it means to have a personal relationship with the living God. Now each of those are different descriptions of the people of God but I want you to understand what’s being said here. The psalmist is not saying that God would be good to His people because they are perfect. When he calls them “good” and “upright in their hearts” there is no claim for sinless perfection here.
Additionally, to trust in the LORD here does not simply mean to believe that God exists. James chapter 2 says, “You believe that God is one, you do well. The demons do also and they tremble.” They are emphatically in belief of that and yet they are not saved. Why? Because to trust the LORD is to respond in faith to the promises that He has given to us in His Word and those promises are promises of minute, microscopic care for the people of God.
God works all things — Not some things, not most things, but all things together for good to them that love God, who are called according to His purpose. Jesus says, “Not a hair falls from your head apart from the will of the Father.” The most minute concern for your special providence — This is the trust that the psalmist is exhorting us to. The psalmist is saying, “Cultivate this kind of trust; trust God in this way.”
What does that trust result in? Look at what the psalmist says. “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion which cannot be moved.” When the earth is quaking under everyone else’s feet, the one who trusts in the promises of God has stability, is unmoved, because God is upholding him, God is upholding her. So, there is stability.
The LORD Surrounds His People
But not only stability, there is surrounding. Look at verse 2. “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people.” Who are His people? Those who trust the LORD. They’re called other names at the end of the psalm. Look at verse 4. “Do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in their hearts, to Israel.” Isn’t that a beautiful image? When you’re in the midst of trial, when you feel surrounded by your enemies, when the lights have gone out and all hope seems lost, to think that you are surrounded by the LORD like Jerusalem is surrounded by the mountains is a strengthening and comforting thought. You remember the words to Saint Patrick’s breastplate, often sung in a chorus? “Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.” It’s a picture of being surrounded by Christ and we could say that it comes right out of this psalm — Surrounded by the LORD. Those who trust in the LORD are given stability and surrounding by God.
The LORD Sustains His People
But not only that, they are sustained. Listen to the language in verse 1 — “Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion which cannot be moved but abides forever.” Verse 2 — “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and forevermore.” There is a sustaining. And isn’t that what we need in trial? Isn’t that what we need in this life? A supply, a divine supply to endure the trials and the tribulations? And there is it. It’s a word from the LORD of encouragement and promise — Stability, surrounding, sustaining, when you need it the most.
He’s the God that walked with Abram all the way from Ur of the Chaldees into the land of Canaan. He’s the God that guided Joseph all the way through his adventures from his capture and imprisonment at the hands of his brothers to being sold into slavery and imprisoned in Egypt all the way to the leadership of that great land. He’s the God who brought His people out of the land of Egypt on dry ground across the Red Sea. You go back to the Book until you’ve cultivated big views of God, your Savior. Here’s the thing — There is no effect that can be greater than its cause, and if you know that you’re trusting in the LORD there is no greater cause, and surely, He can master any effect that is needful to you.
What is your need in your trouble? Have you said it to the LORD? Have you cried it out to the LORD and trusted Him to meet your utmost need? “You have not because you ask not,” Jesus said. In John 16, Jesus told His disciples that, “There will come a time when you will ask in My name from the Father and He will give to you everything you need when you ask it in My name.” And the psalmist is saying, “Test the LORD here. Test the LORD not in an impertinent and irreverent way, but test Him at His Word.” He says, “Trust Me and I will give you stability and I will give you surrounding and I will give you sustaining. Trust Me; I’m good for it.” Get big views of God and trust Him to the uttermost in your necessities.
Dr. J. Ligon Duncan III is Chancellor & CEO of Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson.