“1 I call on the LORD in my distress, and He answers me.2 Save me, LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues. 3 What will He do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue? 4 He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush. 5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar! 6 Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. 7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.” – Psalm 120
Prayer:
LORD, we begin our time in these psalms where the psalmist begins—confessing what bothers and distresses us. We lay before you broken and hurtful relationships, especially brokenness centered on lies. Deliver us, we pray. We lament situations in which we have been hurt and those in which we have hurt others. Your kingdom is in our hearts, but it seems we so often dwell in lands of violence and hatred, discord and chaos. It wears on us. It’s plagued us for far too long. We lift out our hands and offer what of this is true for each of us. We desire what is good but are weighed down by things around us. You know this, and You know us. Hear us and see us, we ask, O LORD.
Psalm 120 Is a Lament
A lament is defined as an expression of deep regret, grief, or sorrow in the presence of God. The Psalmist in Psalm 120 Laments that he feels far away from God. Can you think of a time in your life you have felt far away from God?
Furthermore, Psalm 120 is one of the few psalms of lament that does not express any praise. Instead, the Psalmist walks through the first three stages of a lament: address, request, and protest.
1. Address
In the Address stage of a lament, we Direct Your Conversation ___ God. (Psalm 120:1) In Lament, we seek God during times of trouble. A great example of this is Psalm 42:1-2.
In Psalm 120:1, the writer says, “I Call on the LORD in my distress, and He answers me.”
2. Request
During the Request stage, the Psalmist expresses his dependence on God for help. (Psalm 120:2-4) Verse 2 reads, “Save me, LORD, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.” We need rescued from lies said about us and from lies told to us.
3. Protest
The Protest stage is when the writer describes his suffering and pain to the LORD. “Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek” Psalm 120:5 says, reference a town called Meshek that is 600-800 Miles from Jerusalem. Later, he says,“That I live among the tents of Kedar.” Kedar is 100-200 miles away from Jerusalem.
The psalmist feels distant from God’s presence, His peace, and the covenant community of Israel.
This World Is Not My Home
A fantastic verse to read with Psalm 120 is Philippians 3:20, which reads, “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Psalm 120:6-7 reads, “Too long have I lived among those who hate peace. I am for Peace, but when I speak, they are for war.”
“A pilgrim is person who has grown dissatisfied with where he or she has been
And is going to something better.”~ James Montgomery Boice
“Pilgrim tells us we are people who spend our lives going someplace, going to God, and whose path for getting there is the way, Jesus Christ. We realize that “this world is not my home” and set out for ‘the Father’s house.’” ~ Eugene Peterson
All of these quotes point to a home that is not this earth. As the Psalmist laments, may we experience the yearning for our true home alongside him.
