… if the LORD had not been on our side when people attacked us, - Psalm 124:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 3, 2013): Psalm 124 & 125

It often seems to be the “one” that we remember in the hard moments of history. During World War II, it is Hitler that we remember. There were others, lieutenants who carried out the orders of The Fuhrer, allies that committed their own national strengths to his cause – but we remember Hitler the best. It is his name that has rung out through history. On the other side we remember Winston Churchill of Britain – or maybe Franklin Delano Roosevelt of the United States. These are the players that we remember – and these are the “one’s” that during World War II probably never fired a shot. And yet we remember the “one”.

The psalmist remembers the “one”. On the side of the Psalmist the “one” was God. As the Psalmist remembered and told the stories of the nation, in every successful story God had been a big part of the victory. In some of the stories it was a miraculous event – waters parted and walls fell. In other stories God was part of the mystery as armies simply packed up and went home.  Sometimes he raised up leaders that trusted him and led the nation, but the similarity in every successful story was the presence of God in the story. And every failure also carried a similarity. In those stories God was absent. The nation needed the “one” standing beside them.

And they needed the “one” when they came up against the “one”. The word that is translated people is adam. And it can be translated people – or more literally men. But it could also be translated as singular. “If God had not been with us when the man rose up, we would have been defeated” might be a better reading here. We have no idea who the man was – there were so many. The Psalmist could be referring to the Pharaoh of Egypt, or maybe Sennacherib of Assyria or even Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. The list of bad “one’s” in biblical times can seem endless. But to the Psalmist, it really does not matter which “one” it is that rises up. God trumps them all.

We still know the truth of the “one”. Some are great “one’s,” or evil “one’s,” some are just the bothersome “one’s” that rise up in our lives and threaten to derail us from the journey. But the truth of the Psalmist still stands. God is our “one” – and he trumps the “one” – he always has and he always will.      

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 127 & 128