He Cuts Their Cords!

Psalm 129 celebrates the righteousness of God as seen in the way that he enables his people to persevere in the faith by subduing our enemies. The psalm begins with the refrain, “Many a time they have afflicted me from my youth. – Let Israel now say – “Many times have they afflicted me from my youth. Yet they have not prevailed against me.” Consider the efforts of the seed of the serpent to stamp out the seed of the woman. From the dawn of creation to the present day the serpent and his cohorts have attempted to prevent what we are gathered here to do this day. They have persecuted and afflicted the church in countless ways and yet year after year Israel made her ascent to Jerusalem and Lord’s Day after Lord’s Day we make ours. The psalmist likens their efforts to driving a plow over the backs of God’s people only to find that God has cut their cords and freed his people from their tyranny. No doubt there are many weeks that you gather here feeling the assaults of the world upon your backs. You have firsthand knowledge of how the world, flesh, and devil attempt to stamp out the work of the Spirit in your lives and your families. Whether by overt attacks upon your character, or by more subtle temptations to make peace with the world, you have endured the plow of the wicked upon your backs. And yet week after week the Lord cuts their cords and frees you to gather in His presence with psalms like these upon your lips. We join Israel in singing, “Let all those who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.” And week after week God hears these cries and drives back the forces of darkness. Indeed week after week as we make our ascent to the throne of God with the psalms upon our lips, God sends another blow of the battering ram against the gates of hell. Week after week Christ is building His Church by Word and Sacrament and the gates of hell shall not prevail against us!