Do Good

PREVIEW: God sometimes uses difficult trials to purify our faith and evil times to bring a better kind of prosperity than mere temporal stuff to our lives. But in a sense, when the psalmist prays, “Do good, O Lord,” he is foreshadowing the very prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:13, “Lead us not into temptation.” The Message captures the psalmist thoughts when it translates that line in the Lord’s Prayer, “Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.” That’s not a bad prayer to pray, I’d say. Given the choice between tough times and good times, I will pray for the latter, following both the psalmist’s and the Lord’s examples.

A Journey of Worship // Psalm 125:4

God is good—all the time! That isn’t just modern American “Christianese.” No, that is biblical truth.

The fact is, God is all wise, fundamentally good, and always in charge! That never changes, even in tough times, which is likely the setting for this psalm. Some Bible scholars believe Psalm 125 was written during the time of foreign domination—perhaps at the hands of the uber-wicked Assyrians—or at least during a time when it seemed likely that Jerusalem would be overrun by the godless.

This is yet another Psalm of Assent, and the writer penned the song for people to sing on their way to worship in Jerusalem. It prompted them to call upon God for two things:

First, to keep Jerusalem pure: “The scepter of the wicked will not remain over the land allotted to the righteous, for then the righteous might use their hands to do evil.” (Psalm 125:3)

Second, to keep Jerusalem prosperous: “Lord, do good to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart”. (Psalm 125:4)

The writer recognized that people were seriously tempted to fall away from God when times were tough—either by giving in to the godless culture that had swallowed the land or by abandoning their trust in the God who seemed to withhold much-needed provision.

Of course, we recognize that God sometimes uses trials to purify our faith and tough times to bring a better kind of prosperity to our lives. But in a sense, the psalmist here foreshadows the very prayer Jesus taught his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:13, “Lead us not into temptation.” The Message captures the psalmist’s thoughts when it translates that line in the Lord’s Prayer,

“Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

That’s not a bad prayer to pray, I’d say. Given the choice between tough times and good times, I will pray for the latter, following both the psalmist’s and the Lord’s examples. Sure, I am willing to embrace trial as a necessary friend (James 1:2, MSG), but my first choice is to hold hands with the goodness of God.

Yes, do good, dear God, and keep me safe from myself and the Devil!