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Psalm 124 reads as follows from the New King James Version of the Bible: 1 “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side,” Let Israel now say— 2 “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, When men rose up against us, 3 Then they would have swallowed us alive, When their wrath was kindled against us; 4 Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, The stream would have gone over our soul; 5 Then the swollen waters Would have gone over our soul.” 6 Blessed be the LORD, Who has not given us as prey to their teeth. 7 Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers The snare is broken, and we have escaped. 8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. The picture presented in this psalm is the need to escape and the help for these escapes is from the Lord, who made heaven and earth, The scenes depicted in this psalm are so dangerous and so overwhelming that there is the abject need for a great escape. There is the obvious need to escape at times. Other situations can be more so murky where what is going on it subject to conjecture and debate and the person in trouble may not even know clearly that the real issue involves the need to escape. There should be sensitivity to the Spirit and the possible need to escape and this should be discussed in the prayer relationship. There are individual traps and large traps that can catch a lot of people. So even if someone has their act together seemingly on all fronts, the snares are still out there on a global scale and there is always the going to be the possible need to escape for anyone and this is why there must be a reliance on the Lord’s provisions of escape. People are already in the throes of an escape and may not fully realize it because what could have gone wrong didn’t. Then, there is the need to question up front avenues that if followed are going to eventually require an escape and that would include things like potential addictions. Some seemingly less harmful settings such as a job at the office, might require flight if there is the insipid presence of evil practices there. Are you benignly accepting the terms and situations that may call for escape? As if the situation is really harmless when it is in truth dangerous and should be fled. It is important to ponder where you really are. Events may be turning on you and it may be time to walk away. The vivid events portrayed in this psalm requite an immediate escape and are not like some other things that might need escape but are more subtle and may creep up on you. The imagery is that of a giant flood waters, possible rushing rivers and ravenous powerful animals maybe like a lion giving chase to its prey. The “snare of the fowler” equates to a trap, and this can have futuristic overtones, you May be walking into a trap. This psalm is mainly talking about a collective onslaught, where a large group of people is under immediate threat. One bird escaping could be more so representative of one person or one person in the group of many trying to escape. This could also represent how the Lord has his eye on that one bird metaphorically representing that one person who is in flight and is escaping the “ snare of the fowler.” There are situations, circumstances and set ups that identify as the “snare of the fowler.” A haze in the situation may make it all the more difficult to map and then to also identify the snare or trap. An example might be someone hiking in dangerous territory and then a fog comes through and the dangers are out of view but still lurking. Or someone surfing in the mounting pre hurricane waves and a fog rolls in on the sea and now there are additional forces to contend with and maybe it is time to head for the beachfront and get out of the surf. The bird is already free. The snare of the fowler opposes its natural state of grace. The bird is originally graced to fly and fly freely and safely. But this safety and freedom is potentially entangled by outside forces which come into the world of the bird and have sinister overtones. A key to this psalm is that the escape involves the strength of the Lord who is on the side of the escape for his faithful ones. The Lord is bringing strong forces to the escape; it would have to be that way with the swift approach of the ravenous lion or the gush of the great waters. Angels sweep in with the presence of the Lord. The Lord does give some people extraordinary strength but that can only go so far in the natural realm. A strong person can’t escape things like an earthquake or the direct paths of giant wars. With the escape, you have to call upon the strength of the Lord, separate from your own strength, so the escape indeed involves supernatural strength. In the escape through the Red Sea, the forces of the Lord overcome the mighty army of Egypt which was also totally destroyed in the escape, every last one of them was lost in the battle and defeated by the forces of the Lord. People did get the gift of strength but nobody could have lifted the waters of the Red Sea for the safe passage and nobody could have turned the seas back again for the devastation of the army of the pursuers. There is a balance between not doing anything and playing it totally safe or to push along with some things you may need a sudden escape from. The adventuress may encounter some difficulties in the wilds that could have been foregone had the push towards adventure been dropped at the outset. But almost any course that someone may chart may require the need for escape and even sudden escape. Keep a course where you hope that it is true for you, what is reiterated in verse one and two, which says, “if it had not been the Lord who was on our side” This psalm shows what anybody can believe in and be keenly aware of, that there might be the need to escape and it can come in many and varied forms and nobody is immune to the possibility of this happening. If, when and where the situation arises, you want the Lord and his angels to be with you and helping you escape.
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