It’s hard to be surrounded by those who lie and deceive. Right now there’s not hardly a person in the world who doesn’t claim to be in that position. Each side claims the other is the one who is not opening their eyes. But in other times and seasons, truth and deceit and lies were a little more clear.
The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance. This is a song of ascents so it really is a temple song. One that in singing it you would have to know that your own heart was not full of lies and deceit. But it’s also a good reminder to look to the Lord when this happens.
Then the psalmist asks and reminds those who lie, “What will He give you and what will He do to you, you deceitful tongue?” (Ps (120:3). The psalmist answers, basically that the Lord will give you the same, sharp arrows with burning charcoal.
Then the psalmist laments for having lived among the pagan nations too long as they are ones who hate peace.
“I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war” (Ps 120:7).
The Lord’s people were and are to be a people of peace. But some nations seem to always be at war with someone. Sometimes war is necessary, but peace should always be the goal.
I was thinking of this and thinking of what it would be to sing a psalm like this walking to Jerusalem to go to worship the Lord. It is so good and educational in many ways. If you were singing that there are people who are lying and deceitful, it is a good reminder to not be the same way. When you are praying to God for deliverance from such people, you are reminding yourself that it is God who is the deliver. And when you are singing that you are for peace even when others are for war, then it also helps form your identity as a person of peace.
Songs instruct. Songs train. Songs direct us in how we think. That’s true not just of worship songs but the songs we listen to on the radio and in the community. The most powerful educators of truth and falsehood are the artists.