For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Psa 120

1 I call on the Lord in my distress,
    and he answers me.
2 Save me, Lord,
    from lying lips
    and from deceitful tongues.

3 What will he do to you,
    and what more besides,
    you deceitful tongue?
4 He will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
    with burning coals of the broom bush.

5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek,
    that I live among the tents of Kedar!
6 Too long have I lived
    among those who hate peace.
7 I am for peace;
    but when I speak, they are for war.

A. Find Out

1. What does the Psalmist do and what happens? v.1
2. What does he ask the Lord to do? v.2
3. What does he ask of what and with what response? v.3,4
4. What is his sorrow? v.5
5. Why? v.6
6. What does he feel about himself in contrast? v.7

B. Think:

1. From what had the Psalmist been suffering?
2. So what was his request?
3. What did he feel about his environment?

C. Comment:

                The first of the ‘songs of ascents’ possibly used by pilgrims making their way up to Jerusalem. As they move towards the Lord, they seek to put down the worries of their lives.

                The Psalmist thus makes a general declaration that he had called on the Lord and the Lord had answered him (v.1). Prayer is the starting place of the besieged believer and he can be assured that the Lord will hear and answer.

                His request in prayer was to be delivered from lying tongues (v.2). Now this may be because he (or she) had been slandered or it may simply by an expression of this person’s awareness that they lived among a people who rarely spoke the truth. Isaiah similarly declared, “I live among a people of unclean lips.” (Isa 6:5).

                The psalmist goes on to ponder what the Lord will do about these lying lips (v.3) and concludes that the Lord will punish them (v.4) He bemoans the fact that he feels like he is living among aliens (v.5) for Meshech and Kedah were both places where foreigners lived. His anguish is that he lives among those who hate peace (v.6) whereas he is one who loves peace (v.7)

                This in this first psalm he faces and rejects the sin in the society around him (or her), sin spoken by the lips.

D. Application:

1. Our words reveal what our heart is like. What is it like?
2. Do I speak only truth? Do I avoid gossip?