Psa 125: 1-5 “Better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man”

[Study aired August 1, 2019]

Psa 125:1 A Song of degrees. They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. 
Psa 125:2  As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. 
Psa 125:3  For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. 
Psa 125:4  Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. 
Psa 125:5  As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel. 

Trusting in the Lord is a huge subject in God’s word, but it comes down to knowing that our Father has to form that trust in the marred vessels (Jer 18:4) which we are through the fiery trials (2Co 1:9) that bring us to see that He alone can deliver us from that natural spirit in man which wants to lean unto our own understanding (Pro 14:12). We are told in Psalm 118:8 “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man“, but in order to do that, a spiritual circumcision of heart must occur so we can be of the generation who have no confidence in the flesh while we grow toward having absolute confidence in our Lord and Saviour who can and will deliver all those who are blessed to put their confidence in Him.

2Co 1:9  But we had the sentence of death in ourselves [1Co 15:31], that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead [Eph 2:6]: 
2Co 1:10  Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us; 

Pro 14:12  There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. 

Php 3:3  For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh [Rom 6:11].

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 
Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise [Luk 21:19].
Heb 10:37  For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. 

There is a clear correlation being made in these verses below admonishing us to remember that God’s grace is sufficient and needed in our lives (2Co 12:9) or we would “wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived”. Our Lord, in the days of His flesh and His body, learned, and we are learning, obedience by the thing that He/we suffer (Col 1:24). Part of that suffering is the persecution we are promised we must endure as His children (Mat 5:11, 1Jn 4:17, Heb 5:8). If we are blessed to be as Christ was while He was in His flesh, something great and powerful is going to unfold in our heavens regarding the persecution described in all of these verses: (1Jn 4:18, Luk 10:18, Rev 12:10, Mat 20:23).

2Ti 3:10  But thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, charity, patience, 
2Ti 3:11  Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me [Php 4:13]. 
2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus [Rom 8:9] shall suffer persecution. 
2Ti 3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 

Mat 5:11  Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 
Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven [Rom 8:9]: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment [1Pe 4:17]: because as he is, so are we in this world. 
1Jn 4:18  There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. [We can’t be made perfect without our hope of glory within  [Rom 8:9, Col 1:27].

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

King David tells us of the Lord, “One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life [Heb 10:25], to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.”  

We know that in type and shadow God did answer this prayer and desire of king David who was a type of the elect, but not as our flesh would conceive dwelling in His temple; no it is rather being the temple of God (1Co 2:6) which David symbolized for God’s children today having endured so many persecutions and enemies that all symbolized the lifetime of overcoming to which we are called as God’s children (1Pe 1:12, Act 14:22). 

It was Solomon who actually dwelt in the house of the Lord in the temple that was built to the glory of God, whereas David’s life was full of challenges and extreme circumstances caused by God for our benefit and to remind us that we are more than conquerors through Christ when His power rests upon us, and it does rest upon us when His strength is being perfected through our weakness (Tit 2:12). The training we are going through as His kind of first fruits is critical in order for us to mature and be able to discern good and evil and rightly divide the word of God so we can serve those who will come after us and those who are maturing with us in this age (Heb 5:14, 1Co 6:3)

Tit 2:12  Teaching^G3811 us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

G3811  paideuō  pahee-dyoo’-o   From G3816; to train up a child, that is, educate, or (by implication) discipline (by punishment): – chasten (-ise), instruct, learn, teach.

Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil [Isa 45:7].

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life? 

The verses we will examine in this study are very confirming in revealing God’s workmanship which we are (Eph 2:10), and describes for us how it is “better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man”, knowing that with the obedient spirit to what God tells us to do, we will mature through the trials and be brought to our safe haven after we have suffered for awhile.

Psa 107:28  Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 
Psa 107:29  He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 
Psa 107:30  Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 

Psa 125:1 A Song of degrees. They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. 

The only way to “trust in the Lord”…”as mount Zion” is by being granted in this life that we be dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44) where we can “lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help”(Psa 121:1).  

Christ and His Christ are represented by mount Zion, and Psalm 121 really solidifies the idea that we “cannot be removed, but abideth for ever” when we are blessed to continue in His word and be founded upon our rock, Jesus Christ, who has the words of eternal life.

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S. 

Psa 121:1  A Song of degrees. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. 
Psa 121:2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. 
Psa 121:3  He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 
Psa 121:4  Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. 
Psa 121:5  The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand. 
Psa 121:6  The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. 
Psa 121:7  The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. 
Psa 121:8  The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore. 

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 

Psa 125:2  As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever. 

Last study we looked at how vulnerable we are in the flesh and discussed how that physical vulnerability is a shadow of our own spirits that could be sifted like wheat, if God allowed (Rom 1:20, Luk 22:31). Our old man will be sifted, so that the new creation can be formed within us, and it is this process of maturing which has God looking at us as the apple of His eye (Zec 2:8). He is bringing us to be convinced that nothing can separate us from His love which is likened to these majestic words “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever“. We know Christ said if we abide or continue in His word we will be disciples indeed, and in this particular verse we see how this can be accomplished: it is because “the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever” [1Ti 6:8].

Luk 22:31  And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 

Zec 2:8  For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.

1Ti 6:6  But godliness with contentment is great gain. 
1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. 
1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. 
1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 

Psa 125:3  For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity. 

This is what will happen if we are granted to “in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” and “be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil” of Proverb 3:6-7. We can only learn obedience through those things we suffer as we cease from sinning (1Pe 4:1-2, Tit 2:12), falling seven symbolic times in our own walk (Pro 24:16), as we “put forth” our “hands unto iniquity”, believing and being convicted of God at an appointed time of those sins (Rom 2:4). Christ bore those iniquities on the cross so that we could be reconciled to our Father through Christ’s suffering, which includes the suffering that we endure together as the body of Christ (Isa 53:4-5, Gal 6:2, Heb 12:1). Those two concepts cannot be separated. We are his body, and we are suffering as He suffered, and we are overcoming as He overcame this world, and we are reconciled through His suffering and His death, but now “much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” which gives us the power to be dead to sin and alive in Christ (Joh 16:32-33, Rom 8:37, 1Jn 2:16-17, Rom_5:10)

Rom 5:11  And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. 
Rom 5:12  Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 
Rom 5:13  (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 
Rom 5:14  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. 
Rom 5:15  But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead [1st Adam within], much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace [Tit 2:12], which is by one man, Jesus Christ [2nd Adam within (Col 1:27)], hath abounded unto many.

Psa 125:4  Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts. 

God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Heb 11:6), and the bible is very clear that God not being a respecter of persons (Act 10:34) does not mean that he has not laid up in store untold riches for those who are judged in this age and blessed to overcome and be found in that blessed and holy first resurrection (1Co 2:9, Mat 19:27-29, Rev 20:6, Mar 10:31). If that were not the case, then all of these words of Christ we’ve studied are in vain and should have never been uttered by Him; but let God be true and every man a liar (Rom 3:4) and believe that you are one of those precious first fruits (Psa 107:2) who were first caused to believe and trust on Him (1Co 15:23, Jas 1:18, Joh 6:28-29, Eph 1:12).

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore? 
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 

Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. 

Psa 107:2  Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 

Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. 

God is righteous and will not forget our labour of love that He has worked within those who were ordained from the foundation of the world to be those in whom He would work both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Eph 2:10, Isa 49:15, Heb 6:10, Php 2:13). It is a gift, and a lofty one at that, that caused all of Joseph’s brothers to hate him because of his visions and the love that his father bestowed upon him.

1Jn 3:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: [two groups: Jacob whom God loves, and Esau whom I hated (Rom 9:13), and yes Esau is being destroyed in us first as we put off our flesh first by the grace and faith of Christ (Eph 2:8)] therefore the world [Esau] knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 
1Jn 3:2  Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be (Eph_1:14): but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 
1Jn 3:3  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 

God did this to Joseph’s brothers (causing them to envy and hate Joseph) to show us what is in our own hearts and how the soul just naturally lusts to envy (Jas 4:5), and unless He burns that spiritual immaturity out of us in this age through the much suffering and fiery trials of this life, there is no way that we could be otherwise (1Co 3:3-9). We know Christ has prayed for us, however, and we pray for each other in the name of the Lord: “do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts” (Luk 22:31). There is none good in the realm of the flesh as Christ said (Mat 19:17), and so we have to conclude that yes, God will “do good…unto good…[and] upright in their hearts” meaning those who are found with His righteousness in them and not their own (Php 3:9).

Jas 4:5  Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 

1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 
1Co 3:5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? 
1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 
1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 
1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 
1Co 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building [1Co 3:16].

Mat 19:17  And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. 

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: [the way by which we can believe and “keep the commandments“].

Psa 125:5  As for such as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel. 

When we keep the commandments of God, we receive the peace that passes all understanding as the Israel of God (Psa 119:165, Gal 6:16), but if we do not possess the patience and faith of the saints, then we would naturally “turn aside unto their crooked ways”. Notice who would be the one who would do this: “the LORD shall lead them forth with the workers of iniquity“.

Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. [we are all born with that mark of the beast but God’s elect are the first to be put into the book of life by overcoming that mark through Christ. We are banished like Cain but God redeems us through Christ’s blood (2Sa 14:14)]

2Sa 14:14  For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him. 

Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. 

Psa 119:165  Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them. 

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 

This last verse of our study really drives home the point that it is “better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man”, but it also shows that unless the Lord builds the house, our labor is in vain (Psa 127:1). It requires a miracle of faith to believe and a miracle of deception that comes from the Lord which “leads them forth with the workers of iniquity”. They are workers, God says, and they are serving us in their unbelief (Rom 11:20-21). When we examine the fruit of their lives, we are seeing where we would be except for the grace of God that chastens and scourges us (how the house is built Heb 12:6) so that we can be received in this age and understand that it is “better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man”.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 

Rom 11:20  Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 
Rom 11:21  For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.