A Word from the Word

The Watershed of History

Psalm 129:1–2, 5–6

“Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up.” Let Israel now say, “Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up, yet they have not prevailed against me. May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward, let them be like grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up.”     NASB

There’s a very important principle contained in those verses. God identifies Himself with His people, even when His people are weak and persecuted. God does not turn away from them. And the way that we treat His people is reckoned by God as the way that we treat Him. We cannot oppose Zion; we cannot oppose God’s people and God’s purposes in this earth and have the blessing of God.

The Scripture says there, “May all who hate Zion be like grass upon the housetops which withers before it grows up.” The prosperity of those who oppose God’s purposes and God’s people is very short lived. They may begin to sprout like the grass, but it’s the grass on the housetops which really has no soil to grow in and as soon as the sun rises, it withers and they are left there like a relic of something that could have been great but has failed to achieve greatness.

The key to greatness, both individual and national, is to identify with God’s purposes and God’s people, and that means the people that God is restoring and bringing back to their land, to their city, the people of Israel and the church of Jesus Christ. That’s where God’s heart is, and as we identify with that we are blessed of God.