READ Psalm 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.
EXILE. This is the first of fifteen “Songs of Ascent” sung by those ascending Mount Zion for the annual feasts.133 The psalmist seeks peace, but those around him want only conflict with him and his faith (verse 7). This is “the resentment of one way of life against its opposite . . . which no amount of goodwill, short of capitulation or conversion, can resolve.”134 In this situation the Bible forbids either compromise (2 Corinthians 6:14ff) or retaliation (Romans 12:14–21). The psalmist leaves vengeance to God (verse 3–4), but even when believers peacefully serve their neighbors, they may attract hostility (1 Peter 2:12). So we follow our Lord, who was also a man of peace in a culture of war (1 Peter 2:21–25).
Prayer: Lord, it breaks my heart, and often my patience, when despite my overtures of peace a person remains implacably adversarial. And I live in a culture where many think constant, angry indignation is a moral virtue. Lord, I ask your help to continue loving and offering respect to those who are against me and what I believe. Amen.