Psalm 124:1 NKJV
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,”
Let Israel now say
Divine Protection
My Notes
Scripture
Psalm 124:1 (NKJV) “If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,” Let Israel now say—
David begins this psalm with a call to collective remembrance: “Let Israel now say.” It is not enough for one voice to acknowledge God’s deliverance; the entire covenant community must declare it. The phrase “had been on our side” (Hebrew hayah lanu) echoes the truth of Immanuel—“God with us.” It is a confession that past victories, present preservation, and future hope are all rooted in the Lord’s faithful presence.
History bears witness to this truth. In 1582, when minister John Durie was released from prison in Edinburgh, thousands gathered to sing this psalm as a testimony of God’s deliverance. Their song was so powerful that even persecutors trembled. Such moments remind us that the Lord’s intervention is unmistakable—it cannot be explained by human strength or chance.
The psalmist invites us to imagine: What if the Lord had not been on our side? Without His protection, the malice of enemies would have overwhelmed us. Without His Spirit, temptation would have crushed us. Without His mercy, despair would have consumed us. Yet the Lord has been, is, and will always be our defender.
This psalm calls us to gratitude. Too often, we murmur without thanksgiving, forgetting that every breath, every deliverance, every answered prayer is evidence of God’s hand. Let us join the chorus of Israel and declare with confidence: The Lord is on our side!
Meditation Questions
-
Reflect on a time when God’s intervention in your life was unmistakable. How did you respond?
-
What “what if” moments remind you of God’s faithfulness—times when disaster would have struck had He not been with you?
-
How can you develop a habit of thanksgiving?
-
In what ways does the truth of Immanuel—God with us—strengthen your faith today?
Key Takeaways
-
God’s presence is the decisive factor in every deliverance.
-
Collective remembrance strengthens the faith of the community.
-
History testifies that God’s intervention is unmistakable and undeniable.
-
Gratitude must be stirred up; thanksgiving is not optional but essential.
-
The Lord was, is, and will forever be on the side of His people.
Prayer
Abba, I thank You that You have always been on my side. Without Your mercy, I would have been overwhelmed; without Your Spirit, I would have been defeated. Stir my heart to gratitude and my lips to praise. Help me join with Your people in declaring that You alone are our Deliverer. Strengthen me to trust You in present trials and to rejoice in future hope. May my life be a testimony that You are with us—Immanuel. I ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen
Cross References (NKJV)
-
Isaiah 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
-
Romans 8:31 – “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
-
Isaiah 59:19 – “When the enemy comes in like a flood, The Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard against him.”
-
Matthew 28:20 – “…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
-
Psalm 46:1 – “God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble.”
-
Hebrews 13:6 – “So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”
Proverb for Today
In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death. Proverbs 14:26-27 NKJV
Closing
As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ ” Revelation 3:19-22 NKJV
Bill
Posted on 12/14/2025 by Bill Stephens
Follow me on X – @billstephens_59
Follow me on Truth – @billstephens1959
Please enter your email and click subscribe to be notified whenever I submit a new post.
Summary of Commentaries:
Psalm 124:1 emphasizes Israel’s collective confession that their survival and deliverance were solely due to the Lord’s intervention. Spurgeon highlights God as their eternal ally, urging gratitude and song. Enduring Word notes the phrase echoes Immanuel, affirming God’s active presence. Barnes stresses the unmistakable evidence of divine deliverance. Gill expands on Father, Son, and Spirit, defending believers. Henry underscores human malice nearly destroying them, yet God preserved them.
Commentaries:
Charles Spurgeon
“If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say.” The opening sentence is abrupt and remains a fragment. By such a commencement, attention was aroused as well as feeling expressed: and this is ever the way of poetic fire—to break forth in uncontrollable flame. The many words in italics in our authorized version will show the reader that the translators did their best to patch up the passage, which, perhaps, had better have been left in its broken grandeur, and it would then have run thus:—
Had it not been Jehovah! He was for us, oh let Israel say!
Had it not been Jehovah! He who was for us when men rose against us.”
The glorious Lord became our ally; he took our part, and entered into a treaty with us. If Jehovah were not our protector, where should we be? Nothing but his power and wisdom could have guarded us from the cunning and malice of our adversaries; therefore, let all his people say so, and openly give him the honor of his preserving goodness. Here are two “ifs, “and yet there is no “if” in the matter. The Lord was on our side, and is still our defender, and will be so from henceforth, even forever. Let us, with holy confidence, exult in this joyful fact: We are far too slow in declaring our gratitude, hence the exclamation which should be rendered, “O let Israel say.” We murmur without being stirred up to it, but our thanksgiving needs a spur, and it is well when some warm-hearted friend bids us say what we feel. Imagine what would have happened if the Lord had left us, and then see what has happened because he has been faithful to us. Aren’t all the materials of a song spread before us? Let us sing unto the Lord.
______________________________________________________
Enduring Word
If it had not been the LORD who was on our side: Twice in the first two verses of this psalm, David called Israel to recognize that their help was in God alone. It wasn’t just that Yahweh was present, but that He actively worked on behalf of His people (on our side). (Guzik)
i. “The phrase ‘had been on our side’ (hayah lanu) is the past tense of Immanuel (‘God is with us’). Thus the community confesses that God has been with them in their past history.” (VanGemeren)
ii. “Here is an if which cannot be an if. It is never a matter of uncertainty whether the Lord will be on our side or not. For the Lord Jesus in His incarnation and death has taken His place beside us forevermore. He is always on our side, so long as we keep His paths and walk in His ways.” (Meyer)
iii. “This repetition is not in vain. For whilst we are in danger, our fear is without measure; but when it is once past, we imagine it to have been less than it was indeed. And this is the delusion of Satan, to diminish and obscure the grace of God.” (Luther, cited in Spurgeon)
Let Israel now say: David thought it necessary that all God’s covenant people recognize this. It wasn’t enough for him or a few others to do this; it was the duty of all Israel to know and to say that God was their absolutely essential help. (Guzik)
______________________________________________________
Albert Barnes
If it had not been the Lord who was on our side – Unless it was Yahweh who was with us. The idea is that someone had been with them and had delivered them, and that such was the nature of the interposition that it could be ascribed to no one but Yahweh. It bore unmistakable evidence that it was his work. The deliverance was of such a kind that it could have been accomplished by him only. Such things often occur in life, when the intervention on our behalf is so remarkable that we can ascribe it to no one else but God.
Now may Israel say – May well and truly say. The danger was so great, their helplessness was so manifest, and the deliverance was so clearly the work of God, that it was proper to say that if this had not occurred, ruin would have been inevitable and entire.
______________________________________________________
John Gill
If [it had not been] the Lord who was on our side,…. Or, “was for us”. The Syriac version is, “that rose up for us”; against their enemies, that rose up against them, as in Psalm 123:2: or, “was with us,” as Kimchi and Ben Melech; to help and assist, support and supply, strengthen and defend: or, “was among us,” as the Arabic version; as their King, Protector, and Savior. This implies that he was on their side; was for them, with them, and among them, and took their part against their enemies; see Psalm 118:6; which if he had not done, their case would have been miserable and deplorable; or if any other had took their part, and not he, let them be who they would, angels or men. If God is on the side of us, it matters not who is against us; but if he is not on our side, or against us, it signifies nothing who is for us; see Romans 8:31. It suggests that the case of Israel now was so very forlorn and distressed that none but the Lord himself could help them. Jehovah is on the side of his people in a spiritual sense, or otherwise it would be bad for them: God the Father is on their side; his love and relation to them engage him to be so; hence all those good things that are provided for them, and bestowed on them; nor will he suffer any to do them hurt, they being as dear to him as the apple of his eye; hence he grants them his gracious presence, supports them under all their trials and exercises, supplies all their wants, and keeps them by his power, and preserves them from all their enemies; so that they have nothing to fear from any quarter: Christ is on their side; he is the surety for them, the Savior of them; has took their part against all their spiritual enemies, sin, Satan, the world, and death; has engaged with them, and conquered them; he is the Captain of their salvation, their King at the head of them, that protects and defends them here, and is their friend in the court of heaven; their Advocate and interceding High Priest there, who pleads their cause against Satan, and obtains every blessing for them: the Spirit of Jehovah is on their side, to carry on his own work in them; to assist them in their prayers and supplications; to secure them from Satan’s temptations; to set up a standard for them, when the enemy comes in like a flood upon them; and to comfort them under all their castings down; and to work them up for, and bring them safe to, heaven: but were not this the case, what would become of them?
Now may Israel say, this was a public case the psalmist here records, in which all Israel were concerned; and whom he calls upon to take notice of it, and directs them what to say on this occasion.
______________________________________________________
Matthew Henry
Of the malice of men, by which they were reduced to the very brink of ruin. Let Israel say that there was but a step between them and death: the more desperate the disease appears to have been, the more does the skill of the Physician appear in the cure. Observe,
Whence the threatening danger came: Men rose up against us, creatures of our own kind, and yet bent upon our ruin. Homo homini lupus-Man is a wolf to man. No marvel that the red dragon, the roaring lion, should seek to swallow us up; but that men should thirst after the blood of men, Absalom after the blood of his own father, that a woman should be drunk with the blood of saints, is what, with St. John, we may wonder at with great admiration. From men we may expect humanity, yet there are those whose tender mercies are cruel. But what was the matter with these men?
______________________________________________________
Miscellaneous Comments
“In the year 1582, this Psalm was sung on a remarkable occasion in Edinburgh. An imprisoned minister, John Durie, had been set free and was met and welcomed on entering the town by two hundred of his friends. The number increased till he found himself in the midst of a company of two thousand, who began to sing, as they moved up the long High Street, ‘Now Israel may say,’ etc. They sang in four parts with deep solemnity, all joining in the well-known tune and Psalm. They were much moved themselves, and so were all who heard; and one of the chief persecutors is said to have been more alarmed at this sight and song than at anything he had seen in Scotland.” (Horatius Bonar, cited in Charles Spurgeon)
Leave a Reply