The psalmist David makes an emphatic assertion at the end of Psalm 124 that’s borne out of a lived experience. His words are found in Psalms 124:8.

Our help is in the name of the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

He doesn’t know about others and neither can he speak on behalf of them. But as for him and the rest of God’s people, their help comes from the Creator of the universe Himself.

It is crazy and presumptuous to claim that your help is in the Creator God Himself. After all, who do you think you are? Why would the Creator God stoop so low to act on your behalf? You must be mad.

But David isn’t. He was fully aware of the cosmic difference and separation between Creator and creation. He openly admits it in Psalms 8:3 – 4

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Here was David freely owning up to the fact that he himself cannot wrap his head around the fact that the God of the universe minds man and is considerate of him. It is mind boggling for him too. He cannot get his head round it but neither does he dismiss it. Rather, he marvels at it.

You see David did not make up the claim in Psalm 124:8 out of thin air. His assertion was neither presumptuous nor unfounded. He did not add it to the song to create an effect. He did not embellish the lyrics to make it sound great. It was not an exaggeration for effect. Rather, it was an assertion borne out of a lived experience.

It was the experience of divine intervention and spectacular deliverance from a life and death situation that led David to the simple admission: “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”

Verses 1 – 7 detail the backstory behind the bold assertion in verse 8.

Psalms 124:2 – 7
If the LORD had not been on our side
when men attacked us,
then they would have swallowed us alive
in their burning anger against us.

Then the waters would have engulfed us;
the torrent would have swept over us;
the raging waters would have swept over us.

Praise the LORD,
who has not let us be ripped apart by their teeth.
We have escaped like a bird from the hunter’s net;
the net is torn, and we have escaped.

David of course can’t speak for anyone else but for himself and the people of God. So as far as his experience went, the help of God’s people was none other than the Creator God of heaven and earth Himself. Full stop. No ifs. No buts.

God’s people sang these so-called “Songs of ascent” as they approached Jerusalem. They were on their way to worship The Lord at the temple. In fact, their worship started on the way there. They did not wait until they got there to sing his praises. As they approached the temple in Jerusalem, they reminded themselves of His awesome deliverance from their life and death situation. They reflected on where their help truly came from.

And they were not just paying lip service to God. For them it was a lived experience and one they chose to repeatedly and regularly remind themselves of in song. They also wanted to communicate it to those who may not have experienced it first–hand. They aimed to bring to their attention the reality of God and His palpable, life–transforming deliverance and help. However, they did not share a lived experience just to communicate the reality of God’s proximity. They also aimed to encourage and infuse faith in Him – He was not a distant God you just talked about. He was a very near One, whom you got to tangibly experience.

Even today, remembering God’s intervention in our lives stirs us up. Recalling His divine deliverance leads us to praise and thanksgiving.

Who is your 🫵 help?
Is the maker of heaven and earth truly your 🫵 help?
Do you acknowledge Him as the source of your help?

As you too embrace and share the David’s assertion and proclaim it in faith, you step into its experiential reality. It becomes your experience too. Your understanding of God and His nearness is shaped and transformed by it.