Order Of Service

Psalm 124:1-8

(1) If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say; (2) If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us: (3) Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us: (4) Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul: (5) Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

(6) Blessed be the Lord, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth. (7) Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped. (8) Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Introduction

It is often said, “You don’t miss your water until your well runs dry.” This popular proverbial expression states metaphorically that many times, we do not place the correct value on people and things until we lose them. It also implies that we can take blessings and people for granted and do not fully appreciate them until they are gone.

One way to fully appreciate a blessing is to do a mental exercise and speculate what would happen or how things would be, if the converse were true. So, while there is still water in the well, pretend it is dry, so you can fully appreciate it. Philosophers and historians do this all the time, as they speculate the many “what ifs.”

What if the United States had lost the Revolutionary War? It would not have been called the Revolutionary War, because there would have been no revolution.

What if the South had won the American Civil War? What if Lincoln had not freed the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation? What if Rosa Parks had given up her seat on the Montgomery bus? What if Adolf Sax, had not invented the saxophone? What if Cristofori had not invented the piano? What if Laurens Hammond had not invented the B3 Hammond Organ? What if Richard Smallwood had not written Total Praise? What if Jesse Eugene Russell had not invented the cell phone? What if Carver had not found hundreds of practical and commercial uses for the peanut? I’ll make it humorously personal: What it my dear mother, Viola Ward, had contracted a headache on the night I was conceived? All of us could think of a zillion “what ifs?”

This is exactly what the psalmist did in our Scripture. He did a spiritual exercise and saw how God had intervened to the benefit of Israel. This psalmist looked at the converse and saw what would have happened if God had not come to their rescue, and he thanked Him for His providential care. So, let’s exegete this Scripture and see what could have happened, but it did not.

Exposition

1. Our Enemies Would Have Destroyed Us.

2. Natural Disasters And Accidents Would Have Overwhelmed Us.

3. Unexpected Situations Would Have Discouraged Us.

4. Traps Would Have Ensnared Us.

Closing Thoughts

Let me close with the final what if: What if we don’t praise Him? The answer is what you’ve heard me say often: Then the rocks will praise Him. There are too many rocks around here. Just about every location has a rock reference: Rockbridge, Stone Mountain, the city of Stonecrest, Rockdale County, and the list goes on and on. I refuse to let a bunch of inanimate rocks do what I am supposed to do.

Give God Glory! Give God All The Glory!

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