God’s Word for You
Psalm 129:1-2 Ever since my youth
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, March 26, 2026
A song of ascents.
1 They have afflicted me greatly ever since my youth—
Let Israel say—
2 They have afflicted me greatly ever since my youth,
but they have not been able to defeat me.
“We Survived.”
There is nothing in this Psalm to suggest a date, either early or late. It could well have been written by David, and the opening sequence is similar to David’s Psalm 124. Both have a similar structure; both are Psalms of Ascents, and they are precisely the same length. It is possible that the two psalms were or could be sung to the same tune. Both psalms praise God for his help in the past. The image of Psalm 124 is birds escaping from a net. In Psalm 129 the image is of bonds being cut by the hand of God.
This psalm looks back at what Israel has been through, and has survived. It is a song of praise, giving credit for the victory to God. The affliction has been severe, “but the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked” (vs. 4). There is a curse on God’s enemies, and there is the kind of prayer (imprecatory) that asks God not to bless such enemies. Since it is titled “A song of ascents,” we know that it was meant to be on the lips of worshipers who were traveling to Jerusalem to the temple to worship, especially at any of the major festivals like Passover or Tabernacles.
Israel’s “youth” goes back to before the time of Moses, into the days of Jacob’s sons, but most especially Joseph. He was afflicted by his brothers, by his captors, by Potiphar’s wicked wife, and by the jailer there in Egypt. But God was good to him; he constantly had Joseph’s good in mind and the good of his kingdom.
After Joseph died, Israel was treated cruelly in Egypt. This, too, led to their good, since it gave God glory when he rescued them from the hand of Pharaoh and brought them out of Egypt and through the waters of the Red Sea (Acts 7:36).
Because of their grumbling and sin, they suffered in the wilderness, and we would not think of this in the terms of the Psalm except that nations like Edom would not let them pass through (Numbers 20:14; Obadiah 1:10), and the king of Moab hired a wicked prophet to curse them (Numbers 22:4-5; Micah 6:5), and the Ammonites, also their relatives, did not lift a finger to help them (Deuteronomy 23:3; Zephaniah 2:8). If we add the Amalekites and certain other groups, such were the enemies that afflicted Israel “ever since (his) youth.”
We can love this Psalm and keep it tucked in our pocket because we will be looked down upon by many other people and groups. Luther gives us similar comfort:
“Since they set themselves up as judges and shepherds and judge us so willingly, they [should be] duty-bound to debate with us, to come and fight like men for their faith. But what do they do? They are the biggest crowd, we are the smallest. They have power over us, we are subjects. They are the most learned people, we the most unlearned. They are the superchristians, we are the arch-heretics.”
In other words, there are many people in the world even within the ranks of Christianity that condemn us or call us old-fashioned and whisper and laugh at us behind our backs that we are behind the times, or accuse us of outdated doctrines that do people harm, but they never once cite a passage to defend their new and improved doctrines apart from “God is love! God is love! God is love!” They want to pretend that “God is love” trumps every other doctrine in the New Testament and everything Jesus Christ or his Apostles ever said. Their whole Bible is three words long; they should just wear it as a T-Shirt and never bother opening a real Bible ever again. There is no place in their hearts for the forgiveness of sins, because forgiveness implies that there would also be sins to forgive, and there can be no sins for God to forgive if calling anything a sin would make anybody sad about the way they choose to live. They act like a melting snowflake if they are accused of sin, and yet all the while they are stoking wood around the stake they have tied themselves to, ready and waiting for Judgment Day and the flames of hell that are waiting for them. “For the Lord himself will fight against them, battling them, swinging weapons” (Isaiah 30:32).
As long as we stand on the Word of God, we are on a sure foundation, an absolute certainty. “The Word of God shall establish articles of faith and no one else, not even an angel.” We must allow scripture to interpret scripture; we must allow clear passages to explain those that are not so clear. And as for the modern unchristian mantra that “God is love is the only doctrinal point to be made,” we also must respond: “Articles of faith must not be set against each other.” God is love, but our loving God commands us to obey his Commandments. Disobedience is still sin. Just as a loving parent will discipline a child, so also our loving God will rebuke, chastise, and discipline us. Otherwise we would never know what sin is, and failing to recognize sin cannot free anyone from sin’s punishment. Only faith in Christ sets us free; Christ who paid the terrible price of our sins with his own blood.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.