Down But Never Out

Introduction
One of my favourite movie heroes is Rocky Balboa. The first Rocky was released in 1976, the year I was born, and it won Best Picture at the Oscars that year. I grew up watching Rocky and loved every single film released in its series. Even though its story line is often very predictable and cheesy, but whenever Rocky speaks about his struggles or shown his undeterred determination to fight on, it never fails to bring tears to my eyes. I don’t know why, but I always had a soft spot for Rocky. Maybe I can identify with his human frailness and emotions.
And recently, I had the privilege of introducing Rocky to two of our youths who, to my surprise, had never seen Rocky before. We watched Rocky III, where Rocky is now the world champion and he is at the top of his game. But complacency made him lose his title to James “Clubber” Lang, played by Mr. T (from the A-Team). “Clubber” was much bigger, stronger and more aggressive than Rocky. But Rocky had speed and quick reflexes, plus the fact that he can withstand punches better than anyone, hence his nickname, Rocky. And that was how he won over “Clubber”. He allowed himself to be punched so much until “Clubber” became tired and that was when Rocky hit back when “Clubber” was at his weakest. The fight scenes were realistic and exciting, with some blood and gore at the side, and a dash of cheesy humour added in for good measures. Well, I dare say, they enjoyed it as much as I did.
One thing about Rocky I learned is that very often, we see him being punched to the pulp by more powerful opponents, but he always gets up and fights back. What I love about Rocky is that he always shows a side of perseverance and tenacity – his never-say-die fighting spirit. Some calls it the eye of the tiger. He has a hunger to win that is unparallel to other boxers. His name, Rocky, is the epitome of his fighting spirit. He is solid like a rock! He is often knocked down, but rarely knocked out!
In a way, Israel is like Rocky. Israel, as a Chosen Nation, has been through great hardship and suffering through its long history. Some of her troubles were caused by their own disobedience to God, while some were a result of being victims to more powerful neighbouring nations. Last month, I preached on Ps 124 and coincidentally, Ps 129 bears much similarity to it. The first two verses in both psalms are repeated respectively; while the call to “let Israel say” is identical in both. Because of its historical context of oppression, Ps 129 is most likely written in the post-exilic period. Thus, we shall only acknowledge its author as the psalmist.
Prayer for Divine Deliverance (vv. 1-4)
• Persecuted by her enemies: Israel’s enemies ploughing on Israel’s back (vv. 1-3)
Structurally, both psalms are in a form of a prayer, Ps 124 is a prayer of thanksgiving and Ps 129 is a prayer of deliverance and judgment. The first four verses in Ps 129 speak of how God has delivered Israel from her enemies. The psalmist in Ps 124 likened her enemies to destructive floods and to a hunter. Here he likens them to a farmer who ploughs the fields on Israel’s back. Since her youth, Israel’s enemies have greatly oppressed her. In another translation, it reads, “They’ve kicked me around since I was young”.
Indeed, in the OT, they were oppressed by the Egyptians, the Babylonians, and later the Persians. And in the NT, the Jews were conquered by the Romans. During WWII, in his campaign to build the Aryan race, a master race of people of northern European descent, Adolf Hitler ordered the extermination of 6 million Jews across Europe. That is more than the entire Singaporean population! Some of the Holocaust survivors are still alive today to speak of the “horror of horrors” and the inhumane oppression. Today, Israel is still under great turmoil being the only non-Islamic nation sandwiched in the Middle East. They are still fighting with the Palestinians over the West Bank and the Gaza strip. This Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still on-going today. There seems to be no peace under the Star of David. For them, violence has become a way of life.
• Protected by God: Israel being cut free from the cords of the wicked (v. 4)
But yet, after all these struggles and suffering, Israel is very much still alive today. They believe that God will deliver them from their enemies. The undeterred determination to never give up in a fight! They have been knocked down many times, but never knocked out! They are one tough nut! Ask our Pastor Daniel about this, he was trained by the Israeli army in his NS days.
The psalmist gives testimony of their tenacity and God’s deliverance, “let Israel say – they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained victory over me” (v. 2) and “the Lord is righteous [for] he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked” (v. 4). No matter how badly they have been beaten down, her enemies will gain no victory. Even though, they had been under oppression for a long time, God will deliver and protect them. For a nation who has been oppressed for so long (even until today) and yet still hold such strong faith in God’s promise of deliverance shows their tenacity and their determination to stick to God. Israel is tenacious, not because of their faithfulness to God, but because God has been faithful to them.
Prayer for Divine Judgement (vv. 5-8)
• Israel’s enemies to be turned back in shame and withered away like grass on the roof (vv. 5-6)
• An empty harvest: Reapers cannot fill his hands, and the gatherers cannot fill his arms (v. 7)
• Loss of blessing (v. 8)
The next four verses is a prayer for God’s divine judgement to punish Israel’s enemies. “May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.” Zion represents the Jewish people and her God. The ultimate vindication of God is to see Israel’s enemies grovel in humiliation. They are like grass on the roof that withered away when the sun comes up. Old Jewish homes were made with clay and dried grass piled together as the roof. Sometimes, the moisture in the air may cause the grass to sprout new leaves. But as they do not have roots, they withered away when the sun comes up at mid-day. These farmers would have nothing to harvest and nothing to gather. And when they walked home empty-handed, their neighbors could neither bless nor congratulate them. The blessing of the Lord was lost. Wow! It sounds really bad. How could a prayer sound so much like a curse?
When I first read these last four verses, it was quite unsettling for me. Why did the psalmist pray in this manner? Some tried to defend the psalmist by suggesting that maybe he was not yet a Christian. But surely he had Leviticus to read: “You shall not hate your brother in your heart…You shall not take vengeance or bear any grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:17-18). And in Proverbs, “Don’t laugh when your enemy falls; don’t crow over his collapse” (Pro 24:17). When Jesus said, “Love your enemies,” he did not add anything new to what the psalmist had before him. There is no excuse for the psalmist’s vindictiveness.
Being honest…
But can we learn something from him? Indeed, we can. However inappropriate we may feel about his prayer, we must first acknowledge his honesty. He is an angry man and he has been angry for a long time. But he did not act upon his anger. Instead, he prayed to God and brought it before him in all honesty. He is not perfect but he is perfectly truthful about what is deep in his heart. This is what we ought to learn from him. We ought to be authentic Christians. His emotions were real.
Consider our emotions. Have we never ever experience flashes of anger at those who may our way hard and difficult? Has there never been a single moment of frustration in your life? Even saints have times when they are down. The mother of all saints, Mother Theresa, in her collection of private writings published after her death, in a letter to her confessor, she wrote about her inner struggles and “untold darkness”, this loneliness, this continual longing for God. In these moments, she describes that “the place of God in my soul is blank – There is no God in me”. Mother Theresa was an authentic Christian. Such honesty is rarely seen today. Very often, we cover up our inadequacy and weaknesses and show God only our superficial self. But God knows us better than we know ourselves. He desires our inner sanctuary. He wants the real “you”, and not the “you” you have projected to others.
The psalms are not sung by perfect pilgrims. The old pilgrims have made mistakes in the past, just as we make ours. Perseverance does not mean “perfection.” It just means to keep on going when the going gets tough. We do not quit when the road is long. We keep on walking. (And, no, I am not promoting Johnny Walker’s Black Label today.) When the odds are down, we look to God and ask him for strength for each new day. We are less than perfect. We all have our moments of folly when we get caught shouting at our wives, our husbands, at our children. Our yelling shows that we care about something very much. But this does not justify our yelling. I hope that we can learn to direct our passion for God. If only we care more about the things of God and his kingdom, there will be less shouting at each other today. Let us care and shout for the right things in life. Let us shout out loud that “Jesus saves!”
By Jesus’ stripes upon his back, we are saved
Let me return to the imagery of Israel’s back being ploughed by the farmers. This imagery alludes also to the stripes on Jesus’ back when he was whipped and humiliated by the Roman soldiers at his trial before his death on the cross. 1 Pe 2:24 tell us that, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.” Jesus has bore our sins on the cross, and by his stripes upon his back, we are saved.
And consider Paul. Let me read from 2 Cor 11:23-29.
23 Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak?
He is weak. His life is so full of persecution and adversity, and yet at the end of his life he wrote, “I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.
That the spirit! That is the eye of the tiger! No matter how tough our Christian journey is, I am not turning back! That is the Christian spirit! Persevering. Determined. Tenacious. Faithful. Stuck to God! Do these words describe you? Are you like Rocky?
What relevance has Ps 129 for us today?
Two things I would like to leave with you. Firstly, we must cultivate a spirit that does not give up. We may be knocked down several times, but we must hang in there and stick to Jesus. We may be knocked down many times, but never knocked out! Secondly, we must be honest before God. In the NT, we are reminded by Jesus to love our enemies. We need to learn to love those who hate us. Do not act upon your anger, but bring them to God in prayer and ask God to help you. God is just and he will vindicate us. Do not wage war in the name of God or start a holy war. God did not ask us to do this. He told us to love our enemies.
No matter how hard are our struggles today, they are only temporal; there will be a better tomorrow because God is already there before us. God is faithful, even when we are unfaithful. God is on our side, and He has got our backs covered. We need to trust in him. Allow me to conclude today’s sermon with another quotation from Paul in 2 Co 4:8-9.
8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
Remember, we may be down, but never out!
Let us pray.