Psalm 120 Devotional

Seeking Peace Among the Hostile

“I am in favor of peace; but when I speak, they want war.”Psalm 120:7 (BSB)

The songs of ascents, Psalms 120 through 134, each carry that heading, and the first begins far from where it wants to be. The psalmist remembers that he cried to the LORD in distress and was answered (120:1), so he prays again, for rescue from lying lips and a deceitful tongue (120:2). He trusts God to deal with deceit as sharply as a warrior's arrows (120:3-4).

The last lines ache with homesickness. He laments living in Meshech and among the tents of Kedar, too long among people who hate peace (120:5-6). He wants peace, but when he speaks, they want war (120:7). The psalm does not pretend he can change them. It shows him bringing the strain to God and remaining a man of peace anyway. Paul urges believers to live at peace with everyone as far as it depends on them (Romans 12:18), which admits that sometimes it will not. You can keep seeking peace where it is not returned, and leave the liars to the God who answers.

To think about: Where are you seeking peace that is not being returned, and what would it look like to leave that situation with God?