"If God is for us, who can be against us?" Paul asked in Romans 8:31, and we know the answer. No one can be against us if God is for us. That's the theme of Psalm 124. "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive, when their wrath was kindled against us" (vv. 2,3).

Because God is on our side, men cannot devour us. The psalmist compares his enemies to ferocious lions or bears who might come down upon him and eat him. There are people who would like to "eat us up" also. When men are determined to devour you, remember that God will stop them.

But it may not be that men are devouring you. Perhaps circumstances are drowning you. "Then the waters would have overwhelmed us, the stream would have gone over our soul; then the swollen waters would have gone over our soul" (vv. 4,5). Life seems to drown us and sink us as the waters rush over our souls. But because God is for us, circumstances cannot drown us.

The psalmist changes the picture from swallowing and drowning to escaping from a trap. "Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped" (v. 7). God not only keeps us from drowning and being devoured, He keeps us from being deceived and trapped by the Devil. He doesn't just set us free; He breaks the snare. In other words, the Devil can't trap us again as long as we are following the Lord.

Don't let life devour you. Don't let life drown you. Don't let the Devil deceive you. If God is for you, who can be against you?