God has many ways of disabling men to do their mischief against His people and of bringing their counsels to naught.
He is righteous in allowing His saints for a time to be afflicted and He is righteous in reckoning with all persecutors in the end.
Psalm 1
1 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
2 Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
4 The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
5 Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
6 Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
7 Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
8 Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
Psalm 1 – J. Vernon McGee
Psalm 129 – “It Shall Be Well with Thee”
Forebodings Past deliverances, Psalm 129:1-4. Israel’s youth was spent in Egypt. See Hosea 2:15; 11:1; Jeremiah 2:6. As the plow tears up the soil, so the lash cuts their quivering flesh. But in such furrows God sows the seed of a blessed “afterward.” When our case is desperate, God cuts the oxen’s binding cords, the plow stands still, and the bitter pain ceases. Forebodings and predictions, Psalm 129:5-8. Withered grass, unmourned, fit only for fuel. Such is the fate of those who oppress God’s people. The reference is to the scant blades which grow on the flat roof of an Eastern house. The usual benediction on the reaper’s toil will never extend to those withered blades. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Psalm 129:1-2—Many a time have they afflicted me: yet they have not prevailed against me.
What a wonder it is that Satan and man do not prevail against the saint! There is no way of accounting for it, except in God’s election because God has chosen us for Himself, and redeemed us at great cost, He cannot afford to hand us over to the will of our enemies. He may allow our backs to be furrowed by the heavy scourge, because the servant must be as his Lord; but He will cut our cords in the day selected for our execution, and let us go free from the hand of our foes. So it was with Peter, and many a time with Paul.
Let us then walk with God. Fellowship with Him should be the daily bread of our souls. If we cultivate the fresh sense of fellowship with Him, we shall not yield to fear, be our foes never so venomous and their plans never so insidious. A close walk with God is the sure way of escaping them. “The man of God sent unto the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place;… And the king of Israel sent to the place that the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice” (2 Kings 6:9-10).
This daily fellowship is only possible through the blood of Jesus, by which we draw nigh unto God; and it only be maintained, by constant watchfulness in little things. Let us be very zealous over ourselves for the Lord, watching against the least shyness between the soul and Himself. Where there is much love between friends, a cold look is a matter of complaint. When least inclined to pray, we need to pray the more. When least conscious of Christ’s nearness, we need to be most eager, like the old covenanter, to wrestle for access. If the King have not sent for thee these many days, await Him in his court. —Our Daily Homily