Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

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Praying the Psalms with Augustine and Friends

Psalm 124 with Augustine – The Praising Multitude We have sung a psalm: Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth (v. 6). This is a proper expression of gratitude for the gifts of God. And when can human gratitude ever match such divine gifts? When the blessed martyr shed his sacred blood in this place, I do not know whether there was as big a crowd here of people raging against him, as there is now a multitude of people praising him. I repeat—I am delighted, after all, to see in the house of the Lord people gathering so faithfully in this place. But even if there was a larger crowd, Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. When they killed, they imagined they had conquered; in fact, they were being conquered by the people who were dying, and they rejoiced. If they were being conquered, they were naturally raging. So the raging crowd has departed, and the praising multitude has taken its place. Let them say, let the praising multitude say, Praise be to the LORD, who has not let us be torn by their teeth. Whose teeth? The teeth of the enemies, the teeth of the godless, the teeth of those persecuting Jerusalem, the teeth of Babylon, the teeth of the enemy city, the teeth of the crowd gone stark raving mad in their wickedness, the teeth of a crowd persecuting the Lord, forsaking the Creator, turning to the creature, worshiping things made by hand, ignoring the one by whom they were made.