The Snare is Broken, a Reflection on Psalm 124

I'm trying to imagine the original setting for this psalm. Everybody is grateful. Everybody is traveling to a great festival. Which is harder for me to imagine happening in my time--that they are on a pilgrimage, or that they are on it together?

This psalm gives us words to express gratitude and reminds us to whom we owe our rescue.

If God had not been on our side, we would have been swallowed up by enemies--human ones and ones of nature.

We have escaped like a bird
from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
and we have escaped.

Although this psalm is written for a community, individuals can also find solace and suggestion in it. When you have escaped from whatever snare had trapped you, you can pray these words. When you are still entrapped, you can use them as a reminder that help does come.