Where Would I Be Without God? Finding Your “But God” Story in Psalm 124

By Pastor John Erickson

Have you ever wondered how differently your life might have turned out? One decision, one relationship, one moment could have sent the whole story in another direction. Looking back can be a little overwhelming.

For those of us who follow Jesus, it also raises a deeply personal question: Where would I be if God hadn't been at work in my life? Psalm 124 gives us words for asking that question together.

God's Presence Doesn't Mean the Waters Never Rise

The psalm imagines what would have happened if the Lord had not been with His people. It describes anger, danger, and waters that could have swept them away. It's a song of gratitude from people who know how close they came to being overwhelmed.

Notice what that means. These are people who survived danger, and their worship comes from recognizing God's help within it. They were still attacked. The waters still rose.

We need room for that understanding of faith. It's natural to pray for protection and ask God to remove a problem. Jesus Himself prayed in Gethsemane that the cup might pass from Him, while surrendering to the Father's will.

We can bring those requests honestly. We can also learn to pray, "God, if this isn't removed, please carry me through it."

Some Things Require Rescue

Psalm 124 pictures a bird escaping because a snare has been broken. That image says something important about our need for God. The trapped bird needs more than encouragement to work on itself.

There's plenty of advice available about improving our habits, managing our time, and taking control of our lives. Some of that can be helpful. But there are places where we need God to do what we cannot accomplish on our own.

That admission can be uncomfortable for people who value independence. We want to say we handled it. Yet looking back honestly may reveal moments when we barely knew how to keep going and somehow found ourselves carried.

For Christians, the cross brings that rescue into focus. In Jesus, God entered the place we couldn't escape for ourselves. His resurrection gives us hope that sin and death do not have the final word.

Pause Long Enough to Remember

We're very good at surviving something difficult and immediately moving to the next responsibility. The next problem arrives, the calendar fills up, and we forget to reflect on what God has done.

Psalm 124 invites us to stop. Where has God interrupted the direction of your story? What patterns might have continued without His help? Who did He place in your life when you needed support?

Perhaps you're still in the middle of the struggle. You can bring that to Him, too. This psalm gives you language for gratitude and for asking for help when you can't yet see the way through.

Take a few quiet minutes this week to consider your own "But God" story. Remember where you've been, acknowledge where you are, and ask the Lord to help you recognize His faithfulness. Sometimes looking back helps us find courage for the road still ahead.

I remember traveling to Hartford for work and arriving at the hotel sore after the flights. On the trip home, I was already thinking about how to make the travel less uncomfortable. I am very interested in avoiding pain when I can. Most of us are.

That helps me recognize something in my prayers. I often ask God to keep anything bad from happening: protect me, protect my family, remove the problem. There is room for those prayers. But Psalm 124 also gives me another prayer: God, if You do not keep me from it, carry me through it.

I have even heard people tell me their favorite Psalm is the one about footprints in the sand. That is a poem, not a Psalm. I understand why the image connects with people, though: sometimes we only recognize how we were carried when we look back. Psalm 124 invites us to remember the Lord's help without pretending the waters never rose.