Psalm
121:1-121:8
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From
whence shall my help come? My help comes from
the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not
allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will
not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will
neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your
keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right
hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the
moon by night. The LORD will protect you from
all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will
guard your going out and your coming in from
this time forth and forever. Psalm 121:1-8 (NASB)
From where does
your help come? In which direction do you turn
when life runs over you like a cement truck?
Almost anyone in our culture will admit they
turn to God in prayer; a very large percentage
of Americans admit to believing in God and
prayer.
But “praying to God” can mean different things
to different people! The beliefs of many
religions conflict; not all of them can be
right. For instance, believing that God hears
all prayers is as naïve as believing that God
would hear the prayers for victory of both the
Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees should
they meet in the World Series again. The Yankees
pray to be world champs; the Braves ask the
Lord, help us defeat the Yankees. It cannot be
both ways. (Anyway, everyone knows He is a
Braves fan!).
Consider the many and varied religious beliefs
about prayer in today’s world cultures:
there are Native Americans praying to the Great
Spirit;
Wicca (witchcraft) prays to “Mother nature”
Unitarian Universalists pray to themselves
…and New Age adherents of all kinds send their
prayers to anything Shirley MacLaine has dreamed
about.
In America today we are asked to go past
“tolerance” (being gracious to exist
side-by-side in peace) and all the way to
valuing each of these belief systems as equal.
The problem remains; when one system of belief
says you pray to Buddha, another to Allah, some
to the wind, and others to God through Jesus
Christ, somebody has got to be wrong and someone
right.
If I have a plug on the end of my toaster and
there is a choice of 110, 220 and nuclear
reactor, I can only be right in one outlet…the
others will fry me!
The Psalm we just read shows us how our Jewish
brothers made use of a litany in worship to
ensure that prayers for help would always be
directed toward the one true God. Lifting up
your eyes to the mountains is the Psalmist’s way
of saying – look to Jerusalem – the hills where
we worship Jehovah, the deliverer…that’s where
real help comes from!
And, they do not mean the hills, as if mountains
or nature provides deliverance. Indeed, nature
is the opposite of a deliverer; nature can be,
and most often is cruel and harsh.
Gazelles being chased by lions know this!
Victims of earthquakes understand how grisly
“Mother” nature can be.
Fire destroys homes even on Walton’s mountain.
The psalmist was not looking at the hills; he
was looking to the God he meets at the temple
built on the hills of Jerusalem.
This Psalm is one of many Songs of Ascent; these
songs were sung as worshippers went up to gather
at the temple. It was used in worship rituals as
the worshipper would approach the priest:
I lift up my eyes to the hills (where my God
resides)
The priest responds: Where does your help come
from?
The worshipper: My help comes from the Lord who
made heaven and earth!
We do much the same when we invite God to be
honored by our worship, and we ask in Jesus’
name that He receive our worship. It is an
affirmation by the whole congregation that our
prayer is to God.
The ancient and modern Jew state the She’ma
daily, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one
God, we affirm (to the exclusion of all other
gods) – Our God Reigns!
Why do we do that? Look at the calendar – it is
Easter; resurrection has dawned. The dead man
got out of a tomb and we are following Him.
AMEN!
A Muslim in Africa became a Christian and some
of his friends asked him, “Why have you done
such a thing?” He answered, “Well, it’s like
this: Suppose you were going down the road and
suddenly the road forked in two directions. You
didn’t know which way to go; and there at the
fork were two men—one dead, and one alive—which
one would you ask to show you the way?”[1]
A Universal Question
From where does my help come? It is a universal
question. As the sparks fly upward, said Job,
man is found in all sorts of trouble.[2]
And so, man is always looking for help. One man
said that he only prays when he is in trouble,
and since he’s in trouble all the time he never
stops praying.
A Universal Answer
In our Scripture text, the second verse is the
key to answering our universal question with the
only intelligent universal answer – my help
comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.
If the Lord God is the Creator, then He is
certainly the sustainer of all life, and holds
the power for all our needs.
For by Him all things were created, both in the
heavens and on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or rulers or
authorities—all things have been created through
Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in
Him all things hold together. Colossians 1:16-17
(NASB)
Now, between you, me and the lamp post that
power had better be stronger than the average
lightning bolt I’ve seen. Because the last time
I checked the needs of humans worldwide is
pretty staggering.
In the psalmist’s day going up to Jerusalem to
worship had its dangers and worries.
There were rough roads – loose rubble on
mountainous terrain could cause your foot to
stumble. The psalmist said God would watch to
make sure your foot didn’t stumble. Today our
SUV’s and All-terrain vehicles have got that
handled.
In that day robbers were behind every bush; the
psalmist promised God would not sleep while
you’re in danger – He would be the shade or
protective device on your right hand. We have
the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security and a sheriff to
protect us – and great forensic labs if they
slip-up.
There are some things we still haven’t figured
out. Consider the list:
Earthquakes kill
Terrorists are on the loose
Snow and ice storms and avalanches
April 15th (tax day) is this Thursday!!!
The doctor sometimes says cancer or Alzheimer’s
Sometimes someone says, “I don’t love you
anymore”…
…and, in case anyone missed it…one of these
things is going to get you sooner or later. The
biggest need we have for help comes at the end
of life, (which is really the beginning of
eternity).
Our troubles are in many ways prisons. A
Bumblebee if dropped into an open tumbler will
be there until it dies, unless it is taken out.
It never sees the means of escape at the top,
but persists in trying to find some way out
through the sides near the bottom. It will seek
a way where none exists, until it completely
destroys itself. That is our lot in life if we
keep trying to be the kind of “bootstrap” person
who looks only for help in this life without
ever looking up.
Here are five of the reasons the psalmist looked
up to the God of the hills, and the reasons we
should also look to Him…
He Sees
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who
keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps
Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
He never falls asleep on watch. I served in the
US Army during Vietnam. I have to admit that
even in the midst of a war zone, when it was my
turn to stand guard duty there were times when
my eyes were so heavy I was tempted to take a
quick nap. God is not like that. In the greatest
war of all God is on duty 24/7, wide-awake to
protect you from Satan and sin.
He Cares
The LORD is your keeper;
The word shaw•mar is literally “protector” or
“hedge-builder”. One day a man took his little
son to the top of a high hill. He pointed in
every direction -- north, east, south, and west.
And he said,” Son, God’s love is as big as all
of this.” The little boy looked around and at
his dad and said, "And just think dad, we’re
right in the middle of it all.”[3]
The moment you look to the Lord in confession
and need, you are in the middle of all His
boundless love, because He sees and He cares.
He Strengthens
The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The
sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by
night. The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
Connie Holman tells in Today’s Christian Woman
how her 2-year-old daughter once yelled, "Help,
Mommy!" as she was struggling to dress herself.
When [she] rushed over to help her, [she] found
her arm stuck through the neck hole of her
blouse. She stubbornly refused to let go of the
shirt as she shouted, making it impossible for
[mom] to correct the situation.
Isn’t that the way? God wants to strengthen
us…we insist on our own way. Looking to the Lord
means more than a glance in His direction.
Looking to Him means leaving your own ideas and
your own strength behind when you go to Him for
help. If you could do it in your own strength,
you wouldn’t need Him. He sees, He cares, He
strengthens, and
He is Near
The LORD will guard your going out and your
coming in...
Late one night, a man in Slim Cornett’s church
was showing Slim around a county airport in
rural Mississippi. "This switch lights up the
runway," the man said as he flipped it. "Then,
let’s say there is a plane in distress up there.
I would throw this switch and turn on the search
lights."
As the night skies lit up, a small plane
materialized out of the darkness and landed.
Slim and his friend watched in amazement as
Franklin Graham, son of the famous evangelist,
stepped off the plane. The pilot had been flying
Franklin back to school in Texas when the
electrical system shut down, leaving them
stranded in the Mississippi night without lights
or radio or any means of guidance. From out of
nowhere, the search beam had come on and guided
them to the landing strip.
As Franklin’s mother, Ruth, tells the story,
earlier that evening before they left home,
Billy Graham had prayed for the Father to
protect and guide his son and the pilot.[4]
Allow me to ask you some questions in a very
personal manner:
Have there not been times in your life when you
looked back on an incident, or a time, a
particularly tough time, and thought to
yourself, wow – I don’t know how I made it
through! And has it never occurred to you that
it was the nearness of God watching over you,
guarding your coming and going that preserved
you?
Have there been moments when you succeeded in
something, business, sports, a competition – and
you sensed it was not your own power that put
you over the top?
Have you lain awake in the middle of the night
and felt fearful? Did you not know it was the
Lord’s nearness and His mercy that allowed you
to live another day?
Have you ever watched someone die? Did you not
know there is a moment appointed for you too? It
is His nearness that allows your life. It is our
sin that will take it one day.
He sees, He cares, He strengthens, He is near,
and…He is Eternal...forever.
If there is one reason for which we should all
look to the Lord for our help, it is found in
the last word: forever! There is a
“forever-ness” that speaks to us from an empty
tomb. Above all, there is a part of each of us
that knows beyond doubt that we will live
forever. It is important – no –urgent, most
urgent to prepare for such a trip.
Max Lucado, in his book, "Six Hours One Friday,"
tells the story of a missionary in Brazil who
discovered a tribe of Indians in a remote part
of the jungle. They lived near a large river.
The tribe was in need of medical attention. A
contagious disease was ravaging the population.
People were dying daily.
A hospital was not too terribly far away -
across the river, but the Indians would not
cross it because they believed the river was
inhabited by evil spirits. And to enter its
water would mean certain death. The missionary
explained how he had crossed the river and was
unharmed. But they were not impressed. He then
took them to the bank and placed his hand in the
water. They still wouldn’t go in. He walked into
the water up to his waist and splashed water on
his face. It didn’t matter. They were still
afraid to enter the river.
Finally, he dove into the river, swam beneath
the surface until he emerged on the other side.
He raised a triumphant fist into the air. He had
entered the water and escaped. It was then that
the Indians broke into a cheer and followed him
across.
Isn’t that what Jesus did? He entered the river
of death and came out on the other side so that
we might no longer fear death, but find eternal
life in Him.[5]
In midst of dangers, fears, and death,
Thy goodness we’ll adore;
We’ll praise thee for thy mercies past,
And humbly hope for more.
Our life, while thou preserv’st that life,
Thy sacrifice shall be;
And death, when death shall be our lot,
Shall join our souls to thee.”[6]
-------------------------
Russell Brownworth
Bethany United Methodist Church
3650 Bethany Church Road
Franklinville, NC 27248
336-498-2769
ENDNOTES
[1] Bruce Howell in
“The Gospel vs Religion” on
www.sermoncentral.com
[2] Job 5:7 my
paraphrase
[3] John Beehler,
Who Ya Gonna Call? On SermonCentral.com
[4] Joe McKeever,
"God Winks," Leadership Weekly (12-18-02)
[5] Max Lucado, Six
Hours One Friday, as posted by Melvin Newland,
SermonCentral.com
[6] Albert Barnes,
Barnes’ Notes on the Old Testament, Electronic
Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Findex.Com.
