Summer Psalms - Psalm 121

I'm excited to continue our series on psalms because there's just so many great psalms. In fact, I had trouble at first trying to figure out what psalm to preach from, because I'd be looking at this one, I'd look at that one, I think, oh, this one's good. And then I'd be like, oh, no, this one's really good too. But finally, after thought and prayer, I decide on Psalm 121. So let's read the whole psalm and then we'll go through it.

I lift up my eyes to the heels. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. 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 shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil.

He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

As a young Christian, this psalm became important to me as I sought to discover what it meant to follow God. It showed me that God cared about me, that he was always there and aware of me, ready to help. I remember one time sitting outside when I was only a fairly new Christian. I was looking at some hills and I was thinking about this psalm, and I thought, it's just incredible that the God who made the hills and everything around cared about me, that he cared so much about me.

The first verse, I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does My help come from? Raises an important question, where does our help come from? This is something that every so often we should ask ourselves, who or what are we trusting in? It can be very easy to answer this with, yes, well, of course I look to God for help. I trust God, yes, he's my helper.

But if we examine our everyday life, is that what we are living out? The psalmist talks of lifting his eyes to the hills, although we're not told who wrote this psalm. It and a number of other ones around it were written to be sung by pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem for the annual feast. Jerusalem was built in the hills. So these were the hills around the city that are talked of in this psalm.

They were considered important places significant to the Jews. Throughout the centuries, hills have been considered places of safety and protection. Strongholds were built on hills, places that were thought to be safe from attack or disaster. If you see scenes or maybe You've seen them in real life, ancient ruins, say, in Europe or the uk. You often see the remains of castles that were built on the top of hills.

They were built long ago and placed there because the enemies could be seen a long way off. So it was harder for those enemies to attack, to approach the castle, to attack the castle. They could be seen and be fought off before they got to the castle.

We watched a show recently where a man renovated a bunker in Norway. A lot of these bunkers had been built up along the hills near the coast by the Germans in World War II as lookouts so they could see if there were any Allied warships approaching. Obviously, these bunkers were no longer needed for that purpose. So this man had renovated one of them as a place where people hiking in the area could spend the night. You had to travel up a staircase, windy track to get there, but once you got up there, there were magnificent views from up there.

It was incredible. And, I mean, obviously that's why the bunker had been built there, so that you did get a good view of the coastline and the ocean. And although it had been built to provide protection for the troops there by allowing them to see their enemies, now it could still be used as protection as a place of refuge and rest for for those that were hiking in the area. It wasn't obviously being used for its original purpose, but it was still being used as a place of protection because it was high up in an area that was a bit difficult to get to. So it could be used for people to just take some rest and some refuge there.

There are two situations covered in this question about where our help is from. The first is, are we looking to what is around us for help? Are we looking, in a sense, to the hills that we have built up around us for protection and safety? Are we relying on our own abilities to what we know or are confident in doing? Are we relying on what we have on what we can see?

Are we looking for that bunker that we think will keep us safe from what we're facing and not looking past the hills to God?

In 2 Kings 2, Elijah is taken up to heaven, and Elisha has been anointed to succeed him. In verse 14, it says that Elisha takes Elijah's cloak and strikes the water of the Jordan river with it, saying, where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? God demonstrates his power by parting the water of the Jordan river for Elisha, just as God had done previously for Elijah.

In saying this, Elisha is not only asking God to show that he is with Elisha. But he is also challenging those who had been watching by asking them where their faith was. Was it really in God, or was it actually in Elijah? Just because Elijah was no longer there, that didn't mean that God had abandoned his people. The prophet might change, but God is still still the same.

Things change in our lives too. Places change, people come and go, and when that happens, we can feel a bit lost or discouraged. Our security has been shaken. It's good to receive encouragement from others and to have people around us to share with, but these are not to replace looking to God and receiving from Him. The Israelite people were continually looking for help from the nations around them and ignoring God.

Just as Isaiah 31:1 shows woe to those who go down to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or consult the Lord. It's not wrong to get help from other people or to help others. This isn't saying that we have to battle through life without anyone else, that if we do need to ask for help, then we obviously aren't trusting God enough, or we're not a strong enough Christian, or we don't have enough faith. There are heaps of Bible passages that talk about working together or show examples of that. It's a problem though, when we don't involve God, when we think we know what to do, yet we haven't looked to him or consulted Him.

As this Isaiah verse says, when we go through life doing what we want, not what God says.

The other situation in this psalm is that as the pilgrims, having traveled a long way, approach Jerusalem, they see the hills they have to go over. These hills could easily appear daunting, too hard to climb the they've already done a journey, now they've got to finish it off by climbing some hills. Those traveling could easily feel that they didn't have the strength to cross these hills. They'd almost reached their destination, but they still faced difficulty before they actually got there. Have you ever seen those extreme sports where skiers or snowboarders get dropped by helicopter at the top of a mountain and then they get just to ski down it.

They can do this fun part of just skiing or snowboarding down this high up mountain. They didn't have to do the actual getting up to the top. The helicopter just dropped them off, which looks amazing. But life isn't like that. We have to climb the hills in our lives.

I quite enjoy walking and I'm fine as long as it's flat.

It's really true. I can walk for ages if it's flat. Once it gets a bit hilly, it's a lot more of it. But I don't think I'm alone in this. Many people would think the same if they see something that looks difficult in our lives, we're looking at potential difficulties and seeing them as too big.

Just as it can be easy to look at the hills and think, I can't get over them, we can get caught up in what is ahead of us. How many people have been really worried about something they have to face, and then when it happens, they discover it wasn't anywhere as bad as what they thought it would be. The anticipation of it was far worse than actually going through it. You see that sometimes with children when they have to learn something new, their response is they can't do it. It's too hard, don't understand it.

If you get them to try and work through it, they can usually discover that it wasn't as hard as they thought it would be. We can do that in our own lives. When we get focused on the problem, when we think the problem is bigger, harder than it is, or we think we haven't got any way of solving it. Despite the immenseness of the hills, they are neither insurmountable nor our protection. Castles on hills still got overthrown, hills were still able to be climbed, to be conquered.

This is true for us if we take note of the next verse.

Psalm 121:2 My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. It's good every so often to reaffirm what we know about God, as Psalm 121 does. It points out that everything that exists has been made by God. The beginning of Genesis talks about God creating, that he brought into existence all that is. He is the all powerful one.

In the book of Colossians, which we looked at last year, Chapter one says of Jesus that he is the image of the invisible God. It says that all things were created by him, and for Him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. God hasn't just created all things and then left it to manage on its own. He is intimately involved in all that is here.

Sometimes people say they accept that there was a Creator, but they view God or some sort of figure as having created and then just left it all alone. Almost like sometimes you see kids playing with Lego and they make this great Lego creation and then that's it. They don't actually play with it, they put it together. It's like, well, it's done now. But that's not how God is.

Psalm 33, verses 13 and 14 says, the Lord looks down from heaven. He sees all the children of man from where he sits enthroned. He looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth. God knows us completely. Unless we're sure of this, the next verses in Psalm 121 will not have the effect the psalmist intended them to have.

They go on to tell of God's care for us. Verses 3 and 4 say, he will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

For the pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem, facing these hills before them, this path of psalm would have been incredibly encouraging. The Almighty God who made those hills was protecting them. Even as they faced difficulties, they wouldn't stumble or slip. This wasn't just theoretical, it was a reality for these pilgrims trying to climb up, trying to climb up these hills. You can imagine them all singing loudly this part of the psalm, trying to encourage themselves and each other to just keep on going, to keep climbing.

If you're climbing mountains, falling is a real possibility. If you're not careful where you step or if the foundation you're trusting in, the foundation where you're putting your foot is if it's not strong enough and it gives way as you step on it, God was with these pilgrims every step of the way. Whatever the challenge they faced was not too much for them because God would protect them. The same is true for us. God is the foundation of our life and we can rely on Him.

Adam Clark, who wrote a commentary on the Bible in the 17 and 1800s, took him 40 years to write it, which is why it spanned that period. Says of this verse, and I put it into modern English for you, the foundation, God's infinite power and goodness on which you stand, cannot be moved. And while you stand on this basis, your foot cannot be moved. This applies to every aspect of our lives. We might not be like the pilgrims and climbing actual hills, but we face issues, problems, difficulties in our life that can feel like mountains we have to conquer.

God is looking up for us. He doesn't forget about us or ignore us.

There's a story told about a group of people who are expecting some disaster coming toward them. One particular night they were awake, fearful, watching out, awake all night in this fear that this disaster was about to occur. In the morning, they discovered one of the group had spent the night in bed. Asleep. They were stunned.

And they said to this person, why weren't you up watching and waiting with everyone else? The person replied, the Bible says God never sleeps. So I thought, well, what's the point of both of us being awake now? We also know the Bible tells us to be alert, to be ready, to be watchful and prepared. But there is a difference between being prepared and just being anxious.

There are times when we have done all we can and we need to rest in God knowing that he is looking out for us. Think of when Elijah confronted the prophets of baal. These prophets were performing in an attempt to get BAAL to act, and of course, nothing was happening. Elijah taunts these prophets, saying, well, maybe Baal's asleep. You need to wake him up.

You need to shout louder. And of course, still nothing happened. Then Elijah called on God and God acts straight away in an amazing way. God is always awake. We are to be confident.

God is in control and he does care for us. Troubles will come. We aren't immune from that. We won't physically live forever, but spiritually we will, as God will keep us safe with Him. God is both watching and acting.

What he has planned will come about. Sometimes when we're going through difficulties, it can seem as if God is far away, that he isn't watching over us. Yet. The next verses in Psalm 121 show that this isn't the case. Verses 5 and 6 say, the Lord is your keeper, the Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. I like this partly because I'm not a summer person. I'm just hanging out for the cooler weather to come. Seriously, these days, over 30 degrees are just too much, too many. Leah's not here today, but she would be totally disagreeing with me.

She loves the summer weather. And when it's really hot in summer and I'm out in the sun, I find it draining. I feel like I've got no energy. We all know the dangers that come from too much sun exposure. It can even be deadly from heat stroke.

If you drive around the country in summer, you'll see the animals trying to find some shade. You'll see them all huddled together under the one tree that's in the field. They'll all be there huddled under it. We went away a few weeks ago. It was very hot where we were.

We were walking to some shops one afternoon and we were trying to find the shaded parts of the footpath. As we went along, it really did feel like the sun was trying to attack us. In a desert country, the fierce sun was life threatening. In those places, people often travelled at night because it was cooler. But that also brings challenges.

Some dangerous animals are nocturnal. You can lose your way, you can fall over things you can't see properly. In some places, even though the days are scorching, the nights are extremely cold. This psalm points out that whatever we face in life, that whatever comes against us, whether it is the obvious strength sapping problems, the ones that seem like the sun is striking us, or whether it is the less obvious but equally dangerous ones that creep up on us, like the nighttime dangers, whatever it is God sees and is able to protect.

The pilgrims had to make the journey, but they could do so knowing that God was with them. It says he is their shade at their right hand, emphasizing that God is close. He's not distant, he's not far away. He's not kind of, yeah, just there, kind of occasionally looking at us. He's right there protecting us.

The psalm doesn't say that God would remove the hills for them, or that they wouldn't have to experience the conditions as they travel. It says that they will not be harmed, even though they might suffer physically. God would keep them safe for eternity. In 1 Peter 1, verses 3 to 5, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, kept in heaven.

For you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. This is what God has for us and we can trust Him. In this Psalm, 121 finishes by saying, the Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

As we live our lives, there can be the temptation to trust in ourselves or to give up if things are too hard. This psalm is reassurance that God will always be with us, aware of what we are going through. In this psalm, the word keep is used six times. In the original language, it means to watch over, to protect, to guard. The emphasis of this psalm is that God is protecting us.

This is amazing. The Almighty God who created everything, watches over us, completely, watches over all of our life. We need to live our lives knowing this truth. It should affect every part of how we live. It should direct our attitudes, our actions, our decisions.

This psalm has been important to me all of my Christian life. When things have been going well, I think of it and I'm thankful for God's care of me. And when things have been difficult, in times of trouble, sorrow, stress, I have been able to cling to this psalm knowing that God can be trusted, that God is always looking out for me, that nothing catches him by surprise. He is able to protect me, and no matter what happens here, he will bring me to be with him eternally. I encourage you today to take hold of God's word, to know the truth of it in your life, to be able to declare as the psalmist did, as the people of Israel did.

From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you that you are such a loving and good God. We thank you that you are a God who is able to protect us in each and every situation, that nothing will come against us that you can't deal with. Lord, I pray that each of us puts our trust in you, knowing that we will be with you eternally. Lord God, no matter what happens here, we will be with you.

You will bring us to yourself. Lord, you, care and protect and love us. Thank you, Lord. Thank you for who you are and for all that you have done, Lord God, Amen. Sam.