Psalms 121:1-2
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.
From where does my help come?
I like watching cop shows. I don’t know why, I just like them. One of the shows I watch is called Boarder Patrol. In this show, they try to stop people from sneaking into the country. One of the stretches is a 30+ miles walk through the dessert from Mexico. It takes days to travel this journey. There is not a lot of food or water. They are running from enemies, having heat strokes, dehydrated, and there are wild animals…This is what I think of when I read this Psalm. Pilgrims often traveled this road as they were headed to Jerusalem. They may have sung this song as an encouragement to themselves, to each other, and as a prayer to the LORD.
There were many dangers on this journey. The latter verses of the Psalm (v. 3-6) imply accidents, wild animals, robbers, heat exhaustion, etc. As they are travelling, they are not thinking about the dangers that they passed through in the hills behind them, but the hills in front of them. What is on their mind is their destination. After they have travelled over many hills already, they get to another humungous mountain and say, “I will lift up my eyes to the hills…” When they look on that hill and realize how high it is, how hot it is, how tired they already are, how they don’t feel like taking another step, they ask the question, “From where does my help come?” This question lies in the crutch between hope and heartache. The wrong answer to this question can leave us either with JOY or HEARTBREAK. But they quickly remember the promise of God who had promised His people his provision, protection, and peace. And they quickly remind themselves “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth”. Its not one of the gods, its not one of the idols, its not anything but the all powerful LORD. They were encouraged because the one who was helping them, was the one who created not only that mountain that they looked upon, but all of the other mountains that they passed, and mountains to come. The Creator of heaven and earth!
They looked to the one who was in control of the mountain,
for help to get over the mountain.
Family, someone might think, as you sit at the bottom of this mountain looking up, that you don’t know how you can make it another day. Lift your head high because you have a God that will not only bring you through, but has already brought you a mighty long way. In this long journey, called life, you will have mountains to climb, battles to fight, seas to cross. The beautiful thing is that you have a God who is powerful enough to create a universe out of nothing. Surely He is powerful enough to bring you through. We are His children. He takes care of His children. But that reality is made possible by the work that Jesus did on the cross, fully covering our sin with his own blood. Because we have a great high priest who is able to sympathize with our weakness, we draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Be reminded that the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. He is always in control. He has brought you a mighty long way. Have comfort to know that he has not left you at the bottom of the mountain to rot, but He is with you. Your help comes from The Lord.
