I will lift up my eyes to the hills

The Book of Psalms is at the centre of the Bible.
This collection of songs and prayers expresses the heart and soul of humanity.
There are five main themes displayed in the Psalms:
Praise, God’s Power, Forgiveness, Thankfulness and Trust.
Psalms 120–134 are referred to as ‘songs of ascents’ – this means ‘songs of going up’.
Jerusalem is at the top of the hills, so all pilgrims had to go up to Jerusalem
and they would be singing these songs as they journeyed.
Psalm 121 means a great deal to many Christians for different reasons.
I remember as children it was one of the Psalms we had to learn by heart.

¹ I will lift up my eyes to the hills –
from whence comes my help?
² My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to be moved;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
⁴ Behold, He who keeps Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.

⁵ The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade upon your right hand.
⁶ The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

⁷ The Lord shall preserve you from all evil;
He shall preserve your soul.
⁸ The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming, in
from this time forth, and even for evermore.

NKJV

In the Message Study Bible, Eugene Peterson comments, ‘Psalm 121 is a quiet voice, gently telling us that we are, perhaps, wrong in the way we are going about the Christian life. Then very simply it shows us the right way. Psalm 121 rejects a worship of nature, a religion of the stars and flowers, a religion that makes the best of what it finds on the hills. Instead it looks to the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Help comes from the Creator, not from the creation. We live not in an impersonal universe but a universe that is ruled and cared for by a personal God- a God who cares for nothing in that universe as much as he cares for us.’ The Lord watches over us. He is our Helper (121: 1,2), our Keeper (121: 3,4), our Protector (121:5,6) and our Preserver (121:7,8). Ron Mehl remarks in God Works the Night Shift, ‘God is always there, no matter when it is that you need Him. In the loneliest, darkest hour of the night, He is there because He doesn’t slumber or sleep.’

We live in a world of pain and sorrow and the fact that we are Christians does not mean we will never have difficult experiences. ‘The Lord shall preserve you from all evil’ means that, whatever challenges we face, God is always at hand to see us through, to deliver us. David, as well as other writers in the Book of Psalms, addressed God in different ways when appealing for help in their struggles; God is perceived as a fortress, rock, high tower, shield, defender, refuge, strength, rewarder, keeper, preserver, protector, provider, deliverer, guide, judge, horn of salvation, and our Saviour. We cannot change our past, or the world in which we live. Let us build up confidence in the Word of God. He wants to have a relationship with each one of us, and everything that concerns us is in His hands. Our help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth and no one can separate us from His love.

Let us pray:
Father God, although life seems dark and gloomy because of the coronavirus, and all its tragic consequences,
let us remember that you are a God of Light and not of darkness.
Help us to recognise your sovereignty and turn to you for comfort, strength and direction.
Help us to see your hand at work and realise that you have not left us.
Help us to stand firm in our faith and not to allow public opinion to sway us.
Help us to recognise your sufficiency as you give us what we need for today.
May we trust and glorify you even when life gives us what we haven’t asked for.
Loving God, you are our Helper, Keeper, Protector and Preserver,
help us to walk in your will, with confidence today.

Amen

A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

Proverbs 17: 22

Glynne Gordon-Carter