Psalm 121 - Trip Advisor Series

If you have traveling plans this summer, there are some helpful sites on the internet. There is Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak. One of my favorite travel sites is called Trip Advisor. Does anybody ever use Trip Advisor? Trip Advisor is a really useful travel site. I have been using it now for a few years. What I like about Trip Advisor is it is a one-stop place. You can go for much of your information travel needs including flight information, restaurants, hotels, and things to do in a given location. People often post their own photographs of their stay at a hotel, which are often less professional than the hotels photos. Sometimes you see the rooms are a mess but they post them anyway so you at least get an idea of what the hotel room actually looks like once it is lived in.

People also post reviews. People give their recommendations as to whether or not it is a good place to stay, a mediocre place to stay, or a place you want to stay away from. Unfortunately, those reviews can be a little bit subjective. You like to think they are all truthful, but apparently some of them are actually posted by the owners of the property so obviously they are not always objective. Then you have guys like me that stay some place and I write my review and hopefully you can trust my opinion. I have reviewed a number of restaurants and hotels over the past few years. Anyway, like anything else when utilizing these travel sites you should heed the phrase “buyer beware” because although they can be helpful sources of information, they can’t always be trusted. But although we can’t always rely on websites for good or accurate information about our earthly travel, when it comes to our spiritual journey through life, we can rely 100% on the advice that we get, as long as we go to the right source. That is what we are going to see today.

If you have your Bibles, please open up to Psalm 121:1. If you have been with us for a while, you know that we started to go through the book of Psalms for the summer. We are not going to go through the entire book. We are going to go through about 12 different Psalms. A few weeks ago we looked at Psalm 1 which was classified as a wisdom Psalm. Did anybody memorize it? Does anybody want to share that Psalm? It is one of the more popular Psalms out there. It talks about “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked. Blessed is the man who does not stand in the way of sinners. Blessed is the man who does not sit in the seat of mockers, but he delights in the law of the Lord. And on that law he meditates day and night. If he continues to meditate he would be like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season.” That is a great Psalm. It is called a wisdom Psalm. Last week, we looked at a Psalm called a Psalm of lament which is really kind of a Psalm of complaint. You might recall it opened up with “How long Lord, how long? Are you going to forget me forever? How long are you going to hide your face from me?” That would be classified as a Psalm of lament, a Psalm of complaint. Today’s Psalm is considered a Psalm of assent. It is really what I would like to call is a Psalm of travel. It is a travel Psalm because what it does in a nutshell is chronicles the assent of the Israelites back up towards Jerusalem for the annual festivals. We are going to look through that particular Psalm. We are going to read completely through it. It is only eight verses and then we are going to talk about select parts. Reading from Psalm 121:1. (Scripture read here.)

Isn’t that a great Psalm? It is a wonderful Psalm if you are looking for a Psalm to memorize it is nice and short and a good Psalm to have available in your heart anytime of the day. This is a Psalm of assent. It was probably either sung or spoken to people before, during, or after their trip up to Jerusalem. The Israelites were required to attend certain festivals in Jerusalem every year like Passover, the Feast of Booths, and even Pentecost. They were required to go up there. A lot of the people didn’t live right in Jerusalem so they had to come in from the outlying areas. Coming in to Jerusalem could be quite dangerous because they had to go through the desert. They had to go through the hill country of Palestine. Consequently, there are all sorts of potential hazards that would be in the way. When you think about the Psalm, you think about the whole idea of your foot stumbling or your foot not falling, they were going through with sandals. They were going through the mountainous region in sandals so, at a minimum, they could stub their toe. They could break a leg. They could possibly fall off a cliff or something like that. This Psalm has real relevance for that. He will not let their foot slip. Then you have the idea of the sun. Obviously, they are going through a desert and if they go through by day that sun is going to be beating down on them. There is a real possibility of getting something like sun stroke. Then you have the idea of protecting them from the moon. Why would they need protection from the moon? Back then there was a legend or idea that the people were afraid of the moon because the more exposure to the moon, it was thought to affect the emotions. It was thought to affect the mind. Most of you are familiar with the term lunatic. It is from the word lunar, moon. They actually thought if they had prolonged exposure to the moon, they would get a little bit crazy. They would get a little bit weird so they wanted protection from that. So what we see in the Psalm, we see this as a little travel Psalm. It is a Psalm that chronicles the assent up to Jerusalem. In fact, when you are reading through your scripture, you might often see that when they refer to going to Jerusalem, they always say up to Jerusalem because Jerusalem was at a higher elevation but more than that it was a spiritual elevation. When the pilgrims thought about their journeys and wrote these Psalms, they weren’t just thinking in physical terms. They were thinking in spiritual terms. They understood that these journeys are not just getting through and trying to just go from here to there. These are journeys designed to bring you closer to God. These Psalms represent the hearts that are ascending up to Christ, or ascending up to God in their case. That is what is going on here.