Life has got enough trouble; we don’t have to go looking for it. Unfortunately most of us find enough on our own without looking real hard! A soldier jumped into a foxhole just ahead of bullets screaming over his head. He immediately tried to deepen the hole for more protection and was frantically scraping away the dirt with his hands. He unearthed something metal and brought up a silver crucifix, left by a former resident of the foxhole. A moment later another leaping figure landed beside him as the shells screamed overhead. When the soldier got a chance to look, he saw that his new companion was an army chaplain. Holding out the crucifix, the soldier gasped, “Am I glad to see you! How do you work this thing?”
One thing is for sure…when I find myself in a foxhole, I’m going to be looking to find help for my trouble in a hurry. This is the background for Psalm 121; “I’m in a mess…where do I go to find help?”
We are hardwired to go home in a crisis – home to God, that is! He is the Creator, and He knows us. We instinctively know that, so our “trouble response” is to lift up our eyes…look for God when things go sour.
This Psalm, a song of degrees, or ascents takes one from the mess he’s in to the higher place of rescue and safety. It is part of Israel’s exile literature, God’s word to a people in bondage. This morning, allow me to put you in exile, in the bondage of being a captive in a faraway land. (As long as I promise to keep the key handy, right?)
You’re a long way from here. Just imagine that the enemy came, destroyed everything you’ve known all your life, and took you in chains to their land. You are a servant, and they don’t even pay you minimum wage; you are lucky to get a few crumbs to keep alive.
Or maybe it is that you put yourself in bondage. You left home and loved ones. You’re the one called “Prodigal” and you’re in the far country. You can’t even recall how it got this crazy. One morning in the midst of life you awoke and found yourself sitting in the pigpen. You think, “I want to go home”. The thoughts of home cause you to look back towards the mountains where your home is, and you remember how far away you really are. “How will I ever get there? There are so many obstacles, so many dangers along the way? Should I even start? Is there no Triple-A for spiritual journeys?”
That’s the kind of question the Psalmist was asking “From whence cometh my help? – I want to go home; is there no help for me?
Have you ever asked yourself a question out loud? And found the answer before you finished asking the question?
The Psalmist posed the question, but the answer came right back. He knew that the help in life for all of his questions and fears was the LORD. He said MY help comes from God. There is a volitional tone in that choice. The Psalmist was saying for anyone who could hear, I put my trust in God to speak to life’s difficulties.
It is not just any God. He said it’s the One who created heaven and earth. God Our Preserver is a wonderful hymn that is not in our hymnal. It was penned by Isaac Watts more than 300 years ago. The first verse says:
Upward I lift mine eyes,
From God is all my aid;
The God that built the skies,
And earth and nature made [1]
In the early days of North Carolina the Native Americans around Mt Airy navigated by the sight of Pilot Mountain. That rock sticks up from the ground and you can see it for forty miles around. I rode from there across the Virginia Line and could see Pilot Mountain all the way from Meadows of Dan on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
When God created us He made certain we have the stamp of His image on our souls, our character and our minds. We know He is there. And so it is our choice…we can SAY MY help comes from the Lord, because He’s my God.
What Kind of Help?
God’s help is the care of a watchful Father. He watches me in several ways that the Psalmist unfolds for us:
He Watches my STEPS
3He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalms 121:3 - 4 (NRSVA)
The area around Jerusalem is mountainous; the terrain is treacherous for those who travel there on foot. It would not be uncommon to find a man in a ditch on the roads up to Jerusalem. Many travelers slipped on a loose stone. The picture is of a rough pathway.
Lots of things happen in life are unforeseen and tragic. But the Psalmist says that God never sleeps or slumbers. That’s not repetition; slumber is taking a nap – sleep is more often used to describe languishing, or death. God’s not going away; He is always on the job when it comes to protecting His own!
I spent a year in Vietnam and pulled Guard Duty often. Watching over others while they sleep can be tricky business. Your eyes get heavy and you do all sorts of things to wake yourself up. One fellow soldier in our camp was taking his watch in the middle of the darkest night. He nodded off for just a moment. When he awoke it was with “the enemy” right on top of him. He started firing his automatic rifle until the magazine was emptied. Everything was calm until the next morning’s light revealed that our fearless guard had defended us against a marauding milk cow.
Some dangers and difficulties in life are real and serious; they seem like the mountain that cannot be moved. John Newton wrote the words that promise the guidance and “watching over our steps” done by the one who won’t let our foot be moved:
He not only watches over my steps…
He Watches my SANITY
5The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand. 6The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. Psalms 121:5 - 6 (NRSVA)
The danger of sunstroke is well documented – and certainly in extremely hot climates like Palestine. The Psalmist was saying that God’s protection extends over the right hand, the symbol of strength. That is the warrior’s hand, and the side at which the second-in-command to a general or king always stands. There is a need for calmness and strength in our lives. It is hard to feel secure and sane without some assurance of His protection.
The “shade” is a covering. That is also the picture of God’s mercy and forgiveness. The most insane of activities is to reject the forgiveness of God. His mercy and grace are the instruments of righteousness that He offers to us in Christ.
The other imagery of the moon causing problems…well, we get our word lunatic from lunar, referencing the moon. While the issue of sanity is in view, perhaps the Psalmist understood what the local hospital emergency rooms are like on a Saturday night when there’s a full moon. From irrational acts with a motor vehicle, operated by alcohol-influenced teens, to bar fight results and domestic rows, sanity leaves every time the moon cycles full!
God watches over that…His Word gives us the opposite of fear and fright; His words are from the author of sanity:
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)
He watches my step, my sanity, and…
He watches my SOUL
7The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and forevermore. Psalms 121:1 - 8 (NRSVA)
The Psalmist says God will keep your life. Other translations translate the word “nephesh” as soul. It is the same word used in Genesis 2:7 when He breathed life into the created man and he became a living nephesh (soul).
Everything about this word can indicate either physical life, or spiritual life, but there is hardly any separation. God is interested in both how you breathe and how you live and how you think!
When we say God watches over our souls we mean He cares, and he is willing to preserve us – our steps, our sanity and our souls, as we turn towards him in faith.
In Second Chronicles (chapter 20) God’s people were threatened by three outside armies that were far superior. They prayed in faith. God told them the battle wasn’t theirs; He was going to fight for them. They were instructed to just put the choir out front and sing, not bear swords. (That would go over big in Washington D.C., wouldn’t it?
When the armies arrived from three directions, God confused them and two of the armies massacred the third, and then turned on each other. Every enemy soldier died and it took three days for the Israelites to carry off the treasures they didn’t have to raise a single hand to win. Faith won the day…but it was not the faith of one man, or a little group…it was all God’s people together.
How Does this Work in the Real World?
The faith we need to experience God’s protection and help is available. It is lived out largely within the context of the community of faith. So many people are trying to live the Christian life as Lone Rangers, solitary mountain climbers, when the life is designed to be lived in community.
This Psalm was designed for the community to give faith to the one facing the uncertainty and difficulties of hard times, particularly in exile. The first two verses were spoken by the individual and the rest of the Psalm was encouragement shouted back to him by the congregation.
Let’s do that….let’s go into exile one more time this morning. Let’s pretend that Russell is going through tough times. I’ll lay out my fear and my frustration; you respond with the words of the Psalm on the screen. See if you can encourage me.
Russell: I’m up against it; man when do I catch a break. How am I ever going to make it through this junk? I know – I’ll trust God.
Congregation: There you go, man. Now you’re talking. God won’t let you slip. He’s not sleeping.
Russell, He’s alive, man!
Russell: This stuff I got myself into is bad. I feel like I’m going crazy.
Congregation: Russell, He’s got you covered man. Our LORD is strength for you…you’re a bit crazy sometimes, but He will give you a sound mind.
Russell: Evil is all around me, I don’t know if I can keep out of that stuff my friends are doing….
Congregation: Russell, hang in there, God’s forgiven you. He’ll help you through it; we’re part of that promise. We’ve got your back, brother!
Russell: Really….you, you mean it?
Congregation: For now and forever more. We’re on a roll now! We’re going to a higher place…together!
--------
ENDNOTES
--------
1] Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)
