My Help Comes from the Lord
Chuck Sligh
September 15, 2018
NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.
TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Psalm 121
INTRODUCTION
Psalm 121 was written around three thousand years ago. You’ll notice that it’s titled “A Song of Ascents,” also variously called Gradual Psalms, Songs of Degrees, Songs of Steps or Pilgrim Songs. Scholars tell us that this title indicates these were songs sung by pilgrims as they ascended the road to Jerusalem, which is atop a mountain, to attend the three pilgrim festivals. These 15 Songs of Ascent, Psalms 120-134, served to prepare pilgrims for these spiritual festivals and were reminders of who God is and what He does for us.
Psalm 121 itself is a reminder of where to turn in times of trouble.
Illus. – Week after week, a man came to his preacher with a big problem. He said, “When I go to bed, I can’t sleep because I’m afraid of monsters under my bed. I know it’s silly, but I can’t help it.”
His preacher recommended all kinds of suggestions, but nothing worked. One Sunday the man came to church happy and well rested. He told his preacher that he got help from his friend who was a carpenter.
The preacher asked, “What did he tell you to do?”
The man said, “He told me just to cut the legs off my bed!”
Well, he found out where to get help for his problem! Where do you go for help in life when you’re up against something you can’t handle, monsters real or otherwise? Psalm 121 answers that question and tells us why.
In this passage I see two simple divisions:
I. FIRST, THE PSALMIST BEGINS WITH A RHETORICAL QUESTION AND REPLIES WITH A CONCRETE ANSWER.
The psalmist says in verse 1 – “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” Sometimes, our problems feel like great mountains looming over us. The word translated “hills” here literally means “mountains.” The King James Version has a period at the end of the word help, as if the psalmist is saying his help comes from the hills. But there really should be a question mark at the end of verse 1 so that the verse reads, “I will lift up my eyes unto the hills. Where will my help come from?” The psalmist uses poetic language to describe the huge trials we have no idea how to cope with—mountains of worry and trouble that look too big to conquer. So, in verse 1 he asks, “Where will my help come from to conquer this mountain of a trial in my life I can’t overcome?” and then he answers his question in verse 2: “My help cometh from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”
I don’t know what problems you have faced IN THE PAST; I don’t know what problems are looming over you like mountains TODAY; and I don’t know what huge mountains you will have to conquer TOMORROW, but I do know where to get help. In the times of trouble and trials and pain and worry and grief, go to the Lord for help! He’s the one who made heaven and earth, so your problems are not too big for Him. We face many difficult problems in life, but billions of Christians across the world can testify that the God who made heaven and earth is greater than your mountain of trial.
Illus. – I can’t tell you how many times I’ve faced huge mountains of trials in my life. Times when I had no hope of an solution; when it looked like I would be delivered into the jaws of death; when I felt fearful and alarmed. But then I looked for help in the Lord. Sometimes he delivered me FROM the trial; but more often than not, He went with me THROUGH the trial, and I found His help in the form of comfort, or peace, or encouragement, or the infusion of a supernatural sense of fearlessness. I can testify that God’s Word is true: Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth!
II. THE REST OF PSALM 121 IS A PRAYER OF TRUST BY THE PSALMIST.
It’s important to see that the Psalmist is not so much making absolute statements, but using poetic language to describe certain characteristics of God’s general character, and his trust in God’s special watchcare and loving protection of His children. You’ll see why I say that as we proceed through the psalm.
Notice what he says about the God who is there to help us in time of need:
First, the psalmist says that God does not fall asleep on the job in verses 3-4 – “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. 4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.”
The word slumber doesn’t just mean God doesn’t sleep, as he says at the end of the verse; it refers to falling asleep. God doesn’t fall asleep on the job. He always there; He’s always watching over us; He never lets His guard down; He never misses anything—EVER!
Illus. – Susan had to teach for a year after our second son, Jon was born. We found a woman we knew and trusted to keep Jon during the day. We thought she really was overall responsible, but one day we arrived to pick him up and she was in a state of absolute helpless terror as I went in to pick him up. I immediately saw that Jon was screaming to the top of his lungs in pain and his legs were a bright red. In a panic, I asked what happened and she said, “I fell asleep and he crawled up into the bathroom sink and turned on the hot water. He was stuck in it and couldn’t get out until I heard his screams just now!” In the three seconds it took for her to tell me this, Jon’s skin was hanging off his legs. I picked him up and rushed him to the car and we raced to the hospital. He had second and third degree burns that took months to heal. By the way, make sure to turn the water temperature in water heater to where it is not scalding hot because it is extremely dangerous for kids.
Despite being otherwise a responsible childcare provider, this woman fell asleep on the most important responsibility she had…to watch our son. Isn’t it great to know that God never falls asleep on the job?
Notice the words keepeth (that is, “keeps” in verses 3-4, and keeper we’ll see it later in verse 5. “Keeps” literally means to “watch, guard, preserve” and “keeper” means “a watchman, or a guard over something or someone.” God is, if you will, our “childcare provider” and He never lets His guard down or fails in His responsibilities. If we fall down and are hurt, it’s not because is not doing His job, but because in His wisdom and sovereignty He has allowed it to happen for your good and His glory! That’s a sermon for a different day, but for now, the psalmist reminds us that God is alive and present and watching and caring.
In verses 5-8, the psalmist elaborates on how carefully God watches over His kids. In verse 5 we’re told that the Lord is a shade to His people – “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.”
Parts of Israel are remarkably balmy, even in the summer, but in the deserts of Israel, temperatures regularly reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit (about 49 degrees Celsius) or higher. Shade in the desert is sparse, and so exposure to the sun is a constant danger.
Illus. – I remember when we were travelling to churches to raise missionary support, we visited the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico on a hot, sweltering late afternoon summer day. I noticed that our youngest son was trailing me at almost exactly the same distance and approximate location everywhere we went exploring the dunes. If I moved to the right or left or stopped or started, he was in exactly the same position in relation to the sun and distance from me at all times.
I said, “Allen, what are you doing staying exactly so close to me?”
He said, “I’m hot. I’m staying in your shadow to stay out of the sun.”
Smart kid.—There wasn’t a tree to be found for miles for any kind of shade, but he knew where to go for protection from the sun.
Do you know where to go for shade from the harshness of trials? You see, we may still go through the hot trials in our lives, but we can go to God for relief and protection from the harshest aspects of our trials.
Verse 6 says, “The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.”
This reminds us that night or day, twenty-four-seven, the Lord is on duty, watching over us, caring for us, providing shade and protection for us. There is NO problem in life that God is not there to comfort and help and give relief and aid in.
Next, in verse 7-8, the psalmist says, “The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.”
At first glance, this seems to teach that we’ll never have any problems, that the Lord will deliver us from every problem or trial that comes our way. I wish that were true, but it’s not. The very first verse of this psalm, the reference to mountains too difficult to conquer, argues against that. So do many other psalms, especially the psalms of David, where he laments many trials and tribulations he suffers. So does the book of Job which is a philosophical treatise about why God allows good people to experience suffering and pain. And so does the New Testament, which details a litany of trials that God’s people, and even the greatest of the Apostles, faced.
So, what is the psalmist saying here?
First, remember that the Psalms are POETIC songs and prayers. They express the deepest feelings and thoughts of the psalm-writers in a wide variety of circumstances. The Psalms should not be read as systematic theology, with every phrase taken as stand-alone truth. They must be put in the larger context of the rest of the Psalms and the rest of the Bible. So, when Psalm 121 says, “The LORD will keep you from all harm,” the psalmist isn’t writing a treatise on the problem of evil. Rather, he’s speaking in poetic hyperbole to celebrate the all-encompassing and faithful watchcare of our loving God.
Second, there is a sense in which it is completely true that the Lord keeps us from all harm.
As I have already pointed out, the Hebrew verb used here can mean to “guard, watch, preserve.” Therefore, the point is not that we never have trials, but that at every moment, God is watching over us; God is with us; He is caring for us; He is helping us—even in times of hardship and suffering. And in the end, God will ultimately take away from us all suffering and sorrow when we graduate to eternal glory.
Psalm 71:20 puts it this way, “Thou, who hast shown me great and bitter troubles, shalt restore my life.” [My transl.]
Yes, we have troubles in this life, even some great and bitter, but those of us who belong to God have the promise that He WILL raise us up to a new life where there will be no tears, no sorrow, no pain, no death, and no sin. Some of this restoration happens partially even in this life, but not only fully in the age to come will this be literally fulfilled.
CONCLUSION
Now you may be thinking, Chuck, what in Sam’s Hill does this have to do with Back to Church Sunday? Here’s what it has to do with Back to Church Sunday.
People wander away from the Lord and the church for a variety of reasons. Sometimes it’s because of sin in their lives. There’s a simple answer for that: 1 John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
If you’ve wandered away from God because of sin, I encourage you to confess that sin to God and receive His cleansing and then resolve to serve Him and live for Him and be faithful to Him and be committed to His church and His people. Sometimes it’s our own laziness or neglect of spiritual emphasis in our lives, but sometimes people wander away from church because of trials, or a bad experience at a church, or something bad that happened to them.
But here’s the thing: Maybe things didn’t go the way you wanted it to; maybe you experienced deep trials; maybe you’ve been hurt by someone—perhaps even a professing Christian; maybe your life just when south, and you think God didn’t love you, or He failed you or He just wasn’t watching over you, or He abandoned you in your deepest trial.
It’s just not true. God was always there, waiting for you to turn to Him for solace and help and comfort and strength and a path forward to restoration and healing. He could have helped you through your trial, and you would have come out a stronger person with a deeper faith and a greater dependence on God. It wasn’t He who failed you; it was you who failed to avail yourself of all the powerful resources He has for us when we cry out to Him, seek Him, trust in Him when we face those mountains too high to climb.
Illus. – The story is told of an American Indian boy whose tribe had a unique practice of training young braves. On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, after learning hunting, scouting, fishing, and various other skills, he was put to one final test. He was placed in a dense forest to spend the entire night alone. Until then, he had never been away from the security of the family and tribe. But on this night, he would be blindfolded and taken several miles away, and left out all night all alone.
When his time came, found himself in the middle of a thick, unfamiliar forest. His natural response was fear, and at times, even terror. Lying all alone in the forest, he heard twigs snap, and he jumped out of his skin, visualizing a wild animal ready to pounce. Later, he heard other strange noises. He was constantly having to swat away mosquitos, and mostly lost that battle until he had bites all over his body, making him pretty uncomfortable. And the ground was hard, and to make matters worse, it started to rain so hard, that had there been a wild animal, he wouldn’t have seen it.
After what seemed like an eternity, dawn broke and the first rays of sunlight entered the interior of the forest. Looking around, the boy saw flowers and trees in a misty fog. Then, as the mists of night slowly dissipated, he saw a vague form of a man standing just a few feet away, armed with a bow and arrow. He was frozen in fear, until the fog lifted enough for him to make out the form of his father, who had been there all night long, ready for any real danger. The little Indian boy had a little bit of misery and discomfort and fear for a while, but all along his father was there to protect him, and had he been wise, he would have realized that very soon he would march back to the comfort of the village.
Which reminds me that in 1 Corinthians 4:8-10, Paul says, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.”
How could Paul not be distressed, or in despair, or feel forsaken in massive mountains of trials and tribulations? He tells us why further down in verses 17-18: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; 18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal [or “temporary”]; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”
No matter what your problem or trial, no matter the pain or suffering, ultimately God will bring you home to glory if you are truly one of His kids by new birth into the family of God. And when He brings you home, you will see that these trials in life truly were light afflictions in the light of eternity. In the meantime, Paul says this in verse 16: “For which cause we faint not [i.e., “we do not give up”]; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
Where is our heart renewed day-by-day in the midst of big mountains of trials?—In HIM, from whom comes our help; in His Word, which guides us to Him; in prayer, where we can pour out our heart to God; and in the church where God’s people are there to care and minister to and encourage and challenge you. Have you wandered away from God and the church? It’s time to come back home: Come back to church; and come back to God.
