Where To Look When Trouble Comes

West Greeley Baptist Church

September 16th 2001

“Where to look when trouble comes”

Psalms 121: 1-8

Pastor Mark Hensley

“I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore”

Introduction: NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Sept. 11) - Three hijacked planes crashed into major U.S. landmarks Tuesday, destroying both of New York’s mighty twin towers and plunging the Pentagon in Washington into flames, in an unprecedented assault on key symbols of U.S. military and financial power.

Transition: What happened Tuesday morning was without question the most aggressive assault against our great country since Pearl Harbor! Our prayers are with the thousand’s of families who along with us will never forget the injustice that befell our country Tuesday morning.

The bloodiest day in U.S. history was Sept. 17, 1862, when about 4,700 Union and Confederate soldiers died in the Civil War battle of Antietam. Pearl Harbor killed 2,388 Americans, and the first day of the Normandy invasion on June 6, 1944, killed 1,465.

I am confident that this tragedy can and will mobilize the American people. We have been staggered yet we stand, we have been assaulted yet we persevere! Attacked yet undaunted, this country will rise above with faith in tact and hope sustained!

FROM PRESIDENT BUSH’S SEPTEMBER 11TH ADDRESS TO THE NATION

"Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: ‘Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me.’"

What will we do? Where will we look for help? We will do what those who came before us did, those who heard by radio the news of December 7th 1941 that Pearl Harbor was bombed. We must follow the council of the Psalmist who in Psalms 121 vs. 1 wrote: “I lift up my eyes to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord the maker of heaven and earth”

Psalms 121 is an anchor point for us today, for now for always as American’s.

“I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life; the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore” Psalms 121:1-8

Listen to the New living translation of Psalms 121: 1-8

“I look up to the mountains--does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made the heavens and the earth! He will not let you stumble and fall; the one who watches over you will not sleep. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps. The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not hurt you by day nor the moon at night. The LORD keeps you from all evil and preserves your life. The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.”

When trouble comes:

We must look to the Lord

Our God is vigilant

Our life is in his hands

I. We must look to the Lord: “I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth”

The writer of Psalms 121, helps us to understand that when trouble comes we must not look to anything or anyone for ultimate protection, except the Lord!

*This is a Psalm that Israelites would often sing while making their yearly pilgrimage to worship in the temple in Jerusalem. For many, this was a long and treacherous trip. The miles were long and the traveler was vulnerable.