Psalm 121

Message Transcription

We're in a series called Summer Playlist. We're kind of coming to an end. In the next couple of weeks, we'll end this series, but we've spent some time listening to the songs of the church, songs that have been sung for thousands of years, sung by Christian and Jewish saints, folks who have been longing to know God and for God to to know them, folks who are who are going through all kinds of situations and scenarios. You know, during the summer we get a chance to take a break sometimes from our normal life, maybe go on a vacation. Some of us who are in school, we get a chance to take a break, catch our breath, and we want to spend some time thinking together like, okay, during this season of respite, during during this opportunity to think about who we are and who God is helping us to become, what is the music that we're listening to? Songs have a way of speaking to our hearts, of expressing the emotions that we go through. And certainly we have heard that this summer, as we began a few weeks ago with Brandon opening up and kind of showing us the the beauty of the Psalm Psalter being put together for some purposes, for some reasons, that it's not just randomly assimilated, but rather there was an idea in mind of speaking the story of God's love for his people and allowing God's people to now speak back to him.

And there's some pretty bold things that have been said. We've listened to Psalm 23 about walking through the valley of the shadow of death, but fearing no evil because God is with us. Hearing that promise again and again, we've we've heard from Psalm 27 and a couple of weeks ago, Bishop Chatham spoke to us about Psalm 41. Last week. We spent some time thinking about some of the taboos that we engage with in our everyday lives, things that might keep us from actually experiencing God's presence more fully, more authentically in our life because of certain things. We're not supposed to talk about the hard things, the challenging things, those those questions that don't seem to make sense. Well, this morning we're going to read from Psalm 121, perhaps, if not the most familiar, maybe second or third most familiar psalm in all of scripture for those who who have any familiarity with the Psalm book. But it's one that I hope will give us a chance to to maybe rethink a couple of things. It certainly has for me. This is a psalm that's for people who worry. So if you come this morning and you're worried about something, this psalm is for you, or if you come knowing someone in your life is worried this Psalm is for you, or if you think there's maybe a situation out on the horizon. It hadn't come yet. You're not sure if it ever will.

But. But if it does, there might be something to worry about. This Psalm. It's for you. And so as we listen to the psalmist, I want us to spend a little bit of time kind of walking through, especially the first couple of verses, but then hearing the echo that comes all throughout Psalm 21 reminding us of God's presence. He begins this way. I lift my eyes up to the mountains. Your translations may say to the hills, Where does my help come from? What does it mean to lift up your eyes? You know, the Hebrews had this expression for lifting up your eyes as more than just looking at someone or seeing something. But this idea of of paying attention, of noticing, of focusing your gaze on what's happening. We see this expression all throughout the Old Testament and even in the New Testament, but certainly in Genesis we find a couple of examples I'll show you. When God comes to Abraham before he's called Abraham and he says, I want you to lift your eyes up and look at all of the place where you are. I want you to look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. Lift your eyes up. For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. God, says Abraham, I want you to lift your eyes up. I want you to see what's going on around you.

I want you to to notice things. A few chapters later, in Genesis 24, the Lord comes to Rebecca. Or rather, Rebecca is on a journey and she sees this man who's going to eventually become her husband. And we're told this by the writer in Genesis. He says Rebecca lifted up her eyes when she saw Isaac. She dismounted from the camel and she asked her servant, Who is that? Right. When Rebecca saw Tim, I mean, when Rebecca saw Isaac, she lifted up her eyes. And said, Who is that man? Right, fellas, do you remember the first time you saw the person who would become your wife? Ladies, when you saw the person who would become your husband? Do you remember lifting up your eyes? It certainly wasn't just Cayley. There was more of you out there who lifted up your eyes. I remember. And I've told you before about the first time that I saw Cayley. Like saw Cayley. I lifted my eyes. And I noticed that black and gold dress. And I noticed the smile on her face. Right. Lifting our eyes up. It's more than just seeing this look in that direction. It's it's paying attention. It's focusing our attention. When I lift my eyes up to the mountains, the psalmist says, Where does my help come from? Where does my help come from? We can choose to focus. That's one of the great gifts that God gives to us. No matter what situation you find yourself in, no matter what circumstance you can find yourself in, no one can ever steal this gift from you.

You have the ability to choose. What you will lift your eyes up to. What you will allow your mind to dwell upon. What you allow your focus to attend to. And when I lift my eyes up to the hills, what do I see? Where does my help come from? I grew up thinking this Psalm, thinking about this Psalm every time I would drive to the mountains of New Mexico or into the mountains of Colorado, I lift my eyes up to the mountains. It was something I considered the majesty, the beauty of the mountains. Every time I go, I still my breath is taken away. I can't help but think. But perhaps the psalmist is thinking some of that when they think of this psalm. But, you know, this week it's hit me a little different. In fact, I'm very indebted to a guy named John Ortberg, a writer, preacher, teacher, one of my favorites who's written quite a bit on this. In fact, much of what I have to share with you is has been shaped by what I heard him say. And I don't know why I hadn't thought about it this way. And maybe you haven't. And and good for you. I wished I had, but I hadn't really ever thought about what was a mountain to a traveler.

Right. This is one of the psalms of ascent, right? As the Jews were going into Jerusalem, they were going up the hill. Have you ever walked up a hill? Have you ever tried to climb a mountain? Was that easy? For me? No. That in the ancient world, going up a mountain, going up a hill, that was a scary a troubling thing. Sure. They were beautiful. Sure, they were something to behold. But you know what? What hides in the mountains, what hides around the corners and in the ravines. Animals and thieves. Right. Robbers. You may remember the story Jesus told of the Good Samaritan who was on his way down the mountain from Jerusalem to Jericho. And he comes around a corner. And what happens? I see the mountains represented also some dangerous things. Thieves and animals can't hide on the plains. They can't hide when everybody can see them. But they can hide the mountain. In fact, I think that's why Isaiah said when the day of the Lord would come, he said, Every mountain, every valley rather shall be raised up and every mountain made low. The rough ground shall become level The rugged places a plain and the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all the people to see it. So here it is right here. Biblical truth. Heaven's going to look like Lubbock, Texas. See, the idea behind this is is mountains represented danger? That they might be beautiful to look at, but they could be dangerous.

So for now, I just invite you to to substitute for the word mountain. When I look to the mountain or when I look to the hill to substitute circumstance. When I look at my circumstances, when I lift my eyes up, not just to see it, but to really see what's going on in my life, where does my help come from? Sometimes what we see in our circumstances are beautiful. They're great, they're wonderful, but sometimes they're really challenging. They're really hard. Sometimes those mountains are obstacles. There may be a problem at work. When I look. And my work life. Where does my help come from? When I lift my eyes up to the relationships that matter most in my life, where does my help come from? When I think about my financial life, when I think about other aspects of my world, my emotional health, my physical health, I can see before me. And I think, how am I going to deal with that? Has anyone ever faced a mountain like that? You see, everyone here has a mountain. What is your mountain look like? What is the mountain that you are facing? And for some of us, that mountain is worry. It's that anxiety. In fact, some people are so burdened by their worry, they never lift their eyes up. They just walk around with their eyes down because they have been beaten down by life and situations and people and relationships that they thought would would be important.

And then they ended up being betrayed or let down. You know, it's interesting. The word we get for worry comes from this old English word wagon. It means to to struggle or it means to strangle. To choke. Have you ever noticed how when you worry, it feels like someone's choking you? In fact, if you'd like to just turn to the person next to you, just put your hands gently around their neck and start choking. No, no, no. Don't do that. I. But it feels like something When we worry, we feel it. Some of us feel it here in our chest. Some of us feel it in our gut. Some of us feel it in our back and our shoulders. But we we sense something. And where is my help going to come from? That's why Jesus said I came, that you might have life and have it to the full not I came so that you might be worried. All right. There's no scripture in Old Testament or New where it ever says and then God worried. God was never worried. Jesus presented this way of life. Not that everything would be easy, but that you didn't have to worry. For so many of us, myself included, just seems so strange. Can we just be honest about this for a minute? It just seems so weird to go through my life and not worry about anything.

What are you talking about? The psalmist says when I lift my eyes up to the hills. When I see my circumstances, where does my help come from? Well, he answers verse two My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth. It's interesting. The word help happens about 200 times in the Bible. And most often that word is referring to God that God is the help. Now, think about it for you. Think about if you were being introduced to a group of people and said, Hi, this is Carl and he is the Help. How do you feel about that? Right. That doesn't have a real positive connotation. In fact, it's a pretty negative one. Oh, they're the hell. Don't talk with them. They're the help. Don't look to them. They're the help, Right? It's kind of a negative. It's a humbling thing to be considered the help. God is considered the help. God's desire is to be the helper. That's not an ego shot to him. Actually, that's his nature. Is to help us. See, I live in a world in an age and in a time where where I don't want to be seen as the help. I want to be seen as the helper. I want to be the the one that everybody comes to. Right. And I and I, I flip that over in my head and I stop. I stop actually connecting the dots. You see for self sufficient people in a culture that values what you do, who you are, what you can say.

To be considered the help. It's a humbling thing. God is our help, He says. Where does my help come from? In fact, most of us don't want to to admit that we are helpless. We need help from someone. Sometimes worry takes the form of anxiety. Sometimes it takes other forms of workaholism. To deal with this anxiety. I'm just going to pour more into work. I'm going to pour more into my school. I'm going to go online. I'm going to find it in a bottle somewhere. I'm going to just try to achieve, achieve, achieve. I'm going to try to control things. You ever found yourself trying to control something or someone? I'm not in control. It's a lesson that's been painfully seared in my life the last 18 months. I'm not in control. And I so wanted to be in control. But I'm not in control. Can you just say that I am not in control? Just turn to the person next to you and say you're not in control. Now turn to the other person and say, I am not in control. You're not in control. Are you in control of your physical health? Some of us spend a lot of energy and time and effort trying to take care of our bodies, but we ultimately know at some point we're not going to be in control of that.

Stuff happens. If you could just follow me around this last year, stuff has been happening to me. My body is going, No, you can't do that. I'm not in control. I want to do that. But I'm not in control. Have you ever tried to control our country? Well, if we could just vote the right people into office, then they could change the laws. Or they could make the rules. And it would. How well is that going these days? What about the economy? I just save up enough money. We are not in control. Have you ever tried to control your spouse? Yeah, I don't recommend that. From personal experience. Do not do that. Right. We serve a God who can help control us and they can control. By humble hearts. Others. But we can't. Features. My tendency is I want to trust me. I want to trust my strength, my wisdom, my effort. I know if I can do it, it will be done right. If it's to be, it's up to me. I want to control what's happening around me. But, friends, let me tell you, you're going to run into a mountain. That you cannot control. No amount of energy or money or purpose or goodwill is going to affect that. So where's your help going to come from? I lift my eyes up to the mountains. Where does my help come from? This is where it gets deep into what it means to be followers of Jesus, of life in God's kingdom.

What does it mean to find our help in God? See, God cares very deeply about not just helping us avoid anxiety. He actually wants something for us. For you? For me. Now. It doesn't mean he's a genie in a bottle. We just get to rub the lamp and hope it all turns out the way that we want it to. Instead, God's promises that He is with us. In fact, the Psalmist keeps pointing that back to us. If if you've heard it, maybe in your translation it may say keep or that word watch God watches over us or God keeps us six times in eight verses, the psalmist reminds us that he watches over you. Verse three, he watches over Israel, verse four, He watches over you, verse five, he watches over your life, verse seven. He watches over your coming verse eight. He watches over your going verse eight. Jesus said, God is watching over your life. So much so that the thing that most people worry about, that most people fear death is not even something we have to worry about. Fact, twice in John's gospel, he says this verse 51, Chapter eight. Very truly, I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death. I just think about that for a minute. That probably hits you the way that it hit the Pharisees who were listening to it the first time he said it.

What are you talking about? In fact, they would go on to say right after this Moses died. Are you saying you're greater than Moses? A few chapters later. Verse, chapter 11. Or one of Jesus closest friend dies and he's with grieving sisters who are mourning the passing of their brother. And he says the one who believes in me will live even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. That's unbelievable, isn't it? Jesus said, You don't have to worry that there is a God who is watching over you. He sees you. Your life, your mind, your thoughts. They just keep on going. Jesus says, in fact, death is a transition. It's not the end of the story. In fact, it's just the beginning. Because there's a God who watches. A God who cares? A God who cares about your work and your life and your school and your relationships. It says so much, so you don't have to worry about it. The psalmist said, The Lord will watch over your coming and your going both now and forevermore. It's the psalmist way of saying you're coming and you're going. Every morning you get up and you leave your house. You go and every night you come home. He's saying whether you're coming or going, God is watching over your life. The Lord is watching over you both now and forevermore. The Lord watches over you. Verse five.

The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. Interesting language, right? When you're walking outside and the sun is beating down on you. Kayla and I try to walk at least three, four times a week together. And we've noticed in the summer months just how oppressive the heat is. It just beats down on you as you're walking in the sun. Soma says, No, the Lord is like a shade. Like in the shadow of his wing. He is your shade or the moon might harm you by night. That's kind of an odd phrasing. What does that mean? Well, in the ancient world, the moon was tied to ways that emotionally. In your mind mental problems. In Matthew's gospel, he talks a couple of times about about people who were moonstruck. The word literally means moonstruck. Matthew translates it as an epileptic seizure. But there was this sense that the the moon somehow had something to do with how we think We even talk about it in our day, don't we? When there's a full moon outside, you go ask any E.R. worker. Where are my E.R. workers, my doctors, my nurses? They'll tell you when the full moon is out. People do crazy stuff. We attribute it to that power. Something going on right there. In fact, our word for lunatic comes from lunar lunacy. The psalmist says. No matter what's. No matter what's going against you physically.

That sun that beats down on you. God is watching. He's with you. And no matter what attacks you emotionally, mentally. Might those thoughts that worry that anxiety. God is with you. He is watching over you. And God isn't just there, he says. God is at your right hand. In the ancient world, most people were right handed, right? Right hand was the seat of power. When the disciples talk about Jesus, when you come in your power, can I be at your right hand and your left hand? Those two positions were that was the position of power. The position of action. The psalmist says God is not just watching over you like some creepy person sneaking on your Instagram page, but God is at your right hand. The position of power of action ready to do. The sun won't harm you by day, nor the moon by night. God isn't just there. He's at your right hand. When you have to make a decision. When it's time for action, God is there. Fact, I invite you just to play this song in your life this week and test it out and just see. Verse three. 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. And he will not let your foot slip. And we need to wrestle with this one for just a moment, because we we often hear this verse as nothing bad will ever happen to you.

Just follow Jesus and everything will make sense. Everything will work out great. Well, that surely cannot be what the Psalmist intends here. He will not let my foot slip. In the Old Testament. Even in the new, there was a lot of talk about being on the path of the righteous, the way of the righteous. In fact, early on in Christianity, they were known in early acts, the first name that the church was known at as being on the way. There are people on the way this journey and so often to to get off of the way was to slip to to fall into sin, to to be disobedient. The psalmist says. In Psalm 73, an example. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped. I had nearly lost my foothold, for I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. I know that's kind of an old text. It's kind of an ancient idea. But just imagine for a moment people envying wicked people because good stuff keeps happening to them. I mean, I know it's strange, but just imagine, like, I'm so jealous that this person is. Why do they get the money? Why do they have the girl? Why do they have the boy? Why do they get the job? How do they get that house? Right? Just imagine it. This is My foot was slipping.

Right. But. But God helped. You see, God's help of your foot. Not slipping is not that hard. Things won't ever happen to you. That you're not going to get that diagnosis, that you just there's nothing you can control to take care of it. And said the promise is God will help you to stay faithful no matter what circumstance you find yourself in, no matter what challenge you're dealing with. God if we have a humble heart. Will help keep us on the path. You see, everything temporary is at risk. Our relationships. Our houses. Our money. Our jobs. Everything temporal is at risk. Jesus believed there there was a way of life where nothing eternal was at risk. I think that's why Paul said to the church in Rome, who is really wrestling with this and trying to to understand, is that really true? He would say these words in Romans Chapter eight. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. And most of us, if we faced any of these things in our life, we would be saying we are struggling, we are suffering. We have lost our way. And Paul is saying, no, no, no, no, no, don't get confused. Church. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him. Jesus, who loved us, that nothing can separate us from that love. Though the world tries to tell you your value is based on your worth, your net worth, your physical attributes.

Jesus says No, no, no, no, no. Your life is way more significant than that. Way more important. We are part of God's people. And those of us who who look to him, who searched after him, who seek him. See, God says it's not that everything's going to turn out perfectly. It's that no matter what circumstance you find yourself in, he's watching over her. It's not lost on him. You are not alone. You're not alone. You see, we're part of a body of believers who for thousands of years. Have been giving their lives because of this truth, this reality. Because they trusted God was always watching over them. I lift my eyes up to the mountains. Where does my help come from? He says, Followers of Jesus, we lift our eyes up to the mountain. Is on that mountain. We see a cross. And on that cross, we see a man. And on that man. All the sin of the world. It was willing to die so that we might live. See Jesus believed it so fully. That he is willing to give his life knowing that's not the end of the story. That he conquers death so that we don't have to fear it anymore. I lift my eyes to the mountains. Where does our help come from? But I pray that that song would echo in our hearts this week as we think about what it means to be yours.

As so many of us I know, myself included, are facing circumstances and problems and mountains that seem too high to overcome by her own strength and our own power. And Lord, this side of heaven we may not overcome. I got that threatens to depress. To lead us into despair, into hopelessness. God, we don't want to be helpless. Lord, there's so much in our life that we are helpless from. Yet. You are our helper. They gonna belong to sustain us. To give us the strength to take another step on another day, even when we think we've used it all up. That you're willing to be present with us in the midst of our pain and our suffering. Because you love us. Because you want us to know this is this is not the end of the story. Oh, God. I pray that you would help us to be captured by this Psalm once again this week, that we might live differently in light of it. In a world that is so consumed with just electing the right person or having the right set of beliefs about a particular issue? A world obsessed with how we look or how much money we have or what we know or don't know. Oh, God. Would you help us to live as your saints have for so many years now? Holding, clinging to this truth that you are with us.

Yeah, sometimes that's all we got. So, God, I pray it would be enough for us. Enough to know that you are with us. That nothing can separate us from your love. So, God, would you strengthen us this day? Would you help us to take that next step on the journey up the mountain? Lord, thank you for your faithfulness to us, the ways that you have been faithful not only in our individual lives, but God in our collective lives to your people. Help us to share those stories with one another. The power of seeing and hearing tangible ways. That you have made a difference. God, would you help us? Lord. For some of us, that next step on the journey is a is a step closer to you. Maybe just to put our trust, our hope in you. Even though things don't all make sense right now. Even though the roadway isn't clear. Oh, God. Would you help us to have the courage to keep trusting, keep believing, keep holding on? Father. Thank you. Thank you that you have modeled to us, Lord, the way of righteousness, the way of life. Not that it's all easy, but that we're never alone. So God help us to be slow and steady in our pursuit of you this week and in the weeks to come. We love you, Father. We thank you for Jesus, for his willingness to hang on that mountain on a cross. Bearing all the weight of our sin that we might have life with you both now and forevermore. Amen. Amen.