Need help?

Here’s just a note of encouragement to those of us just getting along. I memorized the first two verses as a young person but sometimes I forget about them. I love the comfort and encouragement I get from the Psalms, and Dr. Chambers words that follow add to that.

Psalm 121

I will lift up my eyes to the hills From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper; The Lord is your shade at your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night.
The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.
The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore

When we come to the NT interpretation of our Lord we find He is not a teacher, we find He is a Savior. We find that His teaching is but a statement of the kind of life we will live when we have let Him remake us by the means of His cross and by the incoming of the Holy Spirit.

I would like to commend this thought for the instruction and courage of those whose hearts are fainting in the way, from whom the ideals of youth have fled, to whom life holds out no more promises. For thirty years or more it may be that life has been a boundless romance of possibilities, beckoning signs from lofty mountain peaks have lured the spirit on; but now the burden and the heat of the day have come and the mountain tops are obscured in a dazzling heat, and the road is dusty and the mileage ling, and the feet are weak and the endeavor is exhausted. Let me bring the message in the Psalm, even as a cup of water from the clear sparkling spring of life. “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” (Place Help by Dr. Oswald Chambers)

As I understand it, this Psalm indicates a pilgrim coming to Jerusalem and seeing the hills for the first time. That reminds me of how when driving the highway west toward Colorado it takes time, but you begin to see the mountains in the far distance. It’s a grand sight. In the ‘70’s I had been in Texas fro a conference. Coming back the sight of the Colorado mountains was an uplifting sight. Here in verse one the pilgrim can see the mountains holding the house of God, and this brings tears to his eyes.

Perhaps the verse should be a question instead of a statement. “Shall I lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help?” He is nearing the hills that God has ordained for Israel. Dare he look upon sacred hills?

Verse 2 says, yes, he can look upon the hills. He isn’t really looking to the hills but to the Creator of the hills. He is looking to God for his help and strength. I like the prophet Micah’s words that reinforce this idea of looking to God for all of your help and needs.

Micah 7:7-9. Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me; He will bring me forth to the light, and I will see His righteousness. When we look to God, Jehovah, He provides all we truly need.

No matter which direction one comes from, north, east, south, or west, you go through some rugged terrain. When I think about the old road from Jericho to Jerusalem, the steep grade, the rock that fall, the potential for stumbling and spraining an ankle, I think about life and the trials we go through. Sometimes we need someone to give us a hand, to encourage us, or to pick us up, and God stands ready to do that, if we but turn to Him and ask.

Even the prophet Jeramiah told us to look to God, to sing His praises, even when we are hurting. Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; Truly, in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. (Jeramiah 3:23) God is our salvation in every way.

In verses 3-4 we read that God will never slumber nor sleep. Remember Elijah at Mt. Carmel when he mocked the prophets of Baal? And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.” (1 Kings 18:27) My God is totally unlike the pagan gods, the dead idols. Our God is alive and active in people’s lives today, just as He was in the old days.

He will not suffer my foot to drop off the path He has chosen for me. In our older years, we often totter or stumble, but God is there to catch us when we do. Jehovah is my keeper. Do we need more proof God cares for us and watches over us?

Proverbs 3: 26. for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught. Jehovah will keep us from being caught in Satan’s traps. How about Psalms 37:24. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand.

Even Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, in her song to God said, (1 Samuel 2: 9) He will guard the feet of His saints. And in the what Christians call the New Testament, we read from the half-brother of Jesus, (Jude 24-25). Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. Men and women throughout the ages have trusted God will protect them. We can too.

God, Jehovah, is trustworthy in all He has said and done as well as what He will do today and tomorrow. Be sure you know Him and trust in Him. He wants you on His side. You definitely want Him on your side.