A Broken Alternator: Finding Help on Life's Journey
Posted by Mark Mong on March 1, 2023
This reflection draws on Psalm 121, a Song of Ascents, and a roadside breakdown to consider where our true help comes from as we travel through life.
Psalm 121: Assurance of God's Protection
A Song of Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills— from where will my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore.
A Dead Alternator and a Needed Rescue
Living out in the country means every errand requires a drive. On one trip to the grocery store, roughly thirty minutes away, the battery light appeared on my Ford Explorer. That warning signaled the alternator had quit and the battery would steadily drain—though I didn't realize it yet. After a call to my mechanic, who explained the failed alternator and the dying battery, I drove to his garage with just enough charge to roll into the lot. He replaced both the alternator and the battery, and we were back on the road.
Just as I needed help with my car on the way to buy groceries, the pilgrims of Israel needed help on their way to Jerusalem for the great festivals. Psalm 121 is a Song of Ascents—what pilgrims sang as they climbed the hills and mountains toward God's sanctuary. Many recognize the opening verse: I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come?
Pilgrims Through Time, Not Just Space
Any long drive carries risks, and the journey to Jerusalem carried its own dangers: bandits, injury, exhaustion. The psalm opens with pilgrims on that road, lifting their eyes toward God's sanctuary set in the hills of Judea, seeking the help needed to finish the journey.
We are pilgrims too, though our pilgrimage differs greatly from that of Israel three thousand years ago. They traveled through the terrain around Jerusalem; our journey moves not through space but through time. Ours is measured not in miles or meters but in days and seasons. Just as a car can break down between cities, we can break down between today and tomorrow, from one year to the next. We too can find ourselves needing help from a broken alternator.
Where Our Help Truly Comes From
The psalmist reminds us of the source of our help: My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. God is with us not only in mercy and steadfast love, but because our God is YHWH, maker of heaven and earth, God is with us in power—power to create out of nothing, power to bring order by subduing chaos, power to bring life out of nothingness.
This is why the psalmist looks to the hills along the way, and why we look to God on our daily journeys. God is not only with us but for us, with an omnipotence that no bandit or crisis can rival or overcome. That is why the psalmist declares, he will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. And the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The pilgrim is protected by YHWH, who keeps and guards the one who travels.
If God keeps us, who can bring threat or injury upon us? If God does not sleep while protecting us, what opportunity remains for anyone to bring ruin against us? To bring calamity upon God's pilgrims, a bandit or crisis would have to overcome God—and who can overwhelm the one who creates out of nothing?
Finishing Our Journeys in Faith
So, friends, in this season of Lent—the season of Jesus' pilgrimage to Jerusalem—let us remember our daily pilgrimage through time. As the psalmist's journey rested under God's protection, so our journeys fall under the grace and protection of the same God. If we are kept by God, we can finish our journeys faithfully. If God does not slumber, we can keep traveling. If we can look up to the hills, we can understand that our help comes from God. If we understand that God is our help, nothing can stop us from finishing our journeys in faith. And if nothing can move us, we can keep going and keep faith. We can reach the destination, because the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time on and for evermore. Amen.
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