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.
When you live in the country, you must drive to get anywhere. On one particular trip to the grocery store, about a 30 minute drive away, the battery light came on my Ford Explorer. The light meant that the alternator had stopped working and our battery was going to slowly die. But I did not know this at the time. After calling my mechanic, who informed me of my dead alternator and soon to be dead battery, I drove my Explorer to his garage with just enough power in the battery to coast into the parking lot. He was able to replace the alternator and battery and get us back on the road.
Just as I needed help with my car while making the journey to town for groceries, so too did the pilgrims of Israel need help to make the journey to Jerusalem for the great festivals. Psalm 121 is a Song of Ascents, what the pilgrims sing while climbing the hills and mountains to God’s sanctuary. For many the first verse is quite familiar and begins, I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? Driving a car for any distance brings risks associated with making that journey, make the journey to Jerusalem also brings risks associated with such a pilgrimage: bandits, injury, exhaustion. Our Psalm begins with pilgrims making such a journey and lifting their eyes to the Sanctuary of God enshrined in the hills of Judea for the help necessary to complete such a journey.
We too are pilgrims, but our pilgrimage is far different then the pilgrims of Israel three thousand years ago. They had to make the journey through the environments surrounding Jerusalem, but our journey is not through space but instead through time. Our journey is not about miles or meters, but instead about days and seasons. Just as your car can break down on such a journey from city to city, so too can we break down on such a journey from today to tomorrow and from year to year. We can find ourselves needing help from a broken alternator.
But the psalmist reminds us of where our help truly comes from; My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. God is with us not just with mercy and steadfast love, but because our God is YHWH, who made heaven and earth, God is with us with power. Power to create out of nothing, power to bring order by subduing chaos, power to bring life out nothingness. This is why the Psalmist looks to the hills on their journey, this is why we look to God on our daily journeys. God is not only with us, but God is for us, with omnipotence, that cannot be rivalled or overcome by bandit or crisis.
This is why the Psalmist speaks of 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. For the pilgrim is protected by YHWH, who keeps and protects the pilgrim making such a journey. And if God keeps us, who can bring threat or injury upon us? If God does not sleep in protecting us, then what opportunity exists for someone to bring ruin against us? To lead calamity or catastrophe upon the pilgrims of God, the bandit or crisis must be able to overcome God; and who can overwhelm the one who can create out of nothing?
So, friends, as we find ourselves in the season of Lent, the season of Jesus’ pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Let us be reminded of our daily pilgrimage in time. As the Psalmist who found their journey under the protection of God, let us remember that our journeys fall under the grace and protection of the same God. And if we are kept by God, we can finish our journeys, faithfully. If God does not slumber, we can keep travelling. If we can look up to the hills, then we can understand that our help comes from God. If we can understand that God is our help, then nothing can stop us from finishing our journeys, in faith. And if nothing can move us, we can keep going, we can 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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