January 4-8, 2010

I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;

From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
Psalm 121:1-2

Happy New Year!!! Welcome back to our Journey Through The Bible. We are so glad you returned! I hope your time away caused you to come back with renewed determination to complete the journey.

Our path picks up with the Psalms that were possibly included in Hezekiah’s collection of Psalms and Proverbs. We finish traversing the Psalms of Ascent that we started in August. You may want to go back in our Travel Journal to August 17, 2009. We took time to look at the structure of the Psalms of Ascent. On the first day’s journey in this New Year, I feel it is quite apropos that we are covering the territory of Psalm 121.

In all the other fourteen Psalms of Ascent, the heading reads “A Song of Ascent.” But Psalm 121 is different in that it literally says “A Psalm to the Ascent.” Another way of saying it is that it is “A Psalm Dedicated to the Ascent.” While the other fourteen Songs sing of the path of the ascent, this particular passage recognizes the reason we are even able to make the ascent and the One who we ascend to.

In Psalm 120, the Psalmist has accurately ascertained the predicament he is in. Lying and deceitfulness surround him. The result of these things cause great affliction. He is aware that he sojourns in Meshech, and dwells among the tents of Kedar. Meshech is interpreted several different ways by the rabbis, and none of them are favorable. No matter which era in history you choose to believe it refers to, the end conclusion is the same. Meshech is a place of exile! Dwelling among the tents of Kedar is not a pleasant thought. The people of Kedar were nomads, Bedouins. They were continually moving from place to place, nation to nation, with no place to call home. Unsettled! No stability! No rest! By the end of the Psalm, we hear the heart’s cry for peace. Perhaps 2009 left you with the same sense. If so, you will welcome the path of Psalm 121.

The song begins with the phrase, “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains.” Is it because his help comes from the mountains? Isn’t that where the pagans would look? Isn’t that where they had their high places and sacrificed to their gods? So why is he looking to the mountains? No, he not looking to the mountains for his help: He is looking for the signal of those who are the watchmen on the mountains. He is looking for the hope they can give as they observe the oncoming deliverance from their lofty vantage point. Isaiah, a contemporary of King Hezekiah said it this way:

How lovely on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who announces peace and brings good news of happiness. Who announces salvation, and says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Isaiah 52:7)

Obviously, the message is seen and heard as the Psalmist exclaims, “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!” You know you are going to be victorious when the aid that’s on the horizon is the One who has created all things! What an amazing God we serve and put our trust in!!!!! His creativity is beyond comprehension. Whether you are looking at the magnitude of the Grand Canyon or admiring the beauty and delicacy of a flower, you are observing the same creative genius of Almighty God. No detail is too large or too small.

We got a beautiful example of God’s enjoyment of the arts on New Year’s Eve. We stood amazed as we looked at the same moon that has been in the sky since the beginning of time. It’s the same moon we have been looking at since the day we were born, and yet God chose to tweak it a bit. The blue moon of January 1st was brighter than I have ever seen it. When we called my in-laws on New Year’s day, my father-in-law commented that when he awoke in the middle of the night, he thought the day was beginning to dawn because of its brightness. What must God feel when He decides to do something special with His created things and puts it on display for the world to admire. We found ourselves going out periodically on New Year’s Eve just to marvel at His handy work.

What comfort we can experience when we are assured that the Creator of all things is coming to our rescue. How will He come? Who know! But I guarantee that you will be amazed by His creativity when He does.

The Psalmist then goes on to speak about this Heavenly Helper who keeps guard over us. Six times in these eight verses, he uses the Hebrew word “shamar.” The basic meaning of this word is “to exercise extreme care over.” One of the ramifications of the word is “to take care of,” or to “guard.” The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (TWOT) says this about the word:

This involves keeping or tending to things such as a garden (Gen 2:15), a flock (30:31), a house (2 Sam 15:16). Or it may involve guarding against intruders, etc., such as the cherubim guarding the way to the tree of life in Gen 3:24, or gatekeepers (Isa 21:11) or watchmen (Song 5:7). The same is true with regard to persons. Thus Cain asks, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen 4:9). David frequently speaks of God’s care and protection in such passages as Ps 34:20; 86:2; 121:3–4, 7, and others.

You may want to take some time as you go through Psalm 121 and consider what the great Keeper of Israel has promised to do. See if you can find all six of the Hebrew words “shamar.” They are not all translated with the same English word, so enjoy the hunt.

One of the promises we are given is found in verse 3:

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Back in October I got very sick. I would get up to eat and then go back to sleep. I slept all day and all night. I wondered how my body could possibly stay asleep for that many hours. As a result, I began to ponder the miracle of sleep. Why do we sleep? What goes on in our soul and our body when we sleep? Sleep fulfills a need of some kind. If the body needs to mend, we sleep. If we struggling with life and can’t work things out in our conscious minds, we sleep. If we’ve put in a days work and need refreshed, we sleep. It is a time for these earthly jumpsuits to rest and rejuvenate, to replenish and restore. But God never sleeps!!! He has no need to re-anything!!! He has no need to refresh because He is always fresh. He has no need to rejuvenate (to make young again) because He doesn’t age. He has no need to replenish because He loses no strength no matter what He does. Restoration is absolutely unnecessary. God has no “down” time. No need for a nap to have enough energy to make it though the day, week, month, year, century….. He never needs sleep and He never slumbers. He is always ready to keep us, protect us, guard us! This truth makes the rest of the Psalms even more meaningful.

This thought also brings greater sadness as you continue to read Israel’s unwillingness to trust the One who loved them so much. Why were they so determined to put their trust in other nations and other people when they had such an amazing God? Why are we? When we can understand our own shortcomings, we will not make the same mistakes Israel made. I trust that our journey this week will cause us to look more closely at the Creator of all things who is on a constant vigilance to protect us, aid us and guide us to the place where His glory dwells.