Psalms 121:2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
This is such a lovely Psalms I will post all of it, and I am using the New American Standard Bible….
I started not to post this on my blog, but yesterday as a reviewed it and wrote more about it, I decided that I wanted to post it because there is such a need within humanity to trust God and His unending love for us.
Psalms 121
1I will raise my eyes to the mountains;
From where will my help come?
2My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
3He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who watches over you will not slumber.
4Behold, He who watches over Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
5The LORD is your protector;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6The sun will not [b]beat down on you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
7The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
8The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
Read this Psalms over several times. Let it sink into your heart… let the words vibrant through your soul, and absorb the knowledge of the Lord presented in this Psalms…
Verse one:
1I will raise my eyes to the mountains;
From where will my help come?
The writer of this Psalms knows he is trouble. He looks to the mountains for help, and yet he sees none. He calls out to God- where will my help come?
Why does he look to the mountains? Mt. Ararat was where the ark rested after the flood. Mountains are a place of rest. Mt. Zion which is also known as Mt. Moriah is where Solomon built his temple, but it is also where Abraham took is son Issac to be sacrificed. It is also the place that was captured by David from the Jebusites and became known as the City of King David. Mt. Sinai is where Moses first encountered God in the burning bush, and also where God gave Moses the ten commandments. Mt. Carmel was where Elijah triumphed over the priests of Baal and King Ahab by calling out the Lord to consume an offering by fire. Baal could not do this. Mount Tabor where the transfiguration of Christ occurred. The Sermon on the mount was given by Jesus on a mountain. Mount of Olives is a place the disciples often went, and it was here that Jesus prayed before he was arrested.
Basically, mountains are a place where God often meets His people. I know of two occasions when I was alone on a mountain that God granted me wisdom and peace.
Verse two:
2 My help comes from the LORD,
Who made heaven and earth.
Then the writer answers his Question… The Lord who created those mountains, the sky, and all that he sees will help him. I suspect deep in the writer’s heart he felt God say, “I am your help.”
I love the poem The Creation by James Weldon Johnson. In it he says that God was lonely, and He created the universe… and as He walked through his garden seeing all the wonders, God said, “I am lonely still.” It was then that God reached down into the wet soil of the river bank and made man out of that mud. He was not yet alive, and God breathed life into man… A few years back I read where the Hebrew letters for God- YHWH is actually the sound our breath makes when we breathe in and breathe out. God created us. We abandoned Him. He did not abandon us. Even those who do not believe in God whenever they breathe, they are saying his name. I have often thought about all the many creatures that live on this earth, and somehow, I know that when they breathe, they also say His name. God is the breath of life that we live.
Verse 3
3He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who watches over you will not slumber.
The writer then begins to tell you how God will help him. God will steady him and will grab him when he begins to fall. God does not sleep so that you might rest. This is a personal Psalm for the writer, but it also is personal to us. Read this verse and say “God will not allow my foot to slip; He who watches over me will not sleep.”
How many times I have been about to fall into some trouble and God has intervened… More than I actually know. I believe when we are beginning to fall into trouble that God nudges people and tells them to reach out to help us. The problem is people often do not pay attention to those nudges… those warnings.
Verse 4
4Behold, He who watches over Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Writer then expands this to include Israel, but since we are His Children, he watches over each of us…
This is what is called making the point stand out. He wants us to know that GOD DOES NOT SLEEP….
Verse 5-6
5The LORD is your protector;
The LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6The sun will not beat down on you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The writer says the Lord is a protector. He will shade us from the sun and the moon. But in the King James version it uses the word smite which means to hit forcefully someone. The Lord will protect us.
This reminds me of my favorite song from the Mass By Leonard Berstein… the opening song is Sing God a Simple song and the words from this Psalms are within the son…
In the south, the son can be brutal, and the nights can also. I suspect the Psalmist knows of this kind of heat, and how it drains you.
Verse 7
7The LORD will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
He goes further… The Lord will keep us safe from evil, and will keep our soul… He is guarding us, but why then does evil come into our lives… we can be foolish, and we open the door to that evil. God does not send us evil; we invite it into our lives.
Verse 8
8The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time and forever.
The Lord is simply our guard at the gate, and he will protect us. Often when I leave my home, I ask God to guard my home while I am away, and I often do this before I go to bed.
Many times, I have called upon this Psalms to remind me that God is my help… He has always been there for me. As you go about your day remember this Psalms… Trust him to bless your life.
And most importantly look for those small quiet moments of joy for they are blessings…
Today’s Question:
Do you trust the Lord to protect and to take care of you?
Ever in Christ’s love,
Mary Elizabeth Todd
February 5, 2024 & May 7, 2024
Ruhamah United Methodist Church Bible Verses 