Where Does My Help Come From?
Sermon text for November 2, 2008:
Psalm 121
Preached at Valverde Presbyterian Church, Denver, Colorado
“I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?” I think that the Psalmist must have felt about mountains the way most of us do. Israel does not have mountains like our Colorado Mountains, but surely the Psalmist knew about the ragged and rugged peaks of Judea. And when he looked into the mountains he found strength. Among the peaks he sensed something eternal, strong, lasting, brutal, and serene. If he could find God anywhere surely it was in the high places where the vistas seemed to go on forever. “I lift my eyes unto the hills.” Surely the Psalmist felt about mountains the way many of us do.
We are not sure what the context for today’s Psalm is, but we can guess that the writer is going through some kind of inner turmoil. Maybe he has a difficult personal problem that defies resolution, or perhaps the nation is experiencing a time of unrest and the people are afraid and anxious. What we do know is that the Psalmist is experiencing a time of uneasiness and that he needs divine assurance. As a part of his search for God, he lifts his eyes to gaze upon the mountains.
Almost every fall my wife and I join friends in the mountains around Fairplay. This is one part of Colorado that makes me feel especially close to God. Coming over Kenosha Pass, we see high plains surrounded on all sides by rocky peaks that climb high above the timber line. The wide open expanse of grass gives me a feeling of freedom while the peaks speak to me of eternity, strength, and stability. When I need help I often lift my eyes to the mountains, and I marvel that the One who created the Rocky Mountains also holds us in the palm of his hands.
The Psalmist looked upon the mountains in a time when he was in need of assurance and courage and asked rhetorically, “From where does my help come?” The question is rhetorical because he already knows the answer, “My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
Perhaps this is a most basic statement of faith. Help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Unlike some of Israel’s neighbors who worshipped nature, the Psalmist did not believe that the mountains themselves were his help, they only pointed to the One who made them. The Psalmist found help from the One who created the mountains because they reminded him of the strong, eternal God. This God, who rooted the mountains so that nothing in nature can make them fall, also enabled believers to stand tall no matter what troubles life brings. By faith the Psalmist lived a victorious life when others seemed defeated.
The God whom the Psalmist finds by looking into the mountains is ever vigilant and never “slumbers nor sleeps.”
Almost every year my wife and I take one of our grandchildren to Ghost Ranch, a Presbyterian Conference Center in Northern New Mexico. Ghost Ranch is nestled in the kind of terrain that the Psalmist saw when he “looked into the hills”. The mountains are multi-colored, ragged, rugged, and gracefully beautiful all at the same time. In this place, maybe more than any other, I feel secure in the arms of the One “who neither slumbers nor sleeps.”
Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth; from the beauty of God’s creation; from brothers and sisters in faith who care for me and for one another. My help comes from sharing the elements of bread and wine which God provides to nourish our souls.
Friends, when you grow weary or anxious look into the hills, look to the mountains, and remember our ever vigilant, eternal God who neither “slumbers nor sleeps.”
Copyright © 2008 by Dwight R. Blackstock
Psalm 121
Preached at Valverde Presbyterian Church, Denver, Colorado
“I lift my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?” I think that the Psalmist must have felt about mountains the way most of us do. Israel does not have mountains like our Colorado Mountains, but surely the Psalmist knew about the ragged and rugged peaks of Judea. And when he looked into the mountains he found strength. Among the peaks he sensed something eternal, strong, lasting, brutal, and serene. If he could find God anywhere surely it was in the high places where the vistas seemed to go on forever. “I lift my eyes unto the hills.” Surely the Psalmist felt about mountains the way many of us do.
We are not sure what the context for today’s Psalm is, but we can guess that the writer is going through some kind of inner turmoil. Maybe he has a difficult personal problem that defies resolution, or perhaps the nation is experiencing a time of unrest and the people are afraid and anxious. What we do know is that the Psalmist is experiencing a time of uneasiness and that he needs divine assurance. As a part of his search for God, he lifts his eyes to gaze upon the mountains.
Almost every fall my wife and I join friends in the mountains around Fairplay. This is one part of Colorado that makes me feel especially close to God. Coming over Kenosha Pass, we see high plains surrounded on all sides by rocky peaks that climb high above the timber line. The wide open expanse of grass gives me a feeling of freedom while the peaks speak to me of eternity, strength, and stability. When I need help I often lift my eyes to the mountains, and I marvel that the One who created the Rocky Mountains also holds us in the palm of his hands.
The Psalmist looked upon the mountains in a time when he was in need of assurance and courage and asked rhetorically, “From where does my help come?” The question is rhetorical because he already knows the answer, “My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
Perhaps this is a most basic statement of faith. Help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Unlike some of Israel’s neighbors who worshipped nature, the Psalmist did not believe that the mountains themselves were his help, they only pointed to the One who made them. The Psalmist found help from the One who created the mountains because they reminded him of the strong, eternal God. This God, who rooted the mountains so that nothing in nature can make them fall, also enabled believers to stand tall no matter what troubles life brings. By faith the Psalmist lived a victorious life when others seemed defeated.
The God whom the Psalmist finds by looking into the mountains is ever vigilant and never “slumbers nor sleeps.”
Almost every year my wife and I take one of our grandchildren to Ghost Ranch, a Presbyterian Conference Center in Northern New Mexico. Ghost Ranch is nestled in the kind of terrain that the Psalmist saw when he “looked into the hills”. The mountains are multi-colored, ragged, rugged, and gracefully beautiful all at the same time. In this place, maybe more than any other, I feel secure in the arms of the One “who neither slumbers nor sleeps.”
Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth; from the beauty of God’s creation; from brothers and sisters in faith who care for me and for one another. My help comes from sharing the elements of bread and wine which God provides to nourish our souls.
Friends, when you grow weary or anxious look into the hills, look to the mountains, and remember our ever vigilant, eternal God who neither “slumbers nor sleeps.”
Copyright © 2008 by Dwight R. Blackstock
posted by Dwight Blackstock | 10:21 PM
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