Psalm 121 “I Lift Up My Eyes”
“Psalm 121 is the second of the pilgrim psalms, the Songs of Ascents devout Jews must have sung as they made their way to the highlands of Judah, where Jerusalem was located, for the annual feasts. When we remember that there were no real roads in those days, only well-trodden paths across the valleys, along the rivers, and over mountain passes, it is easy to imagine how this psalm might have been sung by a hopeful but very weary pilgrim. He has been traveling for days. His feet are sore. His muscles ache. Jerusalem, the end of his pilgrimage, seems very distant. Suddenly he sees the hills of Judah in the distance, and he breaks into song” (Boice p. 1075).
121:1 “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains”: The hills or mountains could be the hills of Jerusalem where Jehovah dwelled in His temple. “Lifting up our eyes also suggests the transcendence of God. We are of the earth and must look up to heaven. We need help far beyond our own limited resources and our human answers. Modern man has been infected with the myth of autonomy, the myth of self-sufficiency. He has been told to be the captain of his own fate, the commander of his own destiny. Yet a simple virus can kill him. The road to recovery from such illusions is one word: ‘Help’” (Williams p. 404). “The hills are enigmatic (as to what they stand for): does the opening line show an impulse to take refuge in them (Psalm 11:1)? Or are the hills themselves a menace, the haunt of robbers?” (Kidner p. 431). He is either looking with great anxiety or longing to the hills. “The hills provided cover for mobs and vagabonds who caused great harm to travelers. He may also have looked with great anticipation to the hills if he were on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Hidden among the hills was the Holy City, Jerusalem (125:2). Both thoughts may well have occupied the ancient traveler: anxiety and anticipation” (Gaebelein p. 772). 121:2 “My help comes from the Lord”: “Either way, he knows something better. The thought of this verse leaps beyond the hills to the universe; beyond the universe to its Maker. Here is living help: primary, personal, wise, immeasurable” (Kidner p. 431). As soon as the question, “From whence shall my help come?”, enters his heart, he has the answer. Do we believe that our help comes from the Lord? As we face hardships, trials, dangerous situations, uncertainty—do we place all of our trust in God? (Hebrews 13:5-6)
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121:2 “Who made heaven and earth”: We often tend to think of this as a very simple statement, but think all about that the statement infers. “They are lifted up to the God who stands before, outside, and within His creation. They are lifted up to the God who commanded the gaseous stars into space. They are lifted up to the God who placed our planet into orbit around the sun. They are lifted up to the God who orders our geological and historical life…Here, from the eternal, living God is help indeed” (Williams p. 404). If God made the heaven and earth, therefore, there can never be a problem in this created universe that is bigger than the God whom we are serving. Such a statement also excludes the existence of any other gods, our sole source of help comes from Jehovah, who, as Creator, has unlimited power and resources. Point to Note: In the land of Palestine there were also many Canaanite high places (shrines) in these hills also. But this writer rejected such human religious systems, and placed all his confidence in God. Is our confidence in God, or are we tempted to depend upon human explanations and saviors for the problems that we face? 121:3 “He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber”: This isn’t an unconditional promise, for even believers can fall (1 Corinthians 10:13), rather, this is a promise to the faithful. The person who places their trust in God will not slip. “The rest of the psalm leads into an ever expanding circle of promise, all in terms of ‘he’ and ‘you’. Another voice seems to answer the first speaker at this point” (Kidner p. 431). God doesn’t slumber in the sense that God doesn’t need any sleep and He never goes off-duty. In addition, He will never be indifferent to the needs of His people, He is always alert in protecting His own. “Pagans permitted their gods to sleep, but the God of Israel is not like any god—He does not need to recreate, eat, or sleep. He is the ‘shepherd’ of Israel (Psalm 23), who protects, guides, and blesses His own sleep. Regardless of the happenings in life, whether at work or at home, whether asleep or awake, the Lord is ‘there’ to help and to protect. What a God!” (Gaebelein pp. 773-774). “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tried” (Isaiah 40:28). Point to Note: Note the switch from “my” (121:1), to “your” and “you” (121:3ff). Either another traveler is encouraging our first pilgrim, for the pilgrim himself is encouraging others. One cannot keep a strong faith to themselves but they must share it with others.
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121:4 “How much more soundly should we sleep when God, who never slumbers nor sleeps, is guarding us!” (Boice p. 1077). “We can pray to Him at midnight, and He hears and answers. Moreover, God is always faithful to His covenant with His people….People age, grow weary, become exhausted, and die. God neither slumbers nor sleeps. He knows our every moment” (Williams pp. 405-406). These are wonderful passages to read to our children and they are wonderful passages for us to keep in mind when our children leave home, go off to college, or start families of their own. God watches over our loved ones and such is comforting for our watchful protection is very limited. 121:5-6 “The Lord is your keeper”: God’s protective care avails against the known and the unknown, the expected and the unexpected. The perils of day and night; “the most overpowering of forces and the most insidious” (Kidner p. 432). Point to Note: These promises were never meant to imply that the believer will have a cushioned life, for the writer himself at this very moment is looking for help (121:1). Many passages teach us that God’s people, past, present, and future will suffer (Acts 14:22; 2 Timothy 3:12; Hebrews chapter 11; 1 Peter). For example, in Psalm 23:4, David expects the dark valley but can face it. Rather than presenting the promise of a trouble-free life, such passages promise a wellarmed life. “The two halves of verse 7 can be compared with Luke 21:8f., where God’s minutest care (‘not a hair of your head will perish’) and His servant’s deepest fulfillment (‘you will win true life’) are promised in the same breath as the prospect of hounding and martyrdom (21:16)” (Kidner p. 432). Thus, Paul suffered many things (2 Corinthians 11), but the Lord never forsook Him (2 Timothy 4:17). Hence, even in the thickest fight or trial, we know that God is with us and that nothing can separate us from God (except our own choice) (Romans 8:35-39). “The mature Christian is neither blind to trouble nor in fear of it, for he is following after Jesus Christ, who said, ‘In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33)” (Boice p. 1080). “The Christian life is not a quiet escape, or a garden where we can walk and talk uninterruptedly with our Lord; nor a fantasy trip to a heavenly city where we can compare blue ribbons and gold metals with others who have made it to the winner’s circle….The Christian life is going to God. In going to God Christians travel the same ground that everyone else walks on, breathe the same air, drink the same water, shop in the same stores, read the same newspapers, are citizens under the same governments, pay the same prices for groceries and gasoline, fear the same dangers, are subject to the same pressures, get the same distresses, are buried in the same ground. The difference is that each step we walk, each breath we breathe, we know we are preserved by God…no 3
matter what we endure or what accidents we experience, the Lord will preserve us from evil” (Boice p. 1080). And most importantly, the Lord will deliver the faithful from eternal dangers. 121:8 “The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in”: “The psalm ends with a pledge which could hardly be stronger or more sweeping. Your going out and your coming in is not only a way of saying ‘everything’: in closer detail it draws attention to one’s ventures and enterprises, and to the home that remains one’s base; again, to pilgrimage and return” (Kidner p. 432). Points to Note: 1. God is faithful, He won’t merely be faithful to us for twenty or fifty years, but He will keep His promises forever. This is a God for all time, for every age and for eternity. 2. Are we trusting in someone who will be there for eternity? 3. God watches over every aspect of our lives, including the small details. He monitors every temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13), and hears every prayer.
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