Where is my help to come?

Psalm 121

A Song of Ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills—

    from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;

    he who keeps you will not slumber.

He who keeps Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;

    he will keep your life.

The Lord will keep

    your going out and your coming in

    from this time on and forevermore.

I am acutely aware of the anxiety filling our lives right –every time we turn on the news or open up social media--- it seems as if every minute  there is yet another case of the coronavirus and  it seems to be creeping closer and closer ---if not that there are stories of how we might be inadequately prepared –if not that not enough the stock market is on a great roller coaster and if not that we have entered the season of presidential politics and all the uncertainty around who will be leading our country for the next four years.. and this is even before we get into the anxiety and uncertainty that many of us face in our own lives—the worries and concerns tucked in close to our hearts—the ones that make coronavirus or presidential uncertainty seems like child’s play.    We arrive here anxious uncertain.  And if don’t have anxiety-- bless you –celebrate this moment—because not too  long there will be something that inhabits your life.

We come through those doors maybe a little battered a little shake and a little unsure—but we arrive also knowing that somehow somewhere we might encounter the living breath God of our faith—that God that the Gospel writer says so loves the world that he sent his only son… The god that so loves you and I.  We arrive knowing that when we kneel down at that rail ad stretch out our hands in faith—God will show up- we arrive knowing that when we kneel down and pour out the sin of our lives God will show up with a word of forgiveness—we arrive knowing that God will show up in our friends and family in the word and the deed

The opening lines of the psalm today seem particular appropriate ---I lift my eyes to the hills—from where is my help to come?   Perhaps that is our question --where is our help to come?

The psalm says, “our help is in the Lord—the Maker of heaven and earth. 

These are the opening lines of Psalm 121—these are words that have been uttered again and again across thousands of years and now arrive here today and ask to become part of us. 

I lift my eyes to the hills—from where is my help to come-our help is in the Lord.

The words of this Psalm originate with pilgrims well before Jesus day—pilgrims who would journey from their homes across the countryside into Jerusalem for the religious festival of their day—pilgrims making journey under the hot sun of the desert and through the mountains and back road patrolled by bandits looking to rob and mug.   Psalm 121 was one of a series of Psalm that is called songs for the ascent to Jerusalem –psalms that the pilgrims would recite to remind them this particular one that God was there help –that God was the shade at their right hand –that God was watching over them and would not let their foot be moved.   

It is such a beautiful psalm of faith that God will protect us—that God is an ever-present help in our times of need—of course, faith in God it is not an insurance policy that nothing bad will ever happen to us—for we know that that is just not the case…  Life happens.. that even the most faithful people have bad things happen to them—people who get sick—die—tragedy strike    But this is a psalm about shifting our focus--- shifting our focus—from whatever it is that burdens –whatever it is that weighs us down—it is a psalm to remind us to lookup from our journeys---- look up toward God.

 I lift my eyes to the hills from where is my help to come—a reminder to look up toward God and to find strength for the journey in God.

I would like to offer a challenge to you this week—I invite you to learn this Psalm—it is only 8 short lines—I invite you to make these words a part of you—so that you might have them wherever you go—take the  bulletin home with you and write these words on an index card—learn them---make them become part of you—so that when the assaults of the world try to overwhelm you that when the stuff hits the fan—you can pull it from the deep recesses of you mind and say it  over and over and over again—maybe even take a break this week from your Lenten discipline ---or maybe reward yourself—if you can learn this maybe you have that glass of wine or that chocolate bar.     

I lift my eyes to the hills from where is my help to come?  My help is in the Lord--- the Maker of heaven and earth.   

Will we lift our eyes up-will we trust that God walks with us?  That God offers us something at this time—the pilgrims of old did—will we in our journeys remember to look to God?

AMEN