Psalm 121 is referred to as a “Song of Ascents”. Some fifteen psalms bear this title. These psalms are traditionally connected with the time period of Israel’s Babylonian exile. Much like the Hallelujah Psalms that we talked about last time, except the Songs of Ascents are not songs of praise so much as they are expressions of the heartfelt cries of God’s people as they longed to see the day of restoration and return to the promised land and to experience again God’s presence and peace among them.
Psalm 121 begins with a leading question: Where does our help come from? And it’s not an unfamiliar question. There is a lot of theology packed away into this question. It’s a question any of us can ask on any day amidst the problems and frustrations that annoy us and troubles in life. Day by day we might find ourselves wondering where we can turn in our troubles. Who will help us? Who am I going to be able to lean on? Who can I count on? The author of this Psalm says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills.
Now you might think the psalmist is saying that the “hills” are some optical or trouble that that has to be overcome. If you’ve ever spent anytime hiking or hunting in hilly, mountainous country you might guess at what the Psalmist is getting at. Hiking up and down steep hills isn’t so bad at first, but if you’ve been doing it all day, it gets wearying and then you get to that last hill and you know that your vehicle is just on the other side, but you’re tired and the prospect of climbing up that last hill seems too hard. Your just too weary.
Life can be the same. There are lots of “hills” that are hard to climb. So maybe that’s what the Psalmist means by “hills”—all the troubles and aches and pains of life in this sinful, broken world. Maybe.
But I’m not really sure that this is what the psalmist means when he says, “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?” I don’t think the psalmist is pointing to the hills and in despair wondering “who is going to help me get over them?”
No, I think what the psalmist is saying is that hills and mountains draw our eyes up—heavenward. The psalm is declaring that the hills and mountains exist in our lives for a purpose. They get us to look up. The hills are upward in direction. They draw our eyes up, not just the hilltops, but even higher—to the heavens. The hills give us an excuse to look up and find our help in Jesus.
You’ve probably noticed, we tend to look down when we’re in trouble. Right? Our faces are downcast. We focus so much on our troubles and our problems. But don’t look down. That’s the wrong direction! Look to the hills. Lift up your heads. Look even higher. Look up at the hills and then beyond to the God who created them. He is above all things. Every struggle, every cross, every ache and pain, every potential stressor and all that makes us anxious in life. In fact, the bible reminds us in many places that those things in life that seem sometimes like rugged hills and impassible cliffs, they serve the purpose of helping us look up to Jesus and put our trust in Him.
I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does 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.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
Now notice what the psalmist does in this next verse. He goes from talking about hills to talking about sleep. “He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” He is always awake and alert. He’s always conscious to where we are and what we are going through. His power is unwearied and needs no recuperation; His watchfulness is never at fault.
Consider how this contrasts with us—our bodies. Our bodies need sleep, such that we cannot live without it. Part of what makes us human is the necessity of sleep. And sleep deprivation can cause us all manner of physical and mental illnesses. Inevitably, on matter how hard you try, you cannot resist your body’s need for sleep forever.
But it’s fascinating to me to consider that there is something profound about this need we have for rest and sleep. I know it’s just biology, but our “needing sleep” also serves as a constant reminder that we can’t do everything all the time. Regardless what is happening all around you — notwithstanding your glowing newsfeed that tries to keep you up at night, or the endless to-dos and projects that keep mounting, and no matter the hectic pace of our busy lives—you and I must go to sleep. We must lay down our labors and find sweet sleep and rest. This is a requirement for all humanity. But for Christians, how wonderfully comforting it is to know that we don’t have to wrestle with worries in the dark of the night—there is no need for these sleepless nights—because there is One who “does not slumber or sleep.” “He is the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” He’s holds everything in His hands and He’s got His eyes on you! What a difference it makes to know that the Creator of the universe is your helper and your friend!
No matter how big the problem of today is, compare it to the Maker of heaven and earth. Who’s bigger? I think it’s safe to say, “God’s got this.” And because this is true, simple logic forces us to concede that if God controls everything, coincidence is ruled out, there is no “good luck” or “bad luck,” and nothing is random. This is God’s world and nothing can happen to you outside of God’s will and providential care.
So, I really like how this psalm turns things around and makes impassible hills, which would normally be a reason to despair, become the very reason to look up to the Lord. And it turns sleep, which normally is our response to the hard and wearing work of today and is what we need to get ready for more hard and wearing work tomorrow, instead sleep becomes an excuse to relinquish control, reminding ourselves—at least for a few hours—that we don’t run the world or even our own little lives. God does! And we don’t have to be anxious about tomorrow and what it might hold. Tomorrow is God’s domain. Tomorrow (and today) is protected by the unslumbering I AM.
And, of course, what a beautiful way to approach the ultimate sleep—the sleep of death. It think that is where the true metal of faith is shown. How comforting is the thought that our Lord’s unsleeping protection guards over us even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Consider how these simple truths fortified the Prophet Elijah almost 3000 years ago. On Mount Carmel, Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal to see whose deity could be first to respond. You may remember how Elijah builds his altar and douses it with water. But the prophets of Baal go first. They cry out to their god Baal but nothing happened. Dead silence. “There was no sound; no one answered.” (1 Kings 18:25–26). Elijah can’t help but do a little trash-talking, goading them to shout louder. “Maybe he’s thinking it over,” he mocks; “maybe he has wandered away; or maybe he’s going to the bathroom. Perhaps he’s sleeping… so wake him up.” But the prayers to Baal were useless. Consider how the biblical writer emphasizes this when he writes: “No one answered, no one paid attention.” (1 Kings 18:27–29). But then Elijah lifts up his eyes and prays to God who was alive and attentive, awake, and aware. He prays to a God who wasn’t sleeping (1 Kings 18:30–40) and immediately the altar explodes with fire.
What a perfect psalm for this second week of Advent when we light the candle of peace. This psalm teaches us to trust God in all things and to look for the good in all the details of life. He’s the “shade at our right hand,” like sitting in the shade of a tree in the middle of hot day in August. You can gather your strength again before heading back out into the heat. So is for us. God gives us our peace and rest and strength to face each day. “I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2)
O Lord, open my lips... 