Today’s Devotional Thought:
"I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where does my help come from?" (Ps 121:1, CSB)
For some reason, Psalm 121 keeps returning to my mind throughout my seminary years. I spoke to many of you about it when I first took Summer Hebrew. I came back to it when I was suffering from chronic insomnia and panic attacks last year. And now here we all are, looking for answers in these uncertain times.
Where have you been looking lately? How's your eyesight? Have you been checking your 401k more than usual lately? Are you worried you won't have (or currently don't have) a job? Are you wondering if you have Covid, or will get it? Are you just freaking out about society right now?
The psalmist opens with, "I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where does my help come from?" (Ps 121:1, CSB), and usually we would take this as looking toward the ascending road to Jerusalem. It's even located with other “Psalms of Ascent” leading to a declaration of crowning praise in Psalm 135.
However, there's a second aspect to Psalm 121 that I don't think was far from the psalmist's mind: What did mountains and high places represent to people back then? It was often a place of worship but not to the covenant-keeping God of Israel; it was where pagans went to worship, where they thought their "gods" were.
What "gods" have you been looking toward? I find myself worried, anxious, and confused throughout all of this. How does God answer these anxieties? "My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth"
He is not one of these lowercase fake gods; He is our one true, covenant-keeping Lord. He is the protector of Israel that does not slumber (v.4), and makes the claim that He will keep you from all "harm" (v.7). And that word isn’t any softer in Hebrew; it can mean evil, misery, or other horrible things in general. But that's quite the promise God is making there.
Let's turn ourselves from looking toward our false gods and idols in our life, and return to the promises God makes to us in the Gospel. When our hearts have been transformed by Christ's death and resurrection, we have the privilege of thinking about the world differently. We have our hopes set on our Lord and protector who delivers us from all evil. This is not escapism; this is the Gospel radically shifting where we set our priorities and hopes.
I pray for myself today, that I might repent of my own idolatrous heart and turn in faith to our forgiving Lord who protects and keeps all of our tomorrows, all of our comings and going now and forever.
Ways to Pray:
Adoration: Father, you are the only Lord that can keep us from all evil.
Confession: Our eyes so often chase after idols and gods to bring us comfort in life.
Thanksgiving: Thank you, Father, that through your Son we can fix our eyes on you for help and comfort. You alone protect our tomorrow!
Monday through Friday: Written by Pastor Stern
Saturday and Sunday: Written by Jonathan Hatt