I lift up my eyes to the mountains, where does my help come from?
Psalm 121:1-2 (NIV)
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.
I was hiking in the highlands of Scotland recently and when before me I saw the vast array of the Cairngorm mountains, this psalm came to mind.
When David penned those words at the beginning of Psalm 121, you can picture him surveying the vista of the Judean hills from where he was camped in hiding from Saul with his wives and mighty men and their families. This psalm known sometimes as the soldier psalm, or the travelers psalm speaks of God’s unfailing protection in keeping the believer from all harm. Yet perhaps David may have also been reflecting and responding on paper to the insurmountable obstacles that stood against him, and his God given destiny as the anointed King of Israel as he looked at those high and formidable peaks.
His thoughts turn from what lies in front of him in verse 1 to His Shepherd and Lord in verse 2. Though those mountains may appear treacherous and formidable from where an enemy may choose to strike (perhaps a metaphor for what difficulties David was facing on the run from Saul), David was settled in his heart that God, as maker of those hills confronting his vision, as the source of his help.
What the psalm recognises is that God is greater than whatever threat or concern lies in the mountains that obstruct or hem your path or mine. So, what mountains do you face today in your own life? Is it a difficult relationship? Uncertainty in your employment situation? Perhaps you have experienced deep loneliness or rejection. Trying to scale such a mountain yourself seems formidable and you may have tried maybe even desperately at times attempting to overcome what fear or pain that confronts you in your situation.
However, do as David does in this psalm, turn your eyes away from what is seen before you and look to your loving protector, author of your salvation, adoption and acceptance and maker of your very being; look to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The cross on which Christ was pierced is a reminder of God’s costly unswerving commitment to you and me because, and this is key to remember, you and me really do matter to God. Revealed throughout God’s Word, is the character of God’s heart of Holiness that drips with pure compassion and care for His people, showing them consistently that he has neither forgotten nor abandoned them, his care and mercies toward them continue:
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”
Isaiah 49:15-16 (NIV)
On the nail scarred hands and the wounding marks of Jesus, your name has been engraved and your heart joined to His. He will not and has not forgotten you and truly cares. With this in mind, do you not think then that he will not offer you his hand of ever-present help, protection, power and unfailing love not only to bring peace but to take you by the hand to the summit of whatever mountain(s) you face or else flatten it before your very eyes?
As a daughter or a son through Christ’s finished work on the cross, you have the help of your perfect, loving, eternal Heavenly Father at your side, for whom nothing is impossible or improbable. This is our Father God.
©2021. B. Trowbridge
Abba's Dearly Beloved 