The intro to our sermon this morning is coming to us from one of the most successful movies ever made, The Sound of Music. This scene is toward the end: the guards are chasing the Von Trappe family, a delightful family of singers, but who are under the gun to acknowledge Hitler; the father of the household is a committed Austrian and refuses to do so. He is a high-ranking military official, so his opinion matters. In this scene Maria is speaking in hushed tones with the nun. They are on the verge of fleeing. Let’s take a look. [insert video – edited] In case it wasn’t clear, the nun reassures Maria that they will not be alone and then quotes Psalm 121 verse 1. “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” The allusion is to the actual hill country around them. The Von Trappe’s are about to flee into the hills and into Switzerland. The most famous psalms: 1, 23, 91… 121 Why are these famous? Some strike a chord with people over time, or perhaps they meet a need. Psalm 23 is like this especially as we reflect on needing the guidance and comfort of God through tough times. Psalm 91 also is a help when enduring battle, either physical or spiritual. The same is true for 121 (it strikes a chord and meets a need) But more: the Bible helps us understand what is happening in our lives right now. In The Sound of Music, the nun recalled a biblical truth which would be helpful and provide guidance not only in days long past, but in their current moment of need. The same potential lies before us. I would like to invite you (as we go through Psalm 121) to see where God is offering you help right now. Psalm 121 ESV A song of ascents. Psalm 120-134 a sub-collection with the wider group of psalms: pilgrim psalms, widely considered to be used by pilgrims travelling to Jerusalem to worship at the temple during one of the annual pilgrimage festivals. The subtitle is “a song of ascents.” The idea is that it is sung while pilgrims to up (i.e. ascending) Jerusalem. These psalms weren’t only used during these occasions, of course; they would have been used in a variety of other situations as well. On a note of interest to me personally, when the hospital in Bracebridge opened (my hometown) in Frank Arnott’s house at the corner of Manitoba and MacDonald Street in 1928, the people gathered sang ‘Unto the Hills Do I Lift Up Mine Eyes’ which is based on Psalm 121. When I first became a pastor I remember one of the first funerals I led. A lady had requested this psalm to be read at the service because it spoke so thoroughly of the guardianship of God. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth. -the reference to hills could be a reference to the hills around Jerusalem. If this was in fact a pilgrim psalm that would make sense; the faithful would see the hills approaching as they neared Jerusalem. Or it could simply be a reference to people looking up in desperation and for help during difficulty. They ask where there help comes from? From hills, from nature, from people? No. The question is answered in verse 2. Help comes from the Lord—this is the personal name for God, Yahweh. He made heaven and earth, something we learned back in Genesis 1. Since he can do all that, surely he can help his people now. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. In verse 3 we learn that he will not let your foot be moved. “your foot” is singular in Hebrew; God watches over/protects his people collectively as a group, but also specifically. As Matthew Henry says: “The shepherd of the flock is the shepherd of every sheep, and will take care that not one, even of the little ones, shall perish.” (726) Not letting your foot be moved might be a reference to keeping people stable on rocky paths on the way to Jerusalem while on pilgrimage. Surely an important thing in an age before modern roads and modern hospitals. Tim Keller here wonders whether or not this might actually be an allusion to sin. Slipping is, after all, language for making bad moral choices. If so, the potential for harm is even greater. In his devotional based on the psalms he writes: “An ounce of sin can harm us more than a ton of suffering.” (327) True enough. His point is that when we are diligent and follow God’s ways (and by his grace), we will not stumble into sin. The mention of God not slumbering is because God is on the watch. He doesn’t get drowsy in his duties like humans do. At this point there may also be an allusion to 1 Kings 18:27. There the prophet Elijah is in a showdown with the prophets of the false god Baal. They call out to him but he doesn’t respond. We read: “at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, "Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened." Later, of course, Elijah will prove victorious when he called upon the Lord who heard and responded by sending fire down on the altar to consume his offering. When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, "The LORD, he is God; the LORD, he is God." So the reference to God not being asleep may harken back to that story and the attentiveness of God in contrast to the slumbering (i.e. non-existence) of false gods. Verse 4. The Lord keeps Israel, in addition to the individual. 5 The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. This verse 5 is the midpoint and central theme of the psalm. The Lord is your keeper. There are 8 cola before, 8 cola after. The word “keeps” is central. In the eight verses of the psalm we are told that the Lord “keeps” his people. Hebrew: “shamar.” It is to keep, to watch over, to protect, or to preserve. Various translations will use some of those words. The repetition is intentional. We are being reminded over and over again of this unrelenting guardianship and protection of God. Then there is a reference to him being “your shade on your right hand.” Shade is language for refuge, protection and relief (so it goes along with the over-arching theme). Your right hand is, typically, also the one that does the work. Hammering, writing, constructing. It has the power. So the meaning might be that the Lord preserves you, and in so doing preserves your livelihood and vitality. The great George Whitefield here says: “Faith is the hand of the soul that lays hold on Christ.” (CHSB, 897) In verse 6 we are told that the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. Sunstroke was a real threat. The moon seems less of a threat. But it may have been the case that people believed in being moonstruck (ie. Being struck with some sort of madness). So perhaps the protection is in light of these threats. I have been recently reading about the Carthusian monks. In the 12th century a monk named Guigo (gee-go) sent a letter to a friend. He included some poetic and powerful words about being watchful as a part of the Lord’s battalion: “Become a recruit of Christ and stand guard in the camp of the heavenly army, watchful with your sword on your thigh against the terrors of the night.” (82) Guigo is of course speaking about humans being watching against the terrors of the night. But in Psalm 121 the sentiment is the other way around. It is the Lord being watchful, 24/7, over his people against the terrors of darkness. Here’s another possible consideration with these verses: Some people also worshiped the sun and moon as deities. If this was in the mind of the author of the psalm, perhaps then the rhetorical thrust at this point is to say ‘No, the Lord is greater!’ Either way, the sense we’re given is that the Lord’s protection and guardianship is 24 hours a day—whether the sun is up or the moon. 7 The LORD will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Look at how many times we are told about how the Lord will keep his people in the final two verses. Keep, keep, keep. The repetition is intentional. You can’t go away from this psalm and not know that it has something to do with the Lord keeping his people. There is daily pattern of living called The Rule of the Word, kind of like what monks would follow but for everyday people like you and me living their lives out in the modern world, which I came across not too long ago. There are a series of scriptures that the person is to recite for various parts of their day. Psalm 121 verse 8 is include and is supposed to be said every time you enter or exit your house: “The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” I like that—calling on God to keep your goings and comings whenever you leave (or return to) your home. For those of you who don’t know where I’m at in the world, the church I pastor is in Barrie, Canada. The local street centre is called the David Busby Street Centre. One of the prayer warriors here is Mandy Hillyard; she was the Founder of the centre. She told me that one of the names that was in the running early on was the “One2One Centre” which is a reference to verse 8 in this psalm. It ended up being named after David Busby, but I love the idea behind that other possible name: the Lord keeping and watching over those entering or leaving the centre. What a beautiful prayer. This closing verse is a kind of blessing. Another and more famous blessing is from Numbers 6:24-26: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” It has been used for thousands of years as a blessing on God’s people on various occasions. Although it’s less famous, this verse 8 in Psalm 121 has a similar feel. Editors of the Life Application Study Bible: “We never outgrow our need for God’s untiring watch over our lives.” (960) In his book, Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation, Thomas More wrote: “what weapon of the devil may give us any deadly wound, while that impenetrable shield of the shoulder of God standeth always between?” (84) True indeed. We end our close look at the text there. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. There is an expression. See if you can finish it for me: God helps those who… [help themselves] It’s not true. Although, of course, God can help anyone he wants to. He is sovereign and almighty. But the point here is to bring a more overtly biblical basis to our thinking: God helps those who ask for help! At the start of our look through the text I invited you to keep a look out for where God is offering help to you right now. In terms of famous psalms, I pointed out that some become famous because they (a) strike a chord, or (b) meet a need over time. They also help us understand what is happening in our lives right now. In light of the fact that God helps those who ask for help, I’m going to point out six areas where God helps those who ask for help based on Psalm 121. As I do so perhaps you will see God inviting you to draw nearer to him in certain ways based on where you are at in your own life. -God helps in big ways (v2) We have disappointments in our lives. Perhaps you even feel that God has let you down. Perhaps because of these reasons and more we are here invited to lift our eyes to the God who made heaven and earth. If he did that—and he did—then it remains true that God is capable of life-changing things. -God helps you be holy and wise (v3) He won’t let your foot be moved with respect to guiding you through his everlasting Word. His teachings are perfect; his promises are trustworthy. Regardless of what you’re experiencing you can grow in holiness and wisdom. -God helps you against deception (v 3-4) Recall the story from 1 Kings 18. If you keep your eyes focused on him you will not be led astray. Richard Baxter: “It is the grand design of the devil, in all his temptations, to deceive you, and keep you ignorant of your danger, till you feel the everlasting flames.” -God helps by providing for you (v5) He provides shade. He provides rest. Do you have clothes? Do you have food? Do you have meaningful things to do as a part of the body of Christ? Yes, yes and yes. James 1:17 speaks of every good and perfect gift coming from God. Let’s be aware of it, and encouraged by this! -God helps in the fight against evil (v7) Many Christians discount Satan. Why? Can’t see him. Carbon Monoxide causes disorientation, nausea, and death—and yet you can’t see it! Just because you can’t see something that doesn’t mean it isn’t real, and it doesn’t mean it isn’t dangerous. The fight against evil is primarily a truth battle. There is freedom and victory in Christ. -God helps in normal, daily travels and tasks (v8) JFK was giving a speech. He said that by the end of the decade the US would put a man on the moon. “In a very real sense,” he said, “it will not be one man going to the moon—it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.” Everyone would be contributing. Later that decade while touring NASA, he saw a man with mop. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked. “Put putting the first man on the moon, sir.” Ah yes! He remembered the president’s previous statement. In doing his work with a mop he knew he was contributing to a larger mission. (Nancy Duarte, Resonate, 94) George Swinnock: a Christian should regard "his shop as well as his chapel as holy ground." When we are having trouble, we look for help. Where do we look, by default? Popular gurus, substances, self-help strategies, some other form of escapism? As from a nun to Maria, and as from the Bible to us today: “I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?” It comes from the Lord God the Almighty. Sovereign, valiant, loving, true. Our Keeper never sleeps. God helps those who… ask for help. Where might God be offering you help right now?