Saturday, February 22, 2014

The Lord our Helper and Keeper

The Lord our Helper and Keeper
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade on your right hand. The sun will not smite you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. The LORD will guard your going out and your coming in From this time forth and forever.  Psalm 121

The 121st Psalm is the Psalm of the pilgrim traveler. We do not know who the original traveler was or where he was going. Perhaps he was an exile from his home land, living in Babylon. The time has now come for him to make the perilous journey home to Jerusalem. As he starts out on the journey he utters these matchless words for his comfort and encouragement. Or perhaps he is a pilgrim on his way to the Temple at Jerusalem. The journey is almost over, he has just caught a glimpse for the first time of the holy hill of Jerusalem. As he beholds his goal in sight he burst out in a word of testimony to the wonderful way in which the Lord has preserved him throughout the entire journey. But it matters not what the circumstances of the singer were. Regardless of whether the traveler is an exile just beginning the homeward journey, or a pilgrim just completing the journey, the hymn of quiet trust loses none of its beauty and power. This Psalm teaches the general truth that throughout our journey to the Heavenly Jerusalem the Lord is our helper and keeper.

As we begin our meditation upon this Psalm of the traveler let us be mindful that the Psalmist is a child of God, who trusts in the Heavenly Father and who is endeavoring to walk in the way of righteousness. This hymn of trust is his confidence and assurance and is the trust and confidence of every one who is a son of God through faith in Jesus the Christ.

Notice that as the traveler began his journey, he looked up: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills.” As we begin the journey of life we must look up. The upward look is necessary for a great and noble life. As we lift up our eyes and behold the big things, we are inspired to do the little things. Looking into an ideal enables us to do the little things that will lead to the accomplishment of the ideal. The medical student endures the long hours of study and spends many hours in the class room because he beholds the ideal of becoming a doctor.

We must look up in order to break the dull monotony of life. We avoid the dull monotony of traveling the plains only as we look up into the hills. In my college days there were two trips that we took frequently. One was from my home to Gettysburg, the other from my home to the seashore. The trip to Gettysburg was a 120 mile trip through rolling hilly country. The trip to the seashore was only half as far but over flat, unbroken country. We much preferred the longer trip because the dull monotony of riding was broken by “looking up into the hills.” In life if there are no hills to look unto life becomes tiresome. The Scripture constantly teaches and exhorts us to look upward and onward. Jesus we are told “set His face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.” He set His face on the high goal of His life, Calvary. We are exhorted to “Look unto Jesus,” to “press onward to the mark for the prize of the high calling.” The Psalmist said, “I will life up mine eyes unto the hills.”

As the Psalmist looked unto the hills which symbolize the great tasks to be accomplished, the ideals to be realized, he asks the question, “From whence cometh my help?” notice that this is a question. Although the Jews living in Jerusalem received great help from the hills, this is not a statement that the Psalmist help came from the hills. Mountains were round about Jerusalem and they proved to be of great help in time of war. The most formidable weapon in those days was the chariot. But the chariot was of little value in mountainous territory. Valuable as the mountains were, the Psalmist does look unto them for help but to the Creator of the mountains. “From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”

As we travel we must remember that our help does come from the Lord. The mountains seldom if ever saved the inhabitants of Jerusalem but the Lord did on many occasions. The armies of King Sennacherib laid siege to the city of Jerusalem, a siege tighter than the siege of Stalingrad. It looked hopeless to the city. But the people under their good King Hezekiah trusted in the God who made the heavens and the earth. God caused a pestilence to descend into the camp of the enemy and to slay many of the officers, the nobles and princes. The siege was lifted, the enemy returned to their own land. This is not an isolated case of the way the Lord helps His people. Read the Bible, read the pages of history and see the marvelous ways the Lord who made the heaven and the earth brings aid and deliverance to His people.

Recall David’s first battle. It was with Goliath, the Philistine Giant. The giant was well armed with every personal weapon of war known to man at that time. He was so well armed that he defied the armies of the children of Israel and what was worse he defied their God. From a human point of view David was poorly armed, no breastplate, no helmet, no shield, no sword, only a slingshot and five stones. But listen to the rest of his armor, “Then said David to the Philistine, Thou comest to me with sword and spear and with a shield, but I come unto thee in the name of the Lord of Host, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defiled.” You know the rest, how David was victorious over his enemy. When we trust on the God who made the heaven and earth we will likewise be victorious.

William Shisrer in the “Berlin Dairy” entered a very significant statement on June 1, 1940 concerning the British evacuation of Dunkirk. Writing while still in Berlin he said, “I learn to day from the German High Command office that God has given the British a break. They have had two days of fog and mist around Dunkirk and as a result the Luftwaffe has been unable to do much bombing on the transports busily engaged in taking off the British troops.” This was more than a”break” from God; it was the miraculous intervention of God bringing help to His people.

“From whence cometh my help? My help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Notice how personal this is. God is the helper not only of the nations, of the crowd but also the individual. This Psalm is intensely personal. “the Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade; the Lord shall preserve thy soul; the Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” The Lord is the helper of the individual. Men lose sight of the individual in the multitude. Man begins with the crowd and works towards the individual. We pass laws for the masses of people, not for the individuals. This is our chief complaint of the gasoline rationing. The regulations are passed for the masses as a whole and not for the individual as a unit. Organizations are established for the many not the one or two. But such is not true with God. He takes account of the individual. He begins with the individual and works towards the crowd. Jesus is the Savior of the world, because He is the Savior of the individual. God loves all because He loves each. The many are helped because He is the helper of each. Therefore my help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

The Lord who has power and ability to make the universe has power and ability to help. He who made the lily with all its radiant beauty is able to help me to make my life radiant. Think of a lily of the field and then think of a Hitler. Think of the graceful beauty of the one and the ugly selfishness of the other. What a contrast. The one is the handiwork of God; the other is the handiwork of self. God has everything to do with the one; He has nothing to do with the other. The one grows graceful in strength and beauty; the other grows ugly in selfishness and lust. The life whose help cometh from the Lord is the life that grows in grace and beauty.

“From whence cometh my help, my help cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” Having made this wonderful declaration of trust the Psalmist now proceeds to expound the nature of the help received from the Lord. It is help which is steadfast; “He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.” We who journey to the heavenly Jerusalem are to walk in the straight and narrow path that leads to everlasting. The Lord who made heaven and earth will not suffer the foot of those who trust in Him to be moved from that path.

The help received is continuous help; “He that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, He that keepeth Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” When we journey our helper is awake and when we lay our heads down to rest still our helper is awake. He never sleeps; He never so much as doses; His eyes are never heavy with sleep; He is always awake and alert watching out for the welfare of those who place their trust in Him.

This help is a keeping help; “The Lord is my keeper; the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, not the moon by night.” The Lord not only helps, He also keeps. He helps with the problems and difficulties that confront the traveler; He keeps the traveler from physical harm and danger. He is our shade, “The shadow of the great rock in a weary land.” He is at our right hand, our working hand, our hand of power, thus, He keeps us in that He gives us power t o keep ourselves. He keeps us by day and by night from perils attributed to physical causes. “The sun shall not smite thee by day nor the moon by night.” The Lord is thy keeper. If through affliction, trouble or sorrow we become the prisoners of the Lord, He is still our keeper. He keeps us in times of sorrow as well as in hours of rejoicing, in moments of difficulty as well as in days of ease, in health and in sickness.

His help is a preserving help. “The Lord shall preserve me from all evil; He shall preserve my soul.” He keeps our bodies from the physical danger; He preserves our souls from spiritual harm. He preserves us from the fiery darts of the wicked one. We do not sour when we commit ourselves to Him for He seals us with His love and none is able to pluck it from His grasp.

“The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth and even for ever more.” No matter what your experience may be, no matter what varieties of circumstances overtake, you have naught to fear for the Lord will preserve you from now and for evermore. As you go out in the morning, as you return in the evening; as you go in life, as you return in death: as you begin your affairs, as you conclude them; the Lord will preserve you in all your ways throughout all eternity.

As I journey through life and behold the great things to be accomplished and the ideals to be attained “from whence cometh my help?”  “My help shall come form the Lord.” We journey through an evil land, a dry and dusty land; we know not what the morrow will bring forth. If you will commit your way unto Him who does all things well, you have the assurance that your help, your keep and preservation throughout the journey will come from the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Dr. Robert W Kirkpatrick

Friendly Methodist, Bluefield, W Va. February 13, 1944

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