Pentecost 9 August 6, 2006

“The LORD Watches Over You”

Psalm 121

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over you – the LORD is your shade at your right hand; 6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

When a parent takes a break from watching a child, it doesn’t take long for the child to be in danger. They might climb up on a high ledge and fall. They might be bitten or scratched by a stray dog or cat. And if a child wanders too close to a pool or a busy street, it only takes two minutes and the child could be entering into heaven before they enter into kindergarten.

When a parent takes a break from watching a child, it doesn’t take long for the child to be in danger. But when a parent is carefully watching over their little one – the child is safe as can be. They might climb up on the high ledge, but the parent will keep them from falling. They might be curious about the stray dog or cat, but the parent will guard them from injury. They might sprint toward the pool or the street – but the parent will sprint faster.

I think that we all could easily imagine being the parent sprinting after the child who doesn’t know better. We’ve been there. We’ve done that. But can you imagine yourself as the child? Can you see yourself as the one tottering on a dangerous ledge or pulling a dog by its tail? Did you see yourself as the one foolishly running into the busy street? We don’t like to think of ourselves as being close to dangerous situations, but the truth is whenever we are poking our nose into a sin, that is exactly what we are doing. We live in a sinful world and dangerous situations and destructive temptations are all around us. Just as any child is in danger if his parent stops watching them, so also we are in danger if our heavenly Father stopped watching over us.

We all must admit that we desperately need the LORD to watch over our lives. Today we are in for a treat. Listen to Psalm 121, Scripture that reveals how lovingly and carefully God watches over us. (read text)

The psalmist begins by saying, “I lift my eyes to the hills.” We aren’t told the exact circumstances under which this psalm was written, but it is safe to say that if the psalmist is lifting his eyes to the hills, that would indicate that he is in a valley. Valleys are dangerous places. Very often they are the places of battle. They can be places of desolation. They also can be places of discouragement and depression, because if you are in the valley, what do you have to do to climb out of the valley? The only way out is a difficult trek up a hill or a mountain, and those are dangerous places too. Wild animals live in the hills and mountains. Robbers and scoundrels hide out in the hills and mountains. If you are in the valley lifting your eyes to the hills, that can be a discouraging spot to be in.

Do you ever feel like you are in a dangerous valley, facing a difficult mountain? Maybe you feel that way when you have finished a challenging week but an even greater challenge is coming next week. Maybe you feel like that when you are battling sin and the temptations seem to be stronger and not easier. Maybe you feel like that when you are dealing with a problem that has no end in sight and depression is weighing heavily upon your heart.

When you are in a dangerous valley, facing a difficult mountain, where do you find your help? You don’t find help in laying down and hoping the mountain evaporates into thin air. You don’t find help in a bottle. You don’t find help by discovering the champion in you and charging up the mountain with all you’ve got. You don’t find help by watching a funny movie or TV, trying to release your fears for a few hours.

The psalmist knows where to find help. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. Real help comes from pushing away any trust in yourself and handing it all over to the LORD. Real help comes from saying, “O LORD, you fix this problem because I can’t.” Wouldn’t you say that the greatest battle we face is that we become so centered on the huge problem ahead – the mountain – that we forget about the help?

Real help in climbing up the mountains of life comes from holding your eyes not to Mt. Problem or Mt. Burden, but to a different mountain – Mt. Calvary. On that mountain, Jesus showed how much he loves us. On that mountain, Jesus showed how willing he is to help us. On that mountain, Jesus canceled our debts and forgave our sins and promised he will bring us to eternal glory. And if the LORD is able to cancel all of our debts and forgive all of our sins and bring us to heaven safe and sound in his arms, he certainly is able to handle the lesser task of watching over us as we journey through the mountains and valleys of life. The only thing we have to worry about is if for some reason the LORD would take a break from watching over us. And Psalm 121 makes it very clear that will never happen.

Go back to the psalm now and take a look at the promises God brings our way. Verse 3 says, “He will not let your foot slip.” When you are climbing a mountain, good footing is vital. One mis-step can easily cost you your life. I read a story recently about a man who was hiking up a steep mountain. It had recently snowed and the narrow mountain trail was covered with packed down snow and ice and was quite slick. Since he had just started the day’s journey, the man was considering carefully hiking back down and taking a donkey up the mountain…until he heard that four donkeys had already fallen off the mountain that morning.

When the mountain seems too dangerous to take another step, when temptations come our way, when trials seem too hard to make it through safely, – isn’t it wonderful to hear the LORD say, “I will not let your foot slip.” He will not let us miss even one step. He will not let us fall off the edge. He will keep us safe and sound until we reach heavenly joy.

Now look at the rest of verse three. He will not let your foot slip – he who watches over you will not slumber; 4 indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Human beings grow tired of watching carefully. Human beings grow weary and need to take a break. Human parents – no matter how hard they try – lose track of their little sweethearts for a few seconds now and then. But the LORD will never take a break. He will never get too tired or weary to watch over us. He will never lose track of us. We can lose him but he will never lose us. The one who watches over you will neither slumber nor sleep.

And now take a look at verses 7-8. The LORD will keep you from all harm – he will watch over your life; 8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. It doesn’t matter how great your burden is. It doesn’t matter how complicated it seems to be. Those problems scare us but they do not scare the LORD. He promises to keep us from all harm and to watch over our coming and going, now and forever. Is there anything not covered by those verses? The LORD watches over our coming and going, both now and forever.

As I just mentioned, we earthly parents try our best and still have trouble on occasion keeping tabs on our children. But God will never have trouble keeping tabs on us. He is always with us. He is always watching over us. The words “watch over” occur no less than six times in this short psalm. Let’s close today by reading this psalm together and out loud. We’ll substitute the word “me” or “my” whenever we see the word “you” or “your.”

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let (my) foot slip – he who watches over (me) will not slumber; 4 indeed he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The LORD watches over (me) – the LORD is (my) shade at (my) right hand; 6 the sun will not harm (me) by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The LORD will keep (me) from all harm – he will watch over (my) life; 8 the LORD will watch over (my) coming and going both now and forevermore.