I look up toward the mountains. Where can I find help?
My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let you fall. Your guardian will not fall asleep.
Indeed, the Guardian of Israel never rests or sleeps. [vss 1-4]
The Lord is your guardian. The Lord is the shade over your right hand.
The sun will not beat down on you during the day, nor will the moon at night.
The Lord guards you from every evil. He guards your life.
The Lord guards you as you come and go, now and forever. [vss 5-8]
A song for going up to worship. (Psalms 121:1-8 GW)
[Psalm 121 is the first in a group of psalms known as the Songs of Ascent]
God's design for the parent-child relationship is remarkable. It's a picture and model of God's original design for the relationship between Him and humanity.
Working with abandoned babies and children gave my wife and I a much greater appreciation of this. We saw the longing in every child to belong to their own family. This is something no institution, no matter how well run, could ever fulfill.
The personal trust and confidence a child has in their parents is sacred and it is a great tragedy when it's violated or broken. It creates a vacuum in the soul that can't be filled by anything else.
The acceptance and approval a child receives from their parents bring a sense of safety and security that mirrors the relationship God desires with every person.
What about those who are abandoned and abused by parents? God is still faithful. He never sleeps or forgets us. He is our Guardian. We just need to trust in Him.
When we look for help and trust in other ways than how God intends for us to trust in Him, we'll be disappointed over and over again.
This psalm opens with looking up "towards the mountains" and asking the rhetorical question, "Where can I find help?" People who trusted in ritualistic, superstitious religion based on false gods set up idolatrous shrines in high places (hills and mountains).
The psalmist knew the answer to his question. He knew who to trust—the One true and living God.
What and who do you trust? If not the living God, then it's a hopeless trust
Trust in the One who knows you, never sleeps or forgets you—the Lord your Guardian.
©Word-Strong_2017
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I won't cover all 150 Psalms, but do selective devotionals through the rest of Psalms.
So if I skip one that you like... let me know and I'll try to cover it!
