A song for pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem.
1 I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there?
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!
3 He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber.
4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.
5 The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.
6 The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.
7 The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life.
8 The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.
Once again it is Jesus who picks up on a theme in the Psalm and uses it to reveal to us more about God.
Main Point: You who look to the Lord are absolutely rock solid safe in God’s care.
So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules.
But Jesus replied, "My Father is always working, and so am I."
John 5:16-17 NLT
Psalm 121 is another Psalm of ascent, sung when someone would be going to Jerusalem. A common time for an Israelite to travel to Jerusalem was during one of the Jewish holy days. In John chapter 5 Jesus has travelled to Jerusalem for a holy day and He is going to live out the truth in Psalm 121. These holy days were similar to a holiday these days, in that normal business was halted and more days were allotted to sabbath-like restrictions because of people entering the temple, and this day that Jesus was in Jerusalem was a sabbath.
I believe that some people have the idea that God was less available or less at work at some times. This is the idea of God Elijah mocked with the prophets of Baal and the idea that deists and agnostics in the past centuries might have had. A God removed or the clockmaker God who is transcendent but not imminent. Some of the results of such false ideas of God are what I believe Jesus and the Psalmist are correcting. Ideas like:
It is kind of strange that the Jewish people so restricted things (Link to an article about Sabbath by a Jew that suggests just this idea) on the special days that they practically made it impossible for God to keep His promise. How can God do a miracle on a sabbath or a holy day if no one can work? Even the angels would be having a day off, and so what if the enemy chooses to work (the devil is a rule breaker after all) on a sabbath holy day? Would you be out of luck? Would these special days actually be more cursed and vulnerable because God was taking a break with all the Jewish leaders? I mean God rests one day a week doesn’t He? Read Genesis and you’ll see that God takes breaks. But Jesus expands our understanding. He shows God indeed isn’t failing to keep His promise. So Jesus heals this guy on the sabbath and declares that God is never not on the job. God is looking out for you 24/7. Jesus says a lot of great things about God in John chapter 5.
But does a crucifixion count as harm? Does being nearly beaten to death, thrown in jail, beheaded, chained to a soldier, spending years in jail, being run out of town? Being chased by the king and having spears thrown at you, being sold into slavery or thrown into a lion’s den? Hebrews 11 gives us a list of things that happened to faithful people of God. I’ll not go into the whole list here but the contrast in this verse alone is enough to get your attention:
“Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.”
Jesus, Paul, Daniel, Joseph and David are just a few of the people who saw both sides of the coin.
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."
In Luke 18:28-34 Jesus tells us that there will be sacrifices in this life but that God will pay those sacrifices back both in this life and the life to come. When you read Psalm 121 are you willing to view it as a promise that can ultimately be guaranteed in the life to come? Hebrews tells us that Abraham, on the day he was ready to offer up Isaac on the altar as a sacrifice, was counting on resurrection.
So for me Psalms 121 shows me Jesus in these two ways. I can have confidence that God is able to save me now, because He doesn’t take breaks from being God and keeping a watch over me. So when I face trials, troubles and persecutions, I can be confident that it isn’t the final word. The last word will be spoken by Jesus when He blesses me.
When Jesus was being tempted by Satan it was Satan that tried to use a similar Psalm 91 to get Jesus to force God’s hand. Satan wants us to demand to God that He answers His promises in our way. I am sure you can think of lots of stories in the Bible where people took a promise from God and then tried to manipulate God or the circumstances into their plans.
I like that Daniel’s three friends when facing the fiery furnace did not have such a view:
“the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
Daniel 3:17-18
So Paul had this perspective, to live is Christ and to die is gain. “Yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution (2 Timothy 3:12).
And so it is Jesus who gives us the same sort of assurance of God’s care and protection that we see in Psalm 121: 8 when in John 10 He says this:
I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father's hand.
Conclusion:
Those who trust in the Lord will find He never ceases to care for them.
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| Handwritten Psalm 121 |
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