In what or whom do your find your security? This is, at such a time as this, a most important question. Anyone who tells you at the present time that they are completely calm and not at all worried or concerned about what might happen in the next few months is either living in secluded isolation or genuinely out of touch with what is going on. As a country we are facing the biggest challenge of recent generations and no-one, absolutely no-one, can tell you for definite how things will look in six months’ time.
Even those of us trying our best to stay calm and measured in our responses to what is going on will have our moments of panic. You may have gone into a supermarket this week with a list of items. Prior to entering that venue you may have been convinced that you only needed one of a particular item, but if others rushed past you taking substantially more of that product then it would take a determined act of will not to join in.
We are social creatures and the actions of others around us do deeply influence our attitudes and our actions. When the collective mood is anxiety and increasingly negative perceptions of something it can cause incredible stress to all concerned.
How can I be different? What resources do I have when completely exhausted for keeping standing firm? Psalm 121 was written for such a time as this. It states: I lift up my eyes to the mountains – 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 for evermore.
What does the author do in his time of crisis? I lift up my eyes to the mountains – where does my help come from? There is a good start. His mind is not exclusively on the crisis events. He recognises he needs help –and quickly!
Our author possibly in the Jerusalem area has plenty of mountains to look at. But how might that help? Pagan religious shrines in that day, ‘High Places’, were literally on elevated sites. They were believed to be closer to the home of the gods and prayers from such a place were more effective than from other locations. He does find it convincing. Or more likely the setting is explained in II Kings 18:17-37. The armies of the superpower of the day Assyria are visible on the skyline of the hills around Jerusalem.
This is a brutal sadistic force that just loved violence and killing. Nothing could create a greater sense of terror at that time than such a sight. In the world today our ‘enemy’ is an unseen virus that is creating chaos and great fear and in some locations taking many lives.
The question almost everyone is asking: where do I turn at such a time as this? The Psalmist gives us this answer: My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He got it in the right place, nowhere else to turn.
Are you trusting in Him today? What is the benefit of doing so in the midst of such a crisis? The rest of this Psalm explains the benefits of doing so. You can lay your head on the pillow and sleep tonight because He is watching over you.
He concludes: 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 for evermore. What words of assurance. He is totally reliable. May each one of us by faith entrust our lives and our futures to Him.
Brian Talbot