To The Hills

"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." Psalm 121:7-8

I love this Psalm. Go ahead, read it again, let it sink in a bit. See? Isn't that wonderful to read? it's such an encouragement- so many parts of it! Where does our help come from? Right there at the very beginning of this passage, it leaps out at us and tells us that when we need help with something- anything, we should look to the hills- look to the Holy Hills, because that's where our help comes from. Our help comes from the Lord every single time. This verse could have simply stopped there and said that our help comes from God, but look at how it takes that one step further and reminds us just who our God is. The Maker of all is where our help comes from. The ONE who created every speck of life on this planet- the one who designed the stars in the skies and knows them all by name is the one who will come to our rescue in our times of need.

Wow! That's so exciting to think about. And then we go on in these verses and it tells us that He will not let our foot slip- which means that we can have confidence. We can have confidence while we move forward in life, we can take each step forcefully and purposefully, and be sure that where our foot lands is exactly where God wants it to land. We don't have to worry about a mis-step or moving in the wrong direction. On top of that- the One who watches us does not slumber. God doesn't sleep or take a nap- He's always got His eye on us, so we don't need to worry about anything. He knows everything that goes around us. He watches us when we are awake, and He watches us when we sleep- and He knows the steps we will take before we take them, and He will help us make them with confidence.

The Lord watches over us- He is our shade at our right hand. I just love it when scripture uses good imagery to tell us something about God. He is our shade. Think of a hot summer day, where the sun is just beating down on you all the time, and you are growing weary because of it. Then you find a shady spot and decide to rest there for a minute- oh, that shade feels so good! It's a relief on those hot summer days. It cools you down and gives you the time to rejuvenate and feel refreshed. God is our shade! Not only that though, He is the shade at our right hand, which means it's right there, always ready to be accessed. We don't have to go looking for Him, we don't have to spend hours searching for that perfect spot to rest- He is always right there, ready and waiting to be needed.

The Lord will keep us from all harm- He, Himself will personally watch over our lives. Not the use of the word "all" there. God will keep us from all harm. Again, we can have confidence in God as our protector to get us through whatever we may be facing. When we add that very last verse to that- there's another wow moment. He will watch over our comings and goings for all our days- but look there's just a little more there. Both now and forevermore- that means that we have God at our side always and forever. Not only is He with us now, while we're here on earth, but when our time here is done on earth, and we are promoted to the heavens, God will still be watching over us there.

When I think of that... that's just cool. Heaven is such an uncertainty for us- we have no idea what it's going to be like, or what to expect. But this is a little nugget of encouragement to tuck in our pocket- it's a little something to help us to not fear death, because the same God that is with us today, is the same God who will be with us when we die. God is not a God of fear, and I love that He gave us things like this chapter in the Bible to help encourage us in our daily walk. We have no reason to fear- because He is always with us. He is always ready to help us, and in fact, sees that need before we even do. I am so thankful this morning for this reminder of how wonderful our God truly is.