All right, this afternoon, I
would like to read Psalms 121. So if you'll turn in your Bibles
to Psalms 121, or read our scripture for the afternoon. I will lift
up my eyes into the hills, from hence cometh my help. My help
cometh from the Lord, which make heaven and earth. He will not
suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber or sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy going in from this day forward and for evermore. This afternoon, we want to look
at Psalms 121. In the last few weeks, I've been
thinking more and more in this line of a devotion. And that's
what I'd like to speak to you about this afternoon. In this
particular passage of scripture, it speaks to my heart. Because
in this society that we're now living in, and the news and the
way that seems like our minds and hearts are trying to be governed,
it appears that everyone outside of the Lord is in charge of our
thinking and our life. There is no happiness in this
life apart from a dedication to the will and the purpose of
Almighty God. And in this Psalm, the Psalmist
David is telling us in the very first line, I will lift up my
eyes unto the hills from hence cometh. my help. When we can
acknowledge within our hearts and souls that without God, without
His help, I can do nothing. We can try all of the other instruments
in this world, but in the end we will have to acknowledge that
it is God and it is God alone that is our stay. There are four
things that David say to us in the very first two verses. He
says, first of all, to us, we stay ourselves upon God as the
God of power and the God of all sufficiency. This is the key
right here for the rest of the entire chapter. David is not
saying, shall I lift my eyes to the hills? In saying that, in that tone
of voice, it is not that we look to the hills, to the mountains.
It does not say that we should look to something that is substantial,
that we should look to a government, that we should look to any other
aspect at all, other than to God himself. In this day, we
are distracted. We are continually distracted
from the purpose of Almighty God. Sufficiency is with God. Sufficiency is not with our employer. Sufficiency is not within our
government bodies, but sufficiency is with our Lord Jesus Christ. David says, I will lift up my
eyes unto the hills. David was looking from the heart
out, not from the outside in. He was looking from his soul.
He was looking for the strength of his own heart and soul. He knew that the strength was
there and that strength calls out to almighty God. I'm just thinking, Now, all the
things that we reach out to in this life, a husband should certainly
reach out to his wife, and a wife should certainly reach out to
her husband. And families unite together and
they kind of hold themselves together. But all of those reaching
out is not the type of reaching out that David is speaking of.
He is looking at the very point of help and strength and that. with God. We must see all of
our help laid upon God. We cannot lay any strength apart
from Almighty God Himself, from His power and His goodness, His
providence and His grace, and from Him we must expect it to
come. If we have any other avenue in
life, humanly, we're gonna reach for it. As we all are getting
a little bit older in life, most of you have your best foot, your
best leg, and you'll lead out on that leg every time because
your confidence is in that leg. The first step, maybe it's your
right, maybe it's your left, but you're gonna lead out on
it. What I'm saying to you today,
our strength cometh from the Lord. Our strength cometh from
the heel of Almighty God. So why? Why are we so prevalent? Why are we so adamant about looking
at the confidence of man rather than the confidence of Almighty
God? My heel. cometh from the Lord. We must find help with God by
faith and his promise in due regard to all of his institutions. He said again, I will lift up
my eyes to the hills. What would David say? What would
David be thinking when he was talking about again, lifting
up his eyes to the hills? I feel like he's talking about
the hill of Zion. I feel like he's probably talking
about Mount Moriah. I'm thinking that he might be
thinking about the hill where the covenant of God was. A Jew, David being a Jew, a believer
in Jehovah God, his hope, his faith was based on an institution. coming of his Lord and Savior. Mount Moriah is the most sacred
place in all of the Bible. That is the place where the temple
was going to be built. That was the place where God
visited with his people. That's where the Spirit of Almighty
God came down and was visible unto the people. They were trained. Their hope was in Mount Moriah. Their desire was that holy hill
of Zion. And now I'm laboring. I'm laboring
to turn our minds and hearts from a hill, from a place of
the past, to a time of the presence. The hill of God. Mount Moriah,
where the Articles of God was, was only a place. It was dirt,
just like the dirt outside of this sanctuary. The dirt was
never sanctified in itself. It was what took place upon that
particular place. David's true desire was toward
Mount Moriah where something was going to take place that
gave him the greatest hope and confidence of his life. And maybe
that's true. Maybe that's true of each and
every one you today is your hope fastened upon your employment
is your hope fastened upon this crumbling government that we
have that we see just crumbling each day or can we as David would
do look to the heel of God look put his eyes upon the heel of
God the purpose of God and that purpose is the wheel and purpose
of our Lord Christ of dying for our sins so much today that we
look to that has littler though value whatsoever we are to be
encouraged in the confidence of God that he made in he made
heaven and in earth When we think about our Lord, our God, speaking
the world into existence, what power is in just a few words
of God uttering a few words and bringing the world into existence. He who made that can do anything. If God can speak the world into
existence, can he not speak life and peace in your own heart?
The difficulties that we all face, and in this congregation,
there's so many different families, including mine, we all have problems
and difficulties. All of our problems and difficulties
can be made level and plain by the will and the purpose of God,
and blind God to work in our lives to render those things
well. And then secondly, in those reminding
verses, the comforting ourselves in God when our difficulties
and dangers comes upon us, that our safety is in his protection. All of our purpose today as we
Go to work as we listen to the radio or our television our news
reports It would seems like we are always under the domination
of something other than Almighty God the truth is that God's mercy
is and his protection is about his people. God himself has undertaken
to be our protector. God has not given this position
to any other person other than himself. It is God who protects
his people. The same that is the protector
of the churches in general is engaged in the preservation of
every particular believer. You think about God protecting
Israel, going through 40 years in the wilderness, God providing
for them on a daily basis. And yet God's, if God did that
and God took care of Israel, God is also taking care of each
individual of that journey. He is taking care of each one
of us as an individual. Not that we all have the grace
of God. The church has the grace of God
upon it. God has his will and purpose.
But until we can feel the presence of almighty God in our lives,
directing our lives, and where we find the confidence of God
within ourselves, the spirit of God, there we find our great
confidence. He is the wakeful and watchful
keeper. He is the one the scripture says
that neither slumbers or sleeps. He's the one that is always about
us, protecting us throughout every journey. I have a friend
and he's in Saint Petersburg, Russia this morning. I got a
message from him. He's traveling. and he's on a
cruise ship and so far, so far away, his protection is not in
that cruise ship. His protection is not in an army,
but his protection is in almighty God. To be so far away, but yet
he is so near because the same love and mercy of God is with
him there as he would here in the States. He is not only our
protector of those whom he is the keeper of, but he is the
refresher of them. It's not that God just protects
us, but it is God that gives us the peace of passive understanding. He uses the phrase here in our
scripture that he is our shade. He is our shade. This last week
or so, I was in a place and this man, and his father runs this
business. And the younger man told his
father, Dad, get into the shade. And it took it. I remembered
him saying that our God is truly our shade. They tell us how much
cooler it is in the shade than outside in the in the broad sun. What I'm saying to you is this.
In this life, the sun does beat down. upon us and it is God that
is our shade. He is our protector. Anything
that comes upon us, it is God that protects us. He is also
nearest people for their protection and refreshment and never at
a distance. God is as close as our heart
is. How close is your heart? Not
that far away. God is always about his people,
protecting his people, guiding his people. When we have our
health issues, we ask our God, we ask our Lord that if he would
be merciful to us at a time, maybe at an operation, we ask
God before we leave home so often, that if he would protect us on
our journey. And going on a long journey,
we ask God to have mercy upon us. He is ever near his people. He is not only at the right hand
of his people, but he will not keep, he will not keep the foot,
he will keep the foot of the saints. We thank so often Once
we have come to know our Lord Jesus Christ, once we have come
to know him, we study his word, we feel somewhat with confidence,
but it only takes a moment for our confidence to be eroded.
And we start back from the very beginning again, knowing that
all of our protection and care is upon our Lord Jesus Christ. It uses that phrase in verse
six about the sun shall not smite thee with the heat and by day,
nor the moon with her cold or mars at night. In this particular
place where David was in the daytime, it would be quite hot,
over 100, probably 120 degrees. But at night, the temperature
would grow very cold. So the scripture is used here
to tell us that he is comfort us for from the sun and from
the moon. Throughout each day, we have
difficulties that God is our protector. In the night, we have
our heavenly father protecting us throughout the night, through
the cool of the night, in the heat of the day, regardless of
the difficulties that come upon us, it is God himself that protects
us in every way. So often we might find ourselves
sufficient, sufficient. We ask each other sometime, well,
how are you today? Well, the answer may be, well,
I'm doing fairly well today. I'm doing a little better than
yesterday. Well, all of our care, whether
it's morning, noon, or night has to do with our heavenly father
and his protection of us. Our health is in his hands. Our health continues to be in
the hand of almighty God, whether it be according to the scripture
of the day or the night, whether it be in the temptations of life
in the day or the temptations of life at night, He is our keeper. He is the one that protects us. Like in the Old Testament, that
God protected the children of Israel with a pillar, a cloud
by day. That pillar of cloud protected
them from the burning heat. Can you imagine a couple, all
the thousands of people traveling and no air conditioning, no fans,
just going day after day after day and burning heat. It was
a miracle. It's a miracle. God provided
such a miracle of protecting them. But at night, he warmed
them through a great furnace of heat by fire at night. I don't know where your difficulties
lie. And these terms, it's just like
talking about the heat of the day and the cool of the night. I'm trying to make a point that
regardless of what our difficulty may be, He is there protecting
us with everything that comes about. His protection will make
them safe in every aspect. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. But someone might say, but I,
I'm already a Christian. I don't have to be too concerned
about the evil that you speak of. I never knew what evil was. I never knew what temptation
was until I came to know him. Maybe you're like that too. I
am very concerned about this night. I'm very concerned about
tomorrow. I'm looking for God himself to
protect me and to guide me and to deliver me from temptation
in this hour and the hours to come throughout this day. He is truly the protector and
preserves us from all evil. It is a spiritual life, especially
that God will give will take under his protection. He shall
preserve thy soul. He shall preserve thy soul. Now. How are we to see this? How to? How are we to believe
in this particular portion of this scripture? He shall preserve
thy soul. I thought I had already become
a Christian. I thought since I've been a Christian
for 30 years that this would not apply to me. Our heart, our
soul, this body, this humanity is no better than it ever was
before. We are still looking for the
protection of Almighty God. He is the one that keepeth our
soul. He is the one that keeps us from
falling even in this day. There is no faith so strong to
protect you in this hour. There is no faith so strong to
protect you in the next temptation that God will send your way. He will keep us in all of his
ways. He shall preserve by going out
and are going in. Is this comforting to you this
afternoon? Knowing, as David has said, he
shall preserve thy going out and going in. Many of us, we
talk privately about concerns that we have in this life, things
that we do and things that we don't ever do again. It is our
heavenly father that protects us in all of our goings, whether
goings ins and our goings outs. It is God that lifts us up and
protects us in all of our ways. He will continue his care over
us through this time forth and forevermore. Forevermore. You know, as I look
at you, I see children five years old. I see those of us who are
much older than five. We are concerned about that word
forevermore, this time forth and forevermore. We are looking
to God. We're looking to Christ. We're
looking to God for his continual protection to this time forth
and forevermore. He is our protector. He is the
one that is the desire of our heart. He is the one that we
truly look at, look forward to, and shall in a coming day be
protected even at his very side in heaven. May God bless you
today as we read this passage in Psalms 121. May God bless
you.