Sweet Sisters
This morning as I was traveling through the book of Psalms, my attention was drawn to Psalm 121. Remember, I like to think of myself as a Bible Tour Guide. Psalm is a beautiful psalm that describes how much God cares for us.
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 forevermore.
The psalmist begins by saying he lifts his eyes to the mountains and wonders where does his help come from.
Have you ever felt like that? You find yourself in a difficult situation, you look around and wonder who is going to help me? Like when your car breaks down and you watch your husband drive past you. Before there were cell phones.
In II Kings 6:15 – 17, Elisha’s servant wondered the same thing. The enemies had surrounded them and he didn’t know what to do. Elisha tells him, “Do not be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Elisha then asks God to open the servant’s eyes. Verse 17 is one of my favorite verses in the Bible (and I have a lot of them).
17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
Even when we cannot see it, God’s protection is always around us.
The Psalmist continues in verse two of Psalms 121, that his help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.
In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus tells us the God who cares for the birds of the air, the flowers and the grass of the field, also cares for those who love Him.
Psalm 121 goes on to describe how the Lord helps us. He watches over us and does not sleep. How many times have we laid awake worrying about situations we should have just given to God since He was awake anyway? Day and night the Lord is watching out for us. He watches over every aspect of our life.
In the 8 verses of Psalm 121, the Psalmist uses the phrase “watches over” five times. I ask Google what the phrase “watch over” means. The answer I received was: Pay attention and make sure nothing bad happens, protect, guard.
It occurred to me that in order for the Lord to watch over me, He must see me. One of the names for God is El Roi, “the one who sees”.
We find this name in Genesis 16. Sarai (Abraham’s wife) is angry with Hagar because she is pregnant by Abraham (even though she caused this to happen), so she mistreats her. Hagar runs away into the desert to escape. The angel of the Lord finds her there and reassures her that everything is going to work out.
In Genesis 16:13, it says about Hagar:
13 She gave this name to the Lord who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”
Psalm 33:18 tells us that the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him.
But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
I love Proverbs 5:21 in the Easy to Read version:
21 The Lord clearly sees everything you do. He watches where you go.
Sweet Sisters, the Old Testament is full of verses promising God’s help to those who love Him.
Jesus tells us in John 14:16 that He is going to ask the Father to send us an Advocate to help us and be with us forever.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—
God never intended us to deal with the challenges and hardships of life by ourselves. He absolutely wants to help us. All we have to do is ask.
James 1:5 – 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Matthew 7:7 – 7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
I will close with this quote, “It is not the greatness of my faith that moves mountains, but my faith in the greatness of God.”
Debbie