Refuge in the Wilderness
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In the vast wilderness of life, where challenges constantly arise and uncertainties abound,
humanity has always sought refuge in the divine,
As we look to gods and goddesses for solace and protection,
And but they always seem to fall short.
For example, there is the ancient moon goddess Luna, the Roman goddess of the moon
who is seen by many as a beacon of hope in the night sky,
that guides travelers through the perils of the night.
However, this god’s powers are quite limited,
Because not only are her powers dormant for a good portion of the day,
But if you failed to perform the right rituals, offers, and observes, you would displease this goddess and quickly lose her favor.
Which was believe to effect fertility, abundance, and protection from harm.
Then, there is the the Mayan sun god, Kinich Ahau,
who’s life-giving warmth promises comfort and sustenance for all life on this planet.
However, this god’s powers are also quite limited,
Because not only are they dormant for a good portion of the day,
not only does his relentless gaze leave us scorched and weary as we long for shade and protection from his earing heat,
But this god’s favor could easily be lost if you didn’t perform the proper religious rituals and sacrifices,
Which included human sacrifice!
So if you wanted to keep his favor, you had to be willing to sacrifice one of your children, lest you risk losing his favor!
Not some great options so far!
Well, if none of those more primitive gods tickle your fancy,
then you might want to consider worshiping at the altar of secular materialism,
which is the current god of our culture today.
And yes, it certainly is a god.
And this god promises prosperity and happiness through the accumulation of wealth, possessions, and success.
However, like the gods of old,
its promises are fleeting and its demands relentless.
Because to appease this god,
you must forever chase the ever-moving target of wealth and success if you want to find fulfillment and security.
But as I just said - this target ever-moving, and so you can’t ever truly reach it!
Which leads to anxiety, discontentment, misery, and broken relationships.
The truth is, the more we chase after wealth and success, the more elusive true happiness becomes,
As we find ourselves enslaved to the pursuit of more, and more, and more
never finding satisfaction with what we have.
Then, and finally then,
there’s the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Yahweh God.
A God who never sleeps like the Sun and Moon gods,
A God who doesn’t demand cruel sacrifices and barbaric rituals to appease Him,
And a God who doesn’t fall short, in any way ever,
as He promises to love and care for us as we sojourn through the vast wilderness of life.
And it is to this God, that Psalmist looks to and says in our passage this morning:
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
And so it is this God to Whom we must look as we traverse the vast wilderness of life,
Looking to Him and Him alone to be our refuge and our strength.
And we must look to Him above all other gods, because He alone is:
To find refuge in the wilderness, we must seek refuge in Yahweh God as:
Our Creator (v. 1-2)
Our Sustainer (v. 3-4)
Our Protector (v. 5-6)
Our Blesser (v. 7-8)
Psalm 121, is a one of the fifteen “Songs of Ascents” in the the book of Psalms,
And in the Psalm,
the Psalmist is expressing deep confidence in God’s ability to protect him and his people throughout the trials of life.
To understand this Psalm, which is believed to be a Psalm of David,
We have to understand the Psalm that came before it,
Which is a Psalm of distress.
But in this Psalm, the Psalmist is on the move again, and He confidently trusts in God as His source of strength and refuge.
Which is why he says in verses 1 and 2:
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
When David says: “I lift my eyes to the hills.”
What does that even mean?
What are the hills?
Why is he looking to them?
And why does that lead him to ask himself: “Where does my help come from?”
And when it comes to knowing what these hills are that David is looking to,
We have a few options here to consider.
The first option, is that they refer to the dwelling place of lesser gods - similar to what we just discussed a moment ago.
See, in ancient Near Eastern cultures, the hills - or mountains - were often considered the dwelling places of lesser gods.
And so David could be saying:
“When I lift my eyes unto the hills, I consider all of the evil powers and principalities that live there and may do me harm, where can I look to for help?!”
So that’s option 1
But that’s not the only option here.
The second option is quite different.
While hills and mountains were certainly considered by many to be the dwelling place of the lesser gods,
They were also considered to be a place of refuge from enemies or danger.
Which is exactly what they were for David when he ran from wicked king Saul for a good 8 to 10 years, when Saul was trying to take David’s life!
And so David could be thinking of that period of his life, and be thinking:
“When I lift my eyes unto the hills, I remember where my help comes from! It comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and Earth, who protected me and cared for me as I fled from my enemies in the refuge of the hills.”
So that’s option 2.
But there’s also a 3rd option to consider!
The third option is sort of the opposite of the last one,
Instead of seeing the hills as a place of refuge, David is seeing them as a place of danger.
Why?
Because dem where bandits be!
See, back then, those who traveled along the roads that went near the hills were often suddenly attacked by bandits who would hide in the hills or the mountain passes,
before they suddenly swooped down upon their victims.
and so if this is what David is thinking of, he is basically saying:
“When I lift my eyes to the hills, and realize my vulnerability, I wonder, ‘Where does my help come from?”
So that’s option 3.
So which option is the right one?
I don’t know.
But!
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter,
because either way, the point is simply this!
The hills are not the source of David’s Comfort or Concern!
Because THOSE ARE NOT WHERE HIS HELP COMES FROM!
And so whether the hills be bandits,
The hills be a place of safety and refuge
Or the hills be the dwelling place of evil gods
The conclusion is ALL the same!
Our help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth!
And yet, how often do we look to the hills as our source of comfort or concern?
How often do we look to the creation, rather than the Creator as our source of refuge and strength?
When the hills of life are full of bandits - what do we often do?
We worry,
We fear,
We fret.
Which is sort of ridiculous, because the hills are nothing but CREATIONS,
And whatever powers they might hold are NOTHING in comparison to the Yahweh God, who as Creator has UNLIMITED POWER!
This is the God who SPOKE the heavens and the earth into existence with the power of His might!
And so why should we find comfort or concern in anything other than Him.
For His is an all-powerful God who not only made us,
But has promised to sustain us from whatever difficulties life may send our way.
To find refuge in the wilderness, we must seek refuge in Yahweh God as:
Our Creator (v. 1-2)
Our Sustainer (v. 3-4)
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
-change slide -
Here the Psalmist is saying that, unlike other gods - like the Sun and the Moon gods who sleep for portions of the day,
God does not sleep!
In fact, He is on a twenty-four-hour watch over His people.
He doesn’t take naps
And He doesn’t have a divided attention span,
For unlike other gods, our God is an all-knowing God who neither sleeps nor slumbers!
And not only is He all knowing, He’s ALL-PRESENT!
Which doesn’t mean His elbow is in Florida,
And His pinky toe is in Breezy Point!
No church,
ALL of our God is EVERYWHERE, ALL OF THE TIME!
And we don’t have to perform wild acts to gain His attention to our lives!
And for this, I think of Elijah and the prophets of Baal.
Do you remember that story in the Bible?
When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel,
he challenged them to prepare a sacrifice and call upon their god Baal to bring fire down from heaven to consume it.
But after their religious rituals failed - which included cutting them selves in order to try and get Baal’s attention,
Elijah started mocking them saying: “Maybe he is taking a nap!”
“Maybe you need to be louder boys, so you can wake your tired ow sleeping god up from his little nappy poo!”
And after they couldn’t,
Elijah had the altar and the sacrifice soaked with water three times to make it crystal clear that no human effort or coincidence could ignite the fire.
And he then had them dig a trench around the altar so they could fill it with even more water!
And after he did all of this, he then prayed to Yahweh God, saying:
1 Kings 18:36–37 (ESV)
“O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. 37 Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”
In response, God then sent fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water in the trench around the altar,
All to show that He was not only quite awake,
But that He alone was the all-knowing and all-hearing God of the universe
Who is powerful enough to care for and sustain His people.
And for homework, you can write down down Psalm 119 -
Which explains just how all-knowing our God is.
Understanding this, the Psalmist writes:
3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber.
If you notice in these verses, the Psalmist has moved from the first person pronoun of “I” to the second person pronoun of “you.”
And I think that’s because the Psalmist is speaking to his own soul the words of comfort that it needs to hear.
Which is something we MUST do on a regular basis!
We absolutely must!
Because the reality is, when we face difficulties in our lives
Our hearts are prone to forget these powerful truths, which are the truths we need to get us through them!
And so when, NOT IF, hard times comes, you have to be in the regular practice of doing this!
You have to constantly say to yourself,
“SELF! LISTEN UP!”
“I know things are difficult right now”
“I know things seem hopeless right now”
“But REMEMBER WHERE YOUR HELP COMES FROM!”
“It comes from the Lord, the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present Maker of heaven and earth!”
“And you know what self!”
“He has promised to not let your foot be moved!”
“For He will keep you safely on solid ground!”
Do you have conversations with yourself like this on a regular basis?
Not just in the bad times,
But in the GOOD times!
Because if you aren’t already doing this in your good times,
You won’t be ready or able to do it in the bad times!
So have to do this in both the good and the bad times!
So talk to yourself!
And yes, go ahead,
you can quote me on this,
You can you tell people your pastor says it’s biblical to talk to yourself on a regular basis,
just like the Psalmist does in this passage.
When your marriage becomes hard,
When church troubles arise,
When sickness and hardship come,
You have to tell yourself the truths your head knows, but your heart is struggling to believe!
Tell yourself the truths of Psalm 121,
that God is our Creator, our Sustainer, our Protector,
which leads us to our 3rd point.
To find refuge in the wilderness, we must seek refuge in Yahweh God as:
Our Creator (v. 1-2)
Our Sustainer (v. 3-4)
Our Protector (v. 5-6)
5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
Change Slide
As we mentioned at the start,
In the Ancient Near East,
both sun and moon were thought to be deities that could bring help and harm on their people.
But here, the Lord God promises to be our protector, who will not let the sun strike us by day or the moon by night.
In ancient cultures, the right hand was often associated with strength, honor, and authority.
Being at someone's right hand symbolized being in a position of favor, trust, and protection.
And so when the Psalmist mentioned the phrase: ”your right hand"
he’s saying that the Lord's protection is close and immediate, providing shade and refuge from the scorching heat of life's challenges.
The point is, we have an intimate relationship with God
Who is our constant defender and friend!
What a remarkable truth this is!
The God of the universe
Which is an enormously big place,
Cares for us!
Do you believe this?
And what might it look like in your life if you truly did?
How might you face trials and difficulties differently if you truly believed that God our Creator was your Sustainer, your Protector,
And even One who delights in being your Blesser in the midsts of life’s wilderness?
To find refuge in the wilderness, we must seek refuge in Yahweh God as:
Our Creator (v. 1-2)
Our Sustainer (v. 3-4)
Our Protector (v. 5-6)
Our Blesser (v. 7-8)
7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.
Change Slide
When the Psalmist says that the Lord will keep us from all evil,
And that He will keep our life
He doesn’t mean the Lord promises to give you a cushioned life,
And thankfully not!
Because as we saw two weeks from Psalm 23, the un-cushioned life is for OUR GOOD!
And so what the Psalmist is talking about here isn’t the promise of a well-cushioned life,
but a well-armed one!
And it’s for your entire life!
This is what it means when he says: “Your going out and your coming in.”
It’s saying, “IN ALL YOU DO”
In everything that happens - the good the bad and the ugly,
ALL OF IT God is leading we Pilgrims home to place of immense blessing and prosperity!
Which makes the cushioned-life of this world look like hell itself by comparison.
As this Psalm tells us,
From the present to the future, the Lord is present to care for us and deliver us now and forevermore!
What an amazing a comfort this is to us as God’s people.
To know that no matter what we face in life,
Our God, the Creator of the universe is here for us,
Sustaining us,
Protecting us,
And blessing us now and forevermore for all of eternity!
So how about you?
Where does your help come from?
The creation, or the creator?
The things can sustain you only for a moment, or the one Who can and will sustain you forevermore?
The things that cannot protect you, or Yahweh God?
Our mighty fortress!
A strong tower!
A defense for the defenseless!
Is your source of your comfort and blessing!
Is He where your help comes from?
As New Testament Christians,
We know that the only reason our help can come from the Lord at all,
Is because of the one hill we have lifted our eyes up to,
And that’s the hill of Gethsemane,
The hill of the cross.
where God Himself - the Creator of the universe - entered into His creation,
Not to be sustained, protected, and blessed,
But to be crushed in our place,
All so when we lift our eyes to the hills,
By God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we can confidently know that He is our refuge, our strength, and our portion forever.
And because He did, we can confidently say, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 73.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. 26 My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Prayer.