I will lift up my eyes....

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the hills—where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip—He who watches over you will not slumber;
Indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you—the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm—He will watch over your life;
The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

*

This Psalm has such beautiful promises in it! Let's examine it more closely.

*

I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord...

So many times we lift up our eyes to the latest book, speaker, group meeting, even blog, to find help for the journey. Seeking the Lord's encouragement in those places is fine, but the first and best place to look is His Word. Those other things should be used to build upon and encourage us to live according to that Word. Our help comes from the Lord alone! He can use books and speakers to encourage us, but if we are not in His Word consistently, we will not be able to discern if all that encouragement and advice is Biblical.

*

He will not let your foot slip - He who watched over you will not slumber...

The Lord watches over you - the Lord is the shade at your right hand...

The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night...

The Lord will keep you from all harm - He will watch over Your life...

What a wonderful promise! Sick kids, financial trouble, marriage issues are covered by the One who watches over us day and night! He watches over our very lives. That does not mean that we will never endure physical or emotional pain; we will because we live in a fallen world. However, if we are secure in Christ, our hearts can not be swayed by those things. We have the promise of the Lord of heaven and earth that He will watch over our lives! Anything that comes to us has first been filtered through the prayers of Christ for us, and His prayers are perfect and for our perfect good (Romans 8).

*

The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

When we are dealing with fear and discontent, the Lord encourages us to remember that He will never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). We are never out of His sight and nothing can remove us from His hand or separate us from Him (Romans 8).

*

Many times, being a mom is as scary as it is joyful. It takes hard work to keep our minds focused on the promises of God. We must remember that we are not a mom by chance. We were chosen by the Creator of the universe to be a mom and a wife. The Lord knew long before we were even born what our challenges would be, and He provided His Word to bring encouragement and hope for those challenges.

*

Prayer:

Father, I choose to look to Your Word as my encouragement. I choose to trust that You are watching over me in every circumstance. Please help me to run to You and Your promises when I am afraid, angry, or discontent. Regardless of how I feel or how life looks, I know you are my Help.

*

Challenge:

Commit to memory at least one verse that reminds you that the Lord watches over you and that He makes intercession for you all day long. When hard things come, stop and meditate on that verse and the promise it holds. Then, move forward with the situation in a new mind set.

*

Jen Gorton 2008