"The Lord is your keeper"

 

Psalm 121

 

      There is a scene near the end of the movie The Sound of Music when German soldiers are in pursuit of the von Trapp family.  Baron von Trapp, a prominent officer in the Austrian army has been given orders to report for duty in the service of the Third Reich and with his family is attempting to flee the country.  They go to the convent where Maria once resided.  It seems to be a hopeless moment for the family as they try to exit the rear of the convent and come to a dead end. It looks like they will be captured by the soldiers.  It is in that situation that Maria exclaims, "I will lift up eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help."  Then the von Trapp family slips away to safety and cross the border in the Swiss Alps. 

 

       What is interesting is that Maria's quote comes from the King James English.  In that translation the first verse of Psalm 121 is a statement.  It makes it sound like our help comes from the hills.  Later translations end verse one with a question.  "I lift up my eyes to the hills.  From whence does my help come?"  My help comes not from the hills, it comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

     

       Psalm 121 is one of the Psalms of Ascent.  It was sung by the pilgrims as they journeyed to Jersusalem for one of feast days.  Being on a journey describes all of us, doesn't it?  Abraham was on a journey, leaving everything behind to go to a new land.  Nicodemus was on a journey to see Jesus, to find out if Jesus was the one everyone had been waiting for.  What the Psalm is saying is that whether you are a pilgrim on the way to Jerusalem to worship, or Abraham who is on is way to a new land or Nicodemus who is searching for the truth, The Lord is your keeper. 

 

      I remember when I journeyed to Nicaragua in 1986 that whenever I would be concerned about my safety I would think about God and remind myself that God was with me.  It was a source of great comfort.  When I think of our children in Indiana, Colorado and Wisconsin, many miles away it is a great comfort to me to know that God is their keeper. 

 

      The Psalm does not speak only to families like the von Trapps who are fleeing for their lives.  This Psalm speaks to people who journey to the Congo to do mission work as well as to the people in the Congo they are going to meet.  The Psalm speaks to the person who comes to stay overnight at IHN as well as our guests who are here for the week.  The Psalm speaks to the people who come to work in the Food Pantry as well as the people who come to receive food.

 

       We are all on a journey.  Today we are pilgrims on a journey through Lent.  On Ash Wednesday we confessed our sin.  Last Sunday in reading Psalm 32 we learned that we are free to become new people because we are forgiven.  Today we discover through Psalm 121 that one of the benefits of experiencing God's forgiveness is that we know that wherever we are in our lives, God is our keeper, God is watching over us. 

 

       What I think is going on in the Psalm is that God is being compared to other deities.  Remember on the hills around Jerusalem there were shrines built that were dedicated to other gods.  The message of the Psalm, if you trust in idols, they will let you slip and fall.  God will not let your foot be moved.  Those other gods who are no gods will be asleep when you need them the most.  The God of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.  While you journey in the heat of the day the sun will not smite you nor the moon by night.  The reference to the moon may seem strange to us but in that day it was believed that the moon caused diseases.  The word lunatic comes from the Latin word for moon. 

 

      There will still be evil in the world.  But it will not overcome you.  We will still have to deal with difficult situations, with illness, with loneliness, with grief.  But the Lord will hold you up through all of these experiences.  We can live with the freedom of people who know that whatever happens, in life and in death, we are Gods.

 

       It is interesting how both of the new banners speak to today's Psalm.  The first one depicts God holding us up in his loving hands.  I reminds me of the song He's Got the Whole World In His Hands.  The second one, the one Judi made for today, shows the eye of God watching over His people.  It reminds me of the refrain from the song His Eye Is On the Sparrow.  "I sing because I am happy, I sing because I am free, For his eye is on the sparrow, And I know he watches me."

 

       I remember as a child that I would be more apt to do something I should not do if I knew my parents were not looking.  I think we are more apt to sin when we forget that God is watching over our every movement.  That is why it is important for us to begin every day with God.

 

       Let's not wait until we are afraid for our lives to call on God.  Let's call on God every day, recognizing that as we journey, God is watching over us.