Psalm 121

Well, good morning. If you have your Bibles, go

ahead and join me in turning to Psalm 121, Psalm chapter 121.

Psalms 121 · chapter mention

Please, if you don't have a Bible with you, feel free to

raise your hand. Michael will come gladly bring

you one. If you don't have one at home,

feel free to keep that as our gift to you.

We'd love for you to have a copy of God's Word.

As Joe mentioned earlier, it was our intention as a church to be

in First Thessalonians this morning, Pastor Michael

preaching. But as you all know, plans often

change. And so we'll continue to lift up

the Abrahams today and pray for good recovery.

And we'll also trust the Lord's Providence and His timing and

having us in Psalm 121 this morning.

So as you make your way there, consider the phrase, help is on

the way. Sometimes that phrase or a

version of it could be comforting, like if you need the

fire department to come and you hear the sirens in the distance.

Other times, that phrase could be utterly meaningless, like if

you're on a company's website and you see the bubble pop up,

It's like ask for help. And you know if you click on

that, you're going to be entered into the black hole of Internet

domains and chat bots and FAQs that really are not going to

give you the help that you need. Help is only as good as its

ability to meet the real need, and to meet it soon.

Do you need help this morning? Do you know where to turn to

find it? Sometimes in life, things can be

running smoothly. Worldly helps may seem to be

getting the job done for the time being.

But then an unexpected trial hits a season of suffering

that's out of your control. It's a constant burden.

Or maybe you just come face to face with the evils of our

world. What happens then when you come

to realize that you can't help yourself through this problem?

What happens whenever you turn for help in this world can't

actually solve it. If that's you this morning in

any sense, then our passage this morning is for you.

The promises of this Psalm can be yours if you would lift up

your eyes to heaven, to the God who can be your helper, the

church. The promises of Psalm 21 are

incredible, are glorious. Listen as I read God's

incredible promises to us as a church.

Psalm 121 a song of a sense. I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who

made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be

moved. He who keeps you will not

slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will

neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper.

The Lord is your shade on your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil.

He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going

out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Amen. As you can see, Psalm 121 is a

Psalm of great comfort. It's a favorite for so many of

us because it provides such triumphant hope for whatever

trial or uncertainty you're facing in life.

Look at the superscription before verse one.

It says it's a song of a sense. If you kind of glance around the

Psalms in this area, these are mostly all songs of ascent.

These would be songs psalms that Jewish pilgrims would sing as

they make their journey up to Jerusalem, usually three times a

year for some of the three big festivals can think about this

as like your Spotify worship playlist on a long road trip,

constant yearly psalms of these pilgrims would sing and they're

songs of ascent because Jerusalem is situated at the top

of multiple hills. So no matter which way you're

coming from, you're ascending an elevation, you're always going

up to Jerusalem. And these psalms are handcrafted

promises for these pilgrims to cling to as they journey toward

the earthly city of Jerusalem. And they're handcrafted promises

for you and I this morning, Church, as we journey toward the

heavenly city. That last phrase in our Psalm

clues us into the spiritual and heavenly realities the Psalm

points to. Look at verse 8 real quick from

this time forth and forevermore. This is a forever Psalm.

And we need to keep that in mind as we walk through this morning,

because we'd be missing the point if we try to interpret

this Psalm only through the lens of our current world.

Now, of course, you can use this Psalm.

You can cling to this Psalm when you need real help and real

protection from real problems in this world.

But if we stop there, we're going to miss the incredible

gospel truths that this Psalm highlights.

Listen, if you're in Christ this morning, then God is your

eternal keeper. You are safe in his arms

forever. Brothers and sisters, you need

Psalm 121 as you journey through this world.

You need Psalm 121 as you face down whatever trials and

uncertainties lie ahead. Here's our one big take away

from the Psalm this morning. Our main point, we could say,

keep your eyes on the one who always keeps you.

Keep your eyes on the one who always keeps you.

That's what we'll seek to do together as a church as we walk

through our passage. Three points.

Keep your eyes on #1 the helper who's all powerful #2 the

protector who's ever watchful #3 the preserver who's eternally

good. The helper who's all powerful

verses 1 and 2. The protector who's ever

watchful 3 to 6 the preserver who's eternally good 7 to 8

point #1 the helper who's all powerful verses one and two.

Look back with me at verse one, I lift up my eyes to the hills.

From where does my help come now?

The journey to Jerusalem would often be very dangerous.

There's no Honda Odysseys with, you know, climate control at AC.

They're walking by foot. Maybe if you're wealthy, you've

got a donkey or something. Blazing heat.

There's often robbers along the way, so you can imagine how the

need for practical help would be real. 1 interpretive question to

ask right away is what do these hills here represent?

When the psalmist lifts up his eyes to the hills, do the hills

scare him, or do they fill him with hope?

The latter seems to make more sense in context.

The fills the hills fill fill him with hope.

Whenever this phrase is used in the Bible, someone lifts up

their eyes. It's usually used in a feeling

of desire and hope, like Psalm 123.

One just a few chapters later. To you I lift up my eyes, O you

who are enthroned in the heavens.

Or the phrase could sometimes just be used neutrally in the

Bible, like I can't see where I'm going, so I lifted my eyes

to see the path ahead. This phrase is never used to

bring about fear in the Scriptures.

Furthermore, these hills are significant because, as I

mentioned a minute ago, they're likely the hills of Zion, of

Jerusalem. And I think the surrounding

songs of ascent make that clear as well.

You can imagine the long hard journey.

You might be asking why? Why am I even going to Jerusalem

again? It's hot, I'm in constant

danger, I'm tired. And then you can kind of see it

in the distance. Kids, look, wake up.

Do you guys can see the Temple Mount?

You can see the buildings. Look, there's Jerusalem.

This would fill you with adrenaline and hope, not because

your help comes from the literal hills, but you know you have

help because of what those hills represent.

This is where Yahweh is worshipped.

This is where His covenant promises and blessings are

experienced most intimately by his people.

Think of it like if you're on your way to a football game, a

big concert or something, you know, a long time on the

highway, you're sitting in traffic, you're getting bored,

and then you kind of, you can see the stadium pop up over the

highway. It's huge, it stands out, it

wakes you up, it fills you with excitement.

Again, there's not anything significant about the concrete

of the stadium. It's what that stadium or

concert venue represents. This is where you have an

experience with your favorite artist.

You get to watch your favorite player.

The weary Pilgrim lifts up his eyes to these hills, and he

knows his help comes from the Lord.

The weary Pilgrim lifts up his eyes to these hills and his eyes

keep going to the One who made the hills to the God of heaven

and earth. Verse 2 My help comes from the

Lord, from Yahweh who made heaven and earth.

Now we aren't told precisely what sort of help is in view

here. And this is a a corporate song.

We should remember that all of God's people across time would

be singing. You can imagine year after year

travelling to Jerusalem, bringing with you on the journey

whatever trials and difficulties you might be facing.

And I think the fact that we aren't told what sort of help is

needed is a significant silence from the text.

Because it doesn't matter what help you might be needing this

morning, God is totally powerful enough to provide it for you.

He made all things, He sustains all things.

Christ upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Dear friend, Christ is going to hold on to you this morning.

There is no situation you will face this year in which God

won't give you the help that you need.

You won't be separated from His love, you won't have to fend for

yourself, and there's nothing that can stop God's powerful

help from coming to you. Some of you likely went through

some incredibly hard things this year.

Still are. You may have wondered at times,

where is God? Is He going to help me?

If you're suffering, be reminded this morning that God is a very

present help in times of trouble.

He is sovereign over your suffering and He's compassionate

enough to meet you in your darkest hour.

That's what we see in Scripture. We see a God who gives help to

his people in all sorts of ways, usually very surprising, often

how his people don't at all expect it.

A pregnancy at 100 years old, a sea split in two, the bottom of

a pit sold into slavery by your own brothers to ascending the

second in command of Egypt and then saving your whole people

from starvation? How about a baby born in a

Manger? Brothers and sisters, if you're

in Christ, remember that God has already provided you with the

greatest help that you really need.

He paid for your sins on the cross.

He secured your eternal life and His resurrection.

He's filled you with His Holy Spirit, who, remember, Jesus

calls the Helper when He goes away.

He's sending you His help to be with you at all moments of the

day. The God who saved you is not

going to stop helping you. His mercies are new every

morning, and He has a fresh batch of His loving Providence

handcrafted for you, handcrafted for you, handcrafted for you, to

help you through every day no matter what you're facing.

TBC, the Lord knows what you need, and He knows exactly how

to provide it for you. Some of you though, might be

tempted to look to other sources of help besides God.

I don't need to tell you that the triangle, or really our

modern world in general, is a place of self-sufficiency, self

dependency. If our area was going to make a

parody of a Psalm of this Psalm, it may say something like this.

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

Comes from myself. It's my degree, it's my

intellect, it's my fit body, it's my access to the best

medical treatment. It's the social networks I'm in.

I keep my own life. From where does my help come?

It comes from myself. As Christians, we can be tempted

to believe that the world is constantly pressing in on us to

be conformed to it. Krishna, are you tempted to

believe that this morning? Yeah, sure, God helps me some.

But honestly, if we kind of remove God from the picture, I'm

doing pretty OK on my own. What's that old phrase?

God helps those who help themselves?

Well, that phrase is a lie. It's nowhere to be found in the

Bible. If you think you get God's help

by offering some of your help first, that's a dangerous place

of pride to be. OK.

Maybe for you it's more spiritual.

Yes, faith in Jesus. But surely as I walk with the

Lord, I have to cooperate with God's grace.

Surely He gives me some help to save me.

But surely the Lord is waiting on me to give some help in

return as I get myself through the pearly gates.

Friends, there is no both. And for the Christian, there are

no other ultimate helpers besides the Lord in this world.

He is our hope. He is our salvation.

He is our comfort. He is our joy.

If you're struggling with your true source of help this

morning, you need to be reminded that you don't keep your own

life. You didn't save yourself.

You don't sustain yourself. Plus, all their sources of help

are fleeting. Money, possessions, jobs can be

lost. Our bodies can be harmed.

Our reputation can be tarnished. A friend or leader can let you

down and in the end we've all got a date on our calendar in

the future with death. What earthly help can save you

from that? Only God is an all powerful, all

sufficient helper. You know, God has a way in His

mercy over time of weaning us off of the other helps we look

for in this world and getting our eyes back on Him as our only

true source of help. The Lord may do that by

disciplining you. It may be painful.

The Lord may do that just through the normal ebbs and

flows of progressive sanctification over time.

But make no mistake, God will prove Himself to be your only

true helper. Let's think briefly.

How do we access God's help? What does it look like to rely

on Him practically? Well, a couple things are not

exhausted, but I think the first thing you do, as you do what the

psalmist does, you lift up your eyes to heaven.

You remember that's your real home.

You're just passing through this world like a quick stay in a

hotel. Don't even bother unpacking your

bags when you have access to the heavenly throne room.

You don't need access to the other false helps of this world

to access God's help. You have to be disciplined to

commune with God. If God's going to be your

helper, you got to know where to find His help.

He's united his help to His Word.

He's united his help to the help you get by relying on Him in

prayer. You have to store up His

promises in your heart. And as you do that, you need to

identify these false helps by letting the Spirit search your

heart. One way to do that, you know,

because if you ask me, if you ask you, you know what, what

false helps. Are you running to?

It's probably pretty difficult to discern upfront.

Here's what I think we can do to search out our hearts when a

problem hits. What's your first instinct?

What's that first urge, that first inclination of my heart?

What makes you feel really safe or secure in the moment?

Yes, you know God is there, but He can, He can wait.

It might be another grab of your phone or obsessing over an

entertainment or show another mindless scroll.

It might be working more hours when you know you don't need to.

Could be a substance that you've been keeping hidden.

Or maybe you just you just let your mind continue to snowball

with thoughts that are taking you captive instead of

submitting those thoughts to the Word of God, Whatever it is for

you, you then need to ask the Lord to help you retrain the

muscles of your heart so that you rely on God instinctively,

so that that first urge, that first inclination is to go to

God, your only refuge in times of need.

And that's a prayer of the Lord will answer.

Friends, TBC, keep your eyes on the helper who's all powerful.

Your help comes from the Lord. But the psalmist doesn't stop

there. The God who's our helper is also

our tireless protector. Point #2 Keep your eyes on the

protector who's ever watchful. The protector who's ever

watchful. Verses three to six.

Look at verse three with me. He will not let your foot be

moved. He who keeps you will not

slumber again. Remember that Israel's a

mountainous, rocky terrain, lots of cliffs.

You could you can imagine how this image sinks in immediately.

One slip of your foot on this journey could be catastrophic.

I remember a few years ago me and some buddies went out to

Zion National Park in Utah and this is before I had kids to

make sense in a minute. We did a hike there called

Angels Landing. Maybe some of you guys have done

it or heard of it. It's.

One of those hikes that is you're walking up the mountain.

There's literally signposts that say like this many people have

died on this hike. Great.

And you know, the last half mile of the hike is literally you

walking on this narrow ledge with like 1000 foot drop offs on

each side. I mean, the ledge is no wider

than a a highway lane or something.

At some places it's about as wide as my wingspan, but you've

got this metal chain that you're, you're you're gripping

that's attached to the mountain. Thank the Lord.

And I, I just remember thinking as we got up there, you have,

you get to a point where you have to submit your permit to do

it. So you have kind of a plateau

where you have to wait. I remember thinking, alright, if

we're going to do this, and as I'm doing the hike, just like,

you know, my palms are sweating. If I just watch for my next step

is going. If I just hang on as tight as I

can to this rope, then I'll be OK, I'll make it.

But even with me watching every step carefully, it's still true

that one slip could have been catastrophic.

That's the image here in verse 3.

Verse 3 is saying you can think you're watching every step you

take in life, but if it's left up to you, you have no guarantee

that you won't slip and fall. And there's a moral component

for this idiom in the Bible as well.

For your foot to slip in the Bible is to fall off the path of

righteousness. And if it's left up to you,

you'd have no guarantee that you won't slip and fall morally fall

into some grave sin, something you never thought you would do

in life. You can't watch every step you

take in life. It's impossible.

But God can. God can with God as your helper,

your foot won't be moved. He's not going to let it happen.

Why? Because verse 3, the God we

serve never falls asleep on the job.

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, he who keeps Israel when neither slumber nor sleep.

It's funny if you remember Elijah's showdown with the false

prophets in First Kings 18. It's a really funny encounter,

actually, but the it's the false prophet's turn to kind of call

down their gods in the competition and it's not

working. And so Elijah's like, hey, your

God might be, he might be using the bathroom, he says, but your

God might be asleep. You might want to go wake him

up. The one true God never sleeps.

He never needs a shift change. He never takes his eyes off you.

How is this possible? Because God is totally

sufficient in himself, He doesn't rely on anything outside

of himself to exist. He doesn't need emotional help,

He doesn't need time to rejuvenate his power, and he

doesn't need to be woken up and reminded that you need help.

We spend a large part of our existence awake and alert,

eating food, putting on clothes, putting gas in the tank.

But then there's this one third or so, depending on how much

sleep you get of our lives. We're we're not watching a

thing. We're not alert at all.

We're almost completely unconscious.

And God says I'm watching over you with intimate and love and

care, not only every night when you sleep, but in all the

moments when you don't care much for God.

He's delighting and caring for you.

Not only you, but all of God's people.

That's what he says in verse 3 as well.

Behold, He who keeps Israel when neither somber or sleep.

Behold, it's an intensification. He's raising the bar.

Listen up, I'm going to say this again.

I take care of you individually and I take care of all of my

people corporately, all of my people making this journey up to

Jerusalem. Members of TBC, God watches over

you individually and God watches over our body corporately.

He protects us from harm. He leads us over the highest

hills and he leads us through the darkest valleys.

God is not going to fall asleep on his church.

If you look back at verse 3, it's helpful to note this word

keep that pops up there. It's the most prevalent word

used in our passage is used six times in the Psalm.

It means to protect, to watch over, to guard.

You might recognize it as the same word that God charges Adam

with in the garden. He is supposed to work the

garden and to keep it. He's supposed to be on guard.

But Adam fails. And what Adam failed to do, God

will never fail at with his people.

In fact, if we jump ahead to John 17, this is what Jesus

prayed for his people the night he was betrayed.

Jesus says, I'm not praying for the world, I'm praying for them.

What a comforting image, Church, that Jesus prayed for you.

You were in his mind in the garden that night.

He prays that they'd be kept by the Father.

He prays that you'd be guarded from the evil 1.

The promises of Psalm 21 point to Christ.

They're fulfilled in Christ. You are kept from the evil 1

because Christ is keeping you. You're united to Him.

Your eternity is safe and secure, and not even the most

seemingly extreme dangers in this life can change that, which

is what the psalmist points us to in verses 5 and 6.

The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your

right hand. The sun shall not strike you by

day, nor the moon by night. Shade means protection, shelter

from harm. It's a similar image in Psalm

91. He who dwells in the shelter of

the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

We all know how vital shade can be.

We don't remember much as now when it's been a little colder

in the winter. But when you're waiting in line

in the summer and it's blazing hot, or maybe you're out at a

Saturday Sports Complex or something, the most coveted spot

in the world is shade. But God's not like shade that we

have to go and find just for some temporary comfort.

God's always at our right hand. He's always protecting us from

harm. He's that close to us.

It's the same idea basically, with the sun and the moon not

striking you. The sun and the moon's not

literally going to take a sword and, you know, strike, strike

you. The image is used in Revelation

as well for the new heavens and new Earth.

It's an image of protection. You've got extreme desert heat,

or the dangers of the day under the sunlight, and you've got

extreme desert cold, the dangers of the night under the

moonlight. Basically, the psalmist is

saying all evil is either done under sunlight or under

moonlight. And at all those times God is

watching your steps. God is protection, protecting

you. What should these truths do to

our souls? That God doesn't fall asleep on

you, that he doesn't stop protecting you?

They first should humble us. We know it to be true, but it's

often helpful to say it out loud that we are not God.

You know, in a day where transhumanism and AI feels like

it's running out of control. And those things are are viewing

human limits as a bad thing to be overcome.

Not only, I mean not only is God in control of all those things,

but friends, we need to be reminded with a Christian

worldview that our human limits are a good gift from God to be

embraced, not to be pushed back against.

You can't be ever at once. You can't try to play God and be

everyone's helper all at once. You can't ultimately keep your

life safe or the lives of your loved ones.

Friends, don't try to do God's job.

Humble yourself under His sovereign hand.

They should humble us. These truths should also comfort

us, though. They should comfort us.

It's no news to you that we live in an incredibly anxious

society. Maybe this morning you've come

in anxious. And here's what anxiety says.

Anxiety says you have to be the one to stay awake.

You have to be the one to keep your own life.

You, you, you can't fall asleep with a white knuckle grip on

your future. If you do something back, we

don't know. You've got to stay awake.

You've got to get the job done. And God says, no, you don't.

No you don't. I will never fall asleep on you.

I will never stop caring for you.

Friends, when you're anxious, go to God at all times of the day,

all times of the night, with all your problems, with all your

fears, with all the ways you need help.

God never gets tired of hearing from you.

He loves to provide the help and comfort that you need.

Passages like these should be death flows to our anxiety.

Whatever you're afraid of whatever what if scenario is

twirling around in your mind right now, Remember that God

doesn't fall asleep on you. He loves to stay awake and

protect His children. So TBC, keep your eyes on the

protector who's ever watchful. Last point .3, Keep your eyes on

the Preserver who's eternally good.

The Preserver who's eternally good.

Verses 7 and 8, if you thought the psalmist had made his point

clear by now, he actually ramps it up even more in verses 7 and

8. The Lord will keep you from all

evil. He will keep your life.

Like I mentioned earlier, if we view this Psalm only in light of

the events of this current world, we'd have to say God's a

liar. Really kept from all evil.

Look around us, God. Every week evil is running

rampant in our society. Not only that, but evil plagues

many of you has played you. This week evil and sin and

suffering comes our way. How can God say this?

He can say it because of the reality of heaven.

If your hope lies only in this world, then you will experience

evil and you'll have no answer for it.

If your hope lies only in this world, then Psalm 21 is not for

you. But it can be.

It can be. Look at the phrase in verse 7.

He pairs us with He will keep your life.

It's the same word used for soul in the Bible.

Your life is not just the years the Lord gives you on this

earth. You have a soul, you're headed

for eternity. Your life will go on forever and

nothing could be worse than forfeiting your soul.

Jesus says in Matthew 16, What will it profit a man if he gains

the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?

The rhetorical answer is nothing.

It profits you nothing. You gain nothing.

You lose it all. You spend eternity in hell.

If your only hope is in this life, then the worst evil that

can happen to you is one that you've earned for yourself.

So how can you be kept from all evil?

What's your hope? You do what the psalmist does.

You lift up your eyes to heaven, to the hills.

Hundreds of years after this Psalm was written, there was a

man named Jesus of Nazareth who marched up a hill outside of

Jerusalem, a hill called Golgotha.

He had a cross on his back, and on that hill he's raised up

nails between his wrists and his feet.

And the greatest evil in the history of the world fell upon

the God man, Jesus Christ. He paid the penalty for sin in

full. He drank the cup of God's wrath

every drop. And then God the Son died.

He was put in tomb, but he rose three days later.

The greatest evil that we could eternally face had been paid

for, and His resurrection guarantees the promises of this

Psalm. They can be yours this morning

if you would just trust in Christ.

If you want eternal security from evil, then you need to

repent of your sins and trust in Christ today.

If you want your life, your soul to be saved, all your sins to be

wiped clean, to be united to Christ, to have a reconciled

relationship to God, then you need to turn from sin.

Turn from all the false helps you've been looking for in this

world. Turn from yourself as a helper

and turn to Christ. If you want God to be your

helper and your keeper now and forever, they come to Christ

today and church, the God who showed his good love for you on

the cross will continue to be good to you in this life and

forevermore. The Psalm closes by emphasizing

this truth again in verse 8. The Lord will keep your going

out and you're coming in from this time forth and forevermore

going out and coming in. It's just an expression used in

the Bible. It stands in for it means all

normal activities of life, the nitty gritty stuff of life.

You could think of it like you go out in the morning for work,

you come back in in the evening, Everything that happens in

between, all the normal business of life.

God's guarding it all. He's guarding it all.

Couple months ago, I was leading a student Bible study on campus

and this guy asked me, Brian, what's what's the thing you've

learned the most since leaving college and going on to get

married, have children? And I share the story because my

answer is likely what many of you would answer, I said.

And the greatest thing that I've learned in my 30 years is that I

am not in control of my own life.

In fact, just a few weeks ago, doing some work at a coffee shop

in Chapel Hill, it's broad daylight, packed shopping

centre. And I hear a car alarm, a car

alarm going off in the distance. I have my headphones in, you

know, it's a packed parking lot. And I kind of glance outside and

I see my truck lights are blinking.

Am I OK? So I, I, I get up, maybe I sat

on my keys. I'm kind of fumbling towards the

door. And when I open the door, I mean

for me to you guys in the front row, there's a man in a ski mask

climbing out of my truck window with a gun.

And by the time I see it jumps in the car with his buddy, they

speed off. I mean, with a car like right in

front of here, this close to me, I'm not in control of my own

life. You are not in control of your

own life. It's an illusion.

I don't keep my own life. You don't keep your own life,

but God does. There's nothing stopping these

men from shooting me if they wanted to.

Totally defenseless. There's nothing on this earth

that can really keep you safe from ultimate harm.

It doesn't matter what sort of security system you have in your

home. It doesn't matter how healthy

and strong you think you are right now.

It doesn't matter how much you micromanage your schedule.

You don't make life happen. It happens to you.

And yet God is in control. He's in control.

God is not running Plan B for your life.

His good and loving plan for you is carrying on every day, minute

by minute, as He watches over you.

I mean, if you really think about it, we have no idea all

the ways God guards us and protects us from danger in this

life. I mean, I think it would blow

our minds if we knew 1% of all that God does to protect us even

in this life right now. So when you think about this

Psalm, yes, think about all the ways that God has been and is

your helper and your keeper in this life, both physically and

spiritually. But before you ask God for

future help, it might be helpful to remember all the ways He's

been your help in the past. So God's people are often told

to do in the Word. And any temporary protection the

Lord offers you now is just a foretaste of you being kept safe

in his arms forever. One day you might think, OK,

yeah, what if? What if those guys did shoot

you, Brian? Or what if something horrible

happens to me or my family or my job?

What then? Is this Psalm still true?

You better believe it. It's church you better believe

it is. Nothing can snatch you out of

the Father's hand. There is nothing that can

separate you from His love. People can kill the body, they

can't kill the soul. If your soul, if your eternal

life is kept by Christ, then come what may in this life Come

what may, affliction, hardship, confusion, loss, their light and

momentary. The sufferings of our present

age don't even compare to the glory that is coming for you.

Church, we do grieve in life, but with hope.

We do fight in life, but not with the weapons of the flesh.

We do walk in life, but we walk by sight.

Excuse me? We walk by faith.

We are a people like Paul who have learned the secret to

contentment. We know how to be brought low.

We know how to abound in any and every circumstance.

We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us from

this time forth and forevermore. I know it's been said before by

many of us, but. Isn't the thing you love most

about our church? The fact that we sing a lot of

songs about heaven, It's so wonderful, it's so glorious.

Church, don't look for help in this world.

Lift up your eyes, set your hope on heaven.

One of the best things about our God is that before you can even

say the words, I need help. He already knows a word before

it's on your tongue, and He always stands ready to provide

the help that his people need. Amen.

Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for your

wonderful promises in Psalm 121. Thank you that you are our

helper, our keeper. Thank you that no matter what

comes in this life, you'll never forsake us.

You'll never abandoned us. You'll guard us safely all the

way home and we'll be with you forevermore.

We thank you in Jesus name, Amen.