Today is graduation day for many. At the university level it is customary that noted speakers address one last word to graduates as they depart their cloistered ivory towers for the real world. One such speaker this year was Chaim Potok, the Jewish novelist and former rabbi. Addressing a class of students, he remarked that this year's graduates are stepping out into a frightening and uncertain world, a world suffering from the nuclear jitters.
The idealism of the '60's has given way to the survivalism of the '80's. This change can even be discerned in the majors which students are taking. At Stanford, the most popular majors once were history, philosophy, and classics. One went to university to broaden one's mind, to learn how to think. Today, however, students attend university so that they might be successful in the job market. Economics, engineering, pre- med, pre-law are the most sought after degrees, while the history and classics departments are almost defunct. Meanwhile, a news magazine predicts that the class of '83 faces the worst job prospects since World War II.
This feeling of insecurity is not merely a university, but it is a national phenomenon. In a cover story on stress recently, Time magazine had this quote by one authority:
We live in a world of uncertainties: everything from nuclear threat to job insecurity, to the near assassination of the President, to the lacing of medicines with poisons.... According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, two-thirds of office visits to family doctors are prompted by stress-related symptoms. It is a sorry sign of the times that the three best selling drugs in the country are an ulcer medication, a hypertension drug and a tranquilizer, Valium.
How should Christians face these dangers and insecurities? In Psalm 120 we saw that the role of a Christian was that of a pilgrim, an alien, a sojourner, passing through on his way to the heavenly city. Yet we discovered that Christians are not to drop out of the world and cloister themselves in a Christian ghetto. Christians must tread the same dangerous path as everyone else; they are subject to the same perils as everyone else. Christians are not exempt from serious accidents, violence, cancer, unemployment, divorce, loss of children, or heart disease. (That list reflects experiences among our pastoral staff and elders. Imagine how large it would be if we opened it up to the body.)
Today we will look at Psalm 121, which meets head-on the issue of how pilgrims should deal with their fears and insecurities in a dangerous world. Three times a year, every male Israelite left his home to travel to Jerusalem to worship. All the cities of Israel were left undefended, open to plunder and enemy attack. Protection from danger was the burning issue for pilgrims as they made their long, arduous journey to Jerusalem- protection not just for themselves but for their families whom they had to leave behind. Most commentators see in this psalm two speakers making their way to Jerusalem. We might see a father and son team starting out on their journey. The father knows of the danger ahead, and, scanning the horizon, he asks the question, "Where does my help come from?'' This pair then interact together. The son prays for his father, "If your help is coming from the Lord, I hope he doesn't slumber." The father responds by telling his son about the great Keeper of Israel.
So, as they begin their journey, leaving the security of their home to face the dangerous world, the father says (verse 1):
I lift up my eyes to the hills;
From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord,
Maker of heaven and earth.
As the father surveys the hills, he is reminded of the dangers soon to be faced by him and his son. The mountain passes were steep. Many ravines and gorges had to be traversed. A slip could mean broken bones, even death. The father also remembers that wild beasts and robbers inhabit the hills. Another hazard to be faced was the sun. In Jericho a number of years ago, during a trip which our pastors and elders made to the Holy Land, I discovered how hazardous the sun can be. I felt the symptoms of sunstroke because I had no head covering. Two of our elders rescued me by taking me to a shaded area. That day I came to a new understanding of how welcome shade can be. It saved my life.
Then the people of the Ancient Near East thought the moon was a danger. They believed the rays of the moon had an abnormal effect on the eyes and could cause brain damage, that they could be "moon-smitten.'' As he began his journey, the pilgrim faced all these dangers. The hills also reminded him of idol worship. Idolatry was practiced in the hills; there solutions to life's insecurities were peddled. One could pay tribute to Baal and to Asherah at the altars and places of worship. Travelers were told to get involved in a sexual orgy, feel better about themselves, and then continue their journey. In this quote from a Ugaritic hymn, the parallel with Psalm 121 can be discerned. One enters into the house of Astarte, the goddess of sex and war, and she says:
Upward enter the offerings into the house of the king:
A shekel of gold for Sun-and-Moon as an offering
A shekel of good silver as a body-and-soul offering for his shield
A shekel of gold for Sun-and-Moon as an offering
Two shekels of good silver as a body-and-soul offering.
As the pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem, the idolatrous voices called to them, "We can deal with your insecurities. Pay tribute here. Our gods will protect you.
The same is true of us. We see the world as a dangerous, evil place, and we are fearful. We need a helper. As we make our journey through this world, we hear on every side, "Have your insecurities met here. We'll protect you." Your problem is financial, we are told. so become financially secure before you step out as pilgrims. Invest in all the right tax shelters, get your IRAs in order and then march forth by faith, they say. Other voices tell us, "Your problem is physical. Beautify your body, wear the right clothes, join Club Med, get a suntan. Then you will feel good about yourself; you will be secure and you can venture forth in life." Others say, "No, drugs are the answer to all your fears. Try tranquilizers, cocaine or alcohol." Other voices say our problem lies in the spiritual area, so they recommend TM, yoga, whatever. Thus to the pilgrim the hills symbolize not only danger, but worldly solutions to his problems.
How does he face these issues? Where does his help come from? Nothing paralyzes the will more than fear. and this pilgrim is very realistic: he sees danger; he knows he needs a helper. (By "help,'' he really means military assistance; he wants someone to come alongside him with military help.) The pilgrim tells his son where his help comes from: ''My help collies from the Lord, Maker of heaven anti earth" (verse 2). Jeremiah makes the same statement: ''Surely, the hills are a deception, A tumult on the mountains Surely. in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.'' There is the statement of faith. Derek Kidner writes, ''This psalmist looks beyond the hills to the universe. beyond the universe to its Maker. There is help, living help personal, primary. wise and immeasurable.''
Yet you might ask. how did the pilgrim make the connection that the Creator of the universe was hits personal helper? How did he move from the widest possible reference the universe, to one who was particular and personal? We moderns, products of the scientific ape, have lost something in the v a we think about life. We look at life in abstracts. thus when we observe God acting in history we seldom make the connection to ourselves. But the Hebrew did not do that. When he read about creation in Gen. I and 2, he thought to himself ''That is my life. What is true there is true in my life too because God's character never changes.'' How did he make the connection then? Genesis I has the widest possible perspective of life. Elohim, the powerful, omnipotent Creator, by the power of his word brought order out of chaos, light out of darkness, life where there was void. Elohim called the mountains to separate from the waters, the waters above to separate from the waters below. Observing the perfection of his creation, on the seventh day he rested.
But in Genesis 2, the scene moves from the universe to a garden. and in that garden is a man. and a woman who is called his ''helper.'' God's name is changed from Elohim. Creator, to Yahweh, which means "I AM'' ("I am with you''). In Genesis 2 man is the apex of creation. The Lord God, Yahweh, spoke to the man and the woman in the cool of the day; he had an intimate relationship with them. So the pilgrim saw that God created the universe that he might be intimate with man, alongside man. A proper understanding of creation does not allow for an abstract, theoretical explanation of the universe, but rather declares that we can embrace a personal God who is there in a practical way. As Paul Gerhardt's hymn says:
He who points the clouds their course,
Who winds and seas obey,
He shall direct thy wandering feet He shall prepare thy way.
A few years ago I decided, as master of my home, to build an addition to my house. I became a home-builder, dedicating myself for six months to building a new room. But I became such so that I might make a room where I could enjoy my family. Now my daughters scarcely remember that building episode, but they do enjoy their daddy and their new family room. That is why God made the universe so that he could enjoy us. One of the great dangers of the theory of evolution is not that it replaces our understanding of origins, but that it removes the omnipotent Creator from being our personal friend who is intimately involved in every detail of our life. But this pilgrim was well aware of that, while we. in our enlightened age. have forgotten our true origins The rest of the psalm develops this idea. The pilgrim saw that the Creator was also his Helper, and now proceeds to exposit ' Helper'' in terms of one other word, ''keeper.'' The Hebrew verb, ''shamar,'' to keep, is used six times in this psalm to explain six aspects of this idea.
What does he mean by ''my Keeper?'' The father has made a statement of faith, now the other pilgrim, his son, prays for him Verse 3 really ought to be rendered as a prayer. It should read:
May he not allow your foot to slip. May your keeper not slumber.
[Then comes the very emphatic answer:]
Behold! He does not slumber nor sleep, the keeper of Israel.
As they undertake their journey, the son says to his father, ''I hope your invisible Creator, in whom you are putting your faith, is attentive; I hope he doesn't sleep on the job.'' In the Ancient Near East, the gods had to be ritually awakened out of their drunken sleep before one had their attention. Elijah taunted the priests of Baal, who could not get Baal's attention, "Perhaps he's asleep and needs to be awakened. Try a little harder." In the same way, when we opt for the world's protection we are hesitant to risk, to venture forth in life, until we make sure we have the attention of our protectors. I am working with a legal counsel now who is supposed to be protecting my interests in another state. I make phone calls to him that are not returned. I'm constantly trying to get his attention, but I'm not sure he ever listens. That is how the world's protectors operate, isn't it? But this father says about his Lord: "The Keeper of Israel never sleeps, he never slumbers." The Lord is always attentive. He cares for you 24 hours a day. When you understand that you are free to venture forth by faith.
In my ministry with college age and young career people, I do a lot of pre-marital counseling. The parents of many of the people I counsel are the products of the Depression years, and many of them still struggle with the insecurities of those years. They don't want their children venturing forth in a pilgrimage of marriage until they have their degrees, until they are both working and have a down payment for a house. When these things are in order, only then will they consider the marriage. But the parents did not think in those terms during the Depression when they got married. When you know that you have a Keeper who is attentive you are free to risk, you are free to venture forth.
Secondly, we need to know what does this Keeper protect us from. How competent is he? Are we really protected? Verses 5 and 6:
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade by your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil.
This is a merism, a Hebrew way of expressing the totality of something by stating it in terms of opposites. "The Lord is your shade by your right hand. He will protect you from the sun by day and the moon by night." At all times, in other words. "The Lord will protect you from all evil."
And we are protected in both the physical and spiritual realms. What the psalmist is really worried about is physical death, but he is also worried about evil, which is spiritual deaths. All of us can look back on our lives and say, ''If it were not for the protection of the Lord, I would be dead." just think about how hard the angels have to work every time we drive! Last week one of our pastors went flying over the handlebars of his dirt bike. He told me, ''The Lord protected me." Yesterday during a baseball game. one of our elders was chasing a ball behind third base and ran smack into the bleacher seats. ''The lord protected me,'' he said. But behind these figures of the sun and the moon lies the reality of evil. That is what the Lord really protects us from In this light we can interpret ''the sun and the moon'' as known and unknown evil. Whenever we venture forth into this dangerous world there is much evil we can see, but so much of it is hidden to us. There is no way we can see beforehand all the hidden dangers in any realm. But we arc free to venture forth because we have a Protector. And no evil escapes his eye!
What is the object of God's protection?
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.
He protects your life. What does the Lord value? What is it that will endure forever? It is your life. You may lose your home, your children, your wife, your husband, but you will never lose your life because you will never lose your Lord; you will never lose your Keeper. Job lost his children, his home and all his possessions The Lord said to Satan, ''He is in your hands, only spare his life." Jesus told the disciples, ''They will put some of you to death. but not a hair of your head will perish.'' Our Keeper preserves us. No one can touch our life; no one can separate us from the life of God as it rejuvenates the soul and gives life. Ruth Siemens. of Tentmaker Ministries seeks openings all over the Third World so that Christians can move into these remote places where missionaries are forbidden. She shared with our Careers class that there are openings even in Afghanistan. "What about the danger?" she was asked. "Well, you will just have to trust the Lord, won't you?'' she replied. If the Lord wants you in Afghanistan preaching the gospel, he will protect you until you are called home.
The fourth characteristic of God's protection is its purpose. Why does Godkeep us? Verse 8:
The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in From now until forever.
The pilgrim says that the Keeper watches you from the time you cross your threshold and go out into the dangerous world until you once again cross that threshold and are safely home. God sees to it that our purpose here on earth is fulfilled, that no life is ever cut short. This week one of our families gave birth to a little girl named Molly. She entered into this dangerous world on Monday. Born premature, she lived only half an hour. But our outlook of faith is that the Lord created her and put her together, then became her keeper. He watched her and cared for her as she entered life until her purpose here was accomplished. Then he brought her safely home. No life is cut short until it has completed its work. Her life fulfilled her purpose.
Jesus used the same terminology when he commissioned the disciples: ''Behold, all power and authority has been given to me in heaven and earth. Therefore go into the world and disciple all nations, teaching them and baptizing them. Lo, I am with you always until the end literally until the fulfillment of the age.'' Jesus has all authority to protect you. He will come alongside you until the age is fulfilled so that you can make disciples, and he will be with you until your task is totally finished. There is no failure in your ministry there is no failure in your purpose. No life is cut short until it has accomplished what God has intended. That gives us freedom to venture forth in a dangerous world.
Finally, we see the extent of our Keeper's protection When is it available? Where do we sign up to avail of it'' Verse 8 tells us: ''From now until forever.'' It is available right now, and it goes on forever. Derek Kidner writes, ''It is hard to decide which half of this line is more encouraging, the fact that it starts from now, or that it runs on, not to the end of time, but without end." One of our former pastors, Dave Roper, tells of a time when he was praying with his wife before he went on a business trip. He prayed, "Dear Lord, please protect Carolyn and the children while I'm gone.'' Carolyn looked up at him and said, "Who do you think protects us while you're here?" God's protection does not start at some future point. We have it right now, and always.
Our God is our Keeper. He is caring; he is competent. He values life eternal. He will complete my purpose here on earth, and his protection is available right now. Yet, the most encouraging thing to me is the fact that my Keeper is so personal, so intimate with me. Notice that every time the psalmist lists a possessive pronoun he puts it in the singular: "My'' help, "your" keeper. God is not called the Keeper over all the missionaries in the world. He is your Keeper, he is my Helper. And he stands at my right side, the place of an intimate friend and counselor. The name Yahweh is repeated four times in the psalm to drive home the point that the Creator is Yahweh. "Yahweh is with us," is what the name means. It means "I am with you until I have completed the task I chose you for." Thus as we venture through life there is no way we can look back on our lives and say, "That was good luck, that was fate, that was coincidence, that was my doing." No, we must look back and say, "That was Jesus Christ. That was the Lord himself. ' I always encourage my students to travel, to experience their Keeper, to risk, to learn to be a pilgrim. I know I do not experience the Lord as much as I should because I do not venture very much at times.
How do you face dangers and insecurities? Are you so paralyzed with fear you have never begun this journey? I would encourage you to look to your Creator, who longs to be your personal Protector. Or maybe you have begun the journey but you are still plagued by insecurities. You have opted for the world's solutions. You are carrying so much excess baggage you feel hindered , impeded in your walk. Maybe now is the time to get rid of some of that excess baggage. Some people who are invited to go backpacking show up with their motor homes, their TVs, lawn chairs and stereos. They have never left home.
Finally, let us give thanks to our Keeper. He has made adequate provision for us. He desires to be intimate with us so that we might experience him every step of the way on life's pilgrimage. The world is hungering for such help and security. May we be faithful to display it by embracing Him.
Prayer
Lord, we confess that at times we refuse to acknowledge you in our insecurities. We confess that at times we have carried so much excess baggage on the pilgrimage you have given us that we have blurred our enjoyment of you. We want to experience you more. Thank you that you desire to grant to us every hope in the midst of this insecure world. We want to be faithful to present you, the Keeper, to a world hungering for such security. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Catalog No.3901
Second message
Brian Morgan
June 12, 1983
Copyright© 1996 Discovery Publishing,
a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church.
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