Safe Through The Storm

Intro me

Who’s been away so far this Summer? Overseas? Hands up! Good weather? Well good for you!

For many years we used to take our caravan to France for a few weeks in the summer - lovely memories of simpler days! But every year we seemed to have some sort of major incident. Like one time I noticed a bunch of our passports had expired the day we were supposed to get on the ferry. Oops. And another time I got our return date off by one in my head - so we just totally failed to leave the campsite and our ferry sailed away without us!

But let me start this morning with another one: we’d been at the beach for a long sunny day. Kids still small so lots of help needed and tonnes of equipment to lug off of the beach. We’d made it back to the car - phew - and we were all round the back, gradually de-sanding and popping things into the boot. Then, in just a moment, we had both our wallets taken. Every single card - back when you paid for things with cards; it was a while ago! Someone obviously saw we were busy, saw the open door as an opportunity, quickly popped open the glove compartment, then cleaned up before casually walking away. Done in just a moment.

I have to admit we were more than a little worried. We were in France – fair enough, it’s not Kazakhstan but still, it’s not home. We only had a few Euros lying around other places. We probably couldn’t afford the petrol to get us to the ferry. We’d be struggling to afford food in just a few days.

So what? Whoever took our wallets didn’t just take our money – they took more than that. They took our ability to take care of ourselves. To say “It’s ok, I’ve got this under control”... They took our security.

Let’s be honest: we so often look to money for security in this life, to our flexible friend, or now our magic phone. But for all sorts of reasons money really doesn’t offer us that much in the way of security. For one thing it can be nicked – like ours was. It isn’t worth the confidence we place in it. It can’t always rescue us. It doesn’t always look after us. It won’t always see us through.

We’re looking at a few psalms here at Hope City through the summer while there’s lots of coming and going and today we’re going to explore a psalm which had a specific use: one of the ancient Hebrew songs used by God’s people as they went on pilgrimage up to Jerusalem for their three big festivals each year. Psalm 121 speaks to us about this need we all have for security - and where we should find it.

So why don’t you turn with me to page 622 and we can read together. It’d be great to have that open in front of you as we talk and work through it. Psalm 121, that’s on page 622 of these blue church bibles.

Psalm 121 NIV

A song of ascents. I lift up my eyes to the mountains— 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.

I lift my eyes up to the mountains – why? Why look up to the mountains?

There are lots of different ideas about why these pilgrims might have looked up to those mountains. Some suggest they are eyeing them nervously as they walk the long, dangerous road to Jerusalem, expecting bandits to rush down at any moment… Others think it’s the mountains around Jerusalem that are in view – or perhaps even the hill on which Jerusalem itself is set – and so the pilgrims are looking up towards the happy end of their journey.

Why look to the mountains? Like many of the questions we can ask about the Bible, we just don’t know the answer here. It tells us everything we need to know – not everything we want to know! But perhaps that’s a good thing. Are you worried this morning? Are you nervously eyeing the “mountains” surrounding you, expecting trouble to descend on you at any moment? Or are you looking confidently forwards, anticipating good conclusions just around the corner?

Perhaps the text invites all of us to read ourselves into it, however the mountains feel to us – we can all helpfully consider the question: where does our help come from? Where is our security?

Augustine, ancient church dude, writes about this psalm: "So you have lifted up your eyes to the mountains ... continue with the psalm; do not stop on the mountain.” Where does the psalm call us to look to for help? To the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.

Now if you were one of these ancient Hebrew pilgrims and you met this sort of pair, heaven and earth, two ends of a scale, you’d hear that as not just meaning those two ends but everything in between as well. So beginning and end – that’s the whole show. Morning and evening – that’s the whole day. Heaven and earth that’s … well, that’s everything – every created thing. Not just the land and the sky. Handy if Musk gets his way and you end up on Mars!

The maker of heaven and earth. Remember the first words of the Bible: “in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”. Where our help comes from isn’t the mountains - it’s God – the God who created everything.

Why focus on this particular aspect of who God is here, when thinking about help or protection? Why not the God who loves us? Or the God who has rescued us? Why God the creator? Well, what does creator imply? The one who creates owns what He’s made, right? When I paint a picture, it’s mine, I own it. It’s under my control.

In just the same way, when God made the heavens and the earth he rightly calls them His. It all belongs to him. But more importantly, since He made it, it’s under his control, governed by his power, at his beck and call.

Where does my help come from? From the creator God, all-powerful - that’s where. That’s some help!

And look at where this help is promised – help in the small things – see in verse 3 “he will not let your foot slip” – and help in the large in verse 7 “he will watch over your life”. Your whole life.

Slipping feet were very relevant on that ancient journey up to Jerusalem – don’t want to go twisting an ankle; that would make it a really long and uncomfortable journey! But most likely having your “foot slip” has the bigger sense of things getting out of control, of finding yourself beginning to panic, helpless in trouble - like it does over in Psalm 94

Psalm 94:17–19 NIV

Unless the Lord had given me help, I would soon have dwelt in the silence of death. When I said, “My foot is slipping,” your unfailing love, Lord, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

I wonder, does that resonate with you this morning? Your foot slipping, anxiety great within you? Wondering how you’re going to get through? When we found our wallets gone, our feet were beginning to slip – we were in trouble! Are you there right now? Then remember this: “He will not let your foot slip.” No. “He will watch over your life.”

And your watchman, your guard, your protector, he never grows tired, he never takes His eye of the ball – “he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” says verse 4. There’s not one moment where anything can overtake you in life without Him standing guard. He’s always ready to protect, always alert day and night says verse 6.

Now the idea of needing to be kept safe from the sun might seem rather odd up here in Scotland – surely the rain or at least the midgies is what we need to be afraid of? But in Israel there’s no question the sun can kill you pretty quick. Shade is essential, coming between you and harm – and the LORD is your shade – he comes between you and harm.

The moon is another thing. Does the psalmist really think there’s anything to fear from the moon? Well, perhaps. See, ancients feared the moon could mess with your head - and that’s reflected in our language still: luna-tic. For example. Luna- the moon.

But more likely I think you’re seeing here protection from real dangers - and imagined dangers. The moon isn’t going to do anything to you. Unless you’re a werewolf, of course. But seriously, like so many things in life, the fact that it’s quite harmless isn’t enough to stop us worrying about it. Like spiders. In this country at least. The very worst they can do is crawl. Yet they’re terrifying for many.

Is the LORD so gracious he offers us protection from real danger, coming between us and the deadly power of the Middle Eastern sun, and protection even from imagined danger, a harmless moon - a fear of spiders, even!

And then look at this last verse with me, verse 8: the LORD watches over your coming and going – and just like all of these pairs, heaven and earth, night and day, small and large, it’s everything in between that’s in view here too. He’s watching over you for the whole of your daily journey, from when you go out to when you come back home – but it’s bigger than this.

Remember the context for this psalm, one of pilgrimage to Jerusalem for a festival – going out and coming in encompass the whole of that pilgrimage. The whole pilgrimage.

And when we read this text, we’re not those ancient pilgrims – but we are pilgrims still! What’s our pilgrimage? If you’re a follower of Jesus here today then your pilgrimage is your whole life – because you’re on a journey - towards the heavenly Jerusalem, towards that great festival which waits for us when the king of heaven welcomes us into his presence and we worship together with all his people. And the LORD will watch over us on this whole journey – going out and coming in – now and forevermore, just like the psalm says, just how it finishes.

See the totality of the Lord’s watching and guarding of us in today’s psalm:

The creator of heaven and earth watches over us, the one with power over everything.

He watches from each individual footstep to the whole of our life.

He watches through the day and the night, coming between us and danger, real and imagined.

He watches through each day’s coming and going, from the beginning to the end of our journey in this life.

The LORD, watches over us - all the time, all the way. How’s that for security? How’s that for a salve for our anxiety?

And did you notice as we worked through the psalm how the person in focus shifts? We start out with “my eyes” and “my help”. Then look at verse three. Whose foot is it that’s in danger of slipping? Well, whose? Your foot. He watches over you. your shade. Your life. Your coming and going.

Do you see how there’s suddenly a different person in view? That the one who starts out expressing “my” confidence in just who “my helper” is then goes on to encourage someone else they can share that confidence too? Can you imagine a party of pilgrims, travelling together, one of them encouraging the others?

“My help comes from the LORD,” they say, “AND yours too! And Yours!” they add. “The LORD helps you too. In all of these things. In all of life. The protector of Israel is your protector too!” And we can encourage one another just as this Psalm does - you know that’s one of the reasons we sing together? To encourage one another. That’s part of why we’ll sing some more this morning yet.

But before we do, I want each of us to reflect on where we find ourselves in the psalm today

Are you in a place of confidence where you can declare “my help comes from the LORD,” where you know it is true with such certainty that you can point others to that source of security, the only real security? Then can you look around you and consider who needs this encouragement that the LORD, the creator, is their help, their protector through it all, ever present, ever alert, all capable. Could you be the one to encourage them? “My helper won’t let your foot slip”

Or today are you glancing anxiously up towards bandit-ridden mountains and wondering how you’re going to get through? Do you feel like you have no security, no help, no protector? Then tell your heart the truths your head knows, the truths we’ve read today – the LORD watches over you! Be encouraged!

But perhaps you’re neither of these today. Perhaps you’re pretty comfortable, not anxious. Perhaps everything seems under control. Perhaps you’re thinking: bandits? I’m on it, armed to the teeth. Sunshine? No problem, got my shades. Feet slipping? Sorted, walking boots in good order.

But this is not your psalm. You’re not confident because God is in your corner; your security, your imagined security, rests on something else.

This Psalm challenges us to ask ourselves where exactly we are looking for our security, to consider just what it is we are really putting our trust in. Are we trusting karma to bring us back good things because we’ve been such good people? Are we trusting our own cleverness or toughness to carry us through? Are we banking on powerful friends, sure they’ve got our back? Or is it good ‘ol money in the bank that we think has us covered? What will carry you through trouble? Why will everything be ok? What’s the first answer to slip out of your head?

Spurgeon writes "Help comes to saints only from above; they look elsewhere in vain."

Wouldn’t it be so much better to discover the other places we’re looking now, rather than in the middle of a bandit-onslaught? Because the truth is we look there in vain. Isn’t it worth taking some time to consider where we’re thinking our help, our protection, our deliverance will come from before trouble hits?

Like taking the time to check the boat for leaks before setting out to sea. Well, not just leaks – checking the boat’s not made out of rice paper is a better picture. Because all the other places we look for security are not sufficient. Money fails. People fail. Things fail. It’s only our God who stands, who delivers.

I’m going to give us a moment just now to reflect, to explore where our security is, to consider where it ought to be, whether there’s something we’re clinging to that we really need to be letting go of.

Holy Spirit, please would you speak to each of us here today through your living Word: show us our false security. Show us your true security.

… wait …

[title] We’ve talked about where our security is – but we need to think about what our security is, too, before we’re done. I mean what sort of guarantees it is that we get from God as He watches, keeps and protects us – what will that mean for our life?

In some ways this is terribly straight forward. What sort of security? Total security. Protection from feet slipping. Protection, as verse 7 says, from “all harm.” I expect many of us can name a time, probably lots, where we were remarkably delivered. Noticed the car racing up just in time so we didn’t step out. Checked ourselves before doing something stupid with a knife or boiling water. God watches over us, keeps us safe - and we need to give Him thanks and praise for that.

Many missionaries have far more amazing stories of protection and deliverance to tell – have you ever read a missionary biography? There are absolutely remarkable tales, sometimes hard to believe, of how God has watched over his people and delivered them again and again.

The Bible is filled with these stories too: Perhaps you’ll remember from the story of the early church Peter in prison, sleeping chained between two soldiers, guarded by many others, to be killed in the morning? And an angel wakes him and walks him out of the prison?

But it’s not always that way, is it? Back there in France our wallets were stolen! Gone! Ouch! But that’s just trivia. Christians’ feet slip. Christians are hurt all the time. Christians face harm. Christians lose their lives. This Lord who keeps us from all harm is also on His throne when Peter’s friend and co-leader, James, isn’t delivered from prison - he’s executed.

So how do we read a Psalm like this? What good are all these promises of a great and powerful God watching over us always and in everything, offering total protection? Is this psalm just blatantly false? Trivially provably false?

Jesus could have asked that same question. You see Jesus knew what it was to have his foot slip – as he stumbled under the weight of the cross on the road to Cavalry. Jesus knew what it was to be harmed as he was beaten, as the nails pierced his hands and feet. Jesus knew what it was to have nothing shade him from the full burning glare of God’s wrath at sin, our sin, poured out on him. Jesus knew what it was to lay down his life and to meet death itself.

Here we have to turn our eyes to the big story of the Bible. Of how this creator God made everything and called it very good. How our first parents turned their backs on him and forfeited the blessing of His presence. How our good God didn’t turn his back on us, but pursued us instead, sending His own son, to make a way for us back into the safety of his perfect plan.

Jesus has faced everything, enduring the cross, scorning its shame, obedient to death. Why? To make way for us back into relationship with our God who we rejected. He bore our sins in his body on the tree. Why? To win for us the ultimate security, the security which belongs to friends of God – more than that, to children of God.

Through Jesus’s sacrifice we can be adopted into God’s family, offered a place as children of God. And the children of God? They stand secure forever. Their father keeps them safe forever.

So what is our security? What does it look like to be watched over by God, our all-powerful Father? Let me read to you exactly what it means. This is from Romans 8

Romans 8:28 NIV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

And what sort of good is this? Let me read on:

Romans 8:29–30 NIV

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

What is our security? Our security is our ultimate destiny: Conformed to the image of God’s son, perfected in our being. Numbered among his brothers and sisters, adopted into his family. Justified, able once more to stand before him guiltless. And, ultimately, glorified – those who will live forever with God in his kingdom, his kingdom which is to come, that will never end.

That, Christian, is what your security looks like. That is what you can be absolutely certain of. That is what our all-powerful Father watches over every aspect of our lives to ensure. That is the destination we can be utterly certain of reaching through his care.

One last bit from Romans 8:

Romans 8:38–39 NIV

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We’re not kept from the storms of this life. We’re kept through them - kept in God’s love.

Now that’s true security. Security worth having. That’s the security Psalm 121 points us to. That’s security which should free us to live lives abandoned to serving his cause, not thinking what it will cost, knowing this end-game is certainly ahead. That’s security which should free us to live confident, bold lives - lives which stand out from the world. That’s security worth sharing with others - security which you should pursue if it’s not yet your own.

We’re not kept from the storms of this life. We’re kept through them - kept in God’s love.

I’m going to pray and then we’re going to sing a very old version of this psalm in a very old Scottish style. So lets pray together..