God's Protection

God’s Protection

Psalm 121

Preached 11/8/2020

As many of you know, Mackenzie and I had the blessing to travel to England and Scotland during her senior year of high school. After that trip we both have fallen in love with the place.

As a history lover and Wesleyan pastor, one of the things that I was able to have the pleasure of seeing was where John Wesley, the father of our denomination, would preach from. I was reminded of it this week in a podcast that I watch and they told of this story that I heard about a group of people that went to visit where John Wesley lived and where there is still the house and rectory there.

As many of you know, John Wesley put in place much of the theology that we as a church have grown to follow. He was a great reformer and he would study; he would teach; he would preach; and he would pray that revival would spread out not only in England but throughout the world. He, and others like him, helped usher in some of the great revivals that swept through America in the early days, where people in mass would come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

The story.

Doctor J. Edwin Orr, the greatest authority ever on revival in the church was a lecturer at Wheaton College. He took some students in 1940 in a brief visit to England, to visit the Epworth refectory where John Wesley was based. Beside the bed are two worn impressions in the carpet where it was said that John Wesley knelt for hours in prayer for England's social and spiritual renewal. As the students were getting on the bus, he noticed one missing. Going back upstairs, he found one student kneeling in the carpet kneeholes praying with his face on the bed. "Oh Lord, do it again! Do it again!" Orr placed a hand on the student's shoulder and said gently, "Come on Billy, we must be going." And rising, Billy Graham joined the bus. God will do it again if we are committed to praying. The Bible says to pray in the spirit, on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. All it takes is one man or one woman to stand in the gap and pray.

Will you commit yourself to praying for revival today? Will you stand in the world today and cry out to the Lord – DO IT AGAIN LORD – DO IT AGAIN. AND WOULD YOU DO IT THROUGH ME!

As many of you know, I love to bake. I have been fascinated by baking since I was young and watched my grandma, my mom and aunts bake. And at times my mom and aunts would make wedding cakes. And I also like to watch those cake baking contests on TV. I was watching a commercial for one of those shows coming up the other day and it showed these beautiful cakes falling and crashing to the floor. I was reminded that that is how the world is becoming. This world, while beautiful and fragile, is falling apart. At no time in my lifetime have I witnessed such a widespread and long-term anxiety as we are in now.

Our fear and anxiety have multiple layers to them like a tall cake - only this isn't sweet to the taste. We have the usual worries of how our children are doing and how to care for our grandparents. But added to the financial worries are a whole host of fear and anxieties. We have a virus that has stopped much of our personal lives. And the election just a few days ago has caused much anxiety and heartache for many of us – with there still no official announcement of who the winner is – even though I think we all know.

We are dealing with Zoom meeting and a host of video conferencing calls for work, school, and even church. Rioting and protesting fill many of the streets of our larger cities. Worry and anxiety is off the charts in 2020. And we see it getting worse and worse and worse. We think, ''If it's this bad now, what will it be for my children and my grandchildren?'' Where do we turn? Where do we turn?

The answer - We turn to God and His Word.

I want us to look this morning at Psalm 121.

READ PSALM 121

The Psalmist was in dire need of help. Evidently, he was in such a position and a predicament that there was no other place to turn but to God. Out of this experience God taught the Psalmist three lessons that he shares with us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; three lessons that I do not believe he ever forgot.

There are going to be times in your life when the only way out is up; when you are going to have to trust God and rely on God for He is your only hope. When you reach those times in your life, and reach them you will, never forget these three truths.

I. The Lord Is My Provider

The Psalmist had done what all of us tend to do when we are in trouble.

He had looked every place but the right place.

He had tried everything but the right thing.

He has asked every person but the right person.

He had found every avenue a dead-end street.

The New Living Bible translates verses 1 and 2 this way:

“Shall I look to the mountain gods for help? 2 No! My help is from Jehovah who made the mountains! And the heavens too!”

The answer to the problems that we face - our homes face, our churches face, our leaders face, our governments face, our nations face, are not going to be found in the hills of humanistic living, nor in the halls of higher learning, but in the heaven of a holy Lord.

The prophet Jeremiah had already warned the nation:

“Surely, falsehood comes from the hills, commotion from the mountains, but the salvation of Israel is only in the Lord our God.”

We are all going to be shaken by trials, troubles, and tribulations that we face daily. When we feel the ground literally shaking beneath our feet, God will give us exactly the things that all of us need to overcome these.

Can you think of anyone you would rather have as your helper than the God who created this universe? I'm talking about the God who is higher than the hills, mightier than the mountains, above all the armies, greater than all the generals. I'm talking about the God who created this world with a word, and one day will destroy this world with a whisper.

I’m talking about the God of whom Jeremiah said 32:17, “Oh, Lord God! You yourself made the heavens and earth by your great power and with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!”

You see, the God who created this world controls this world, and can do anything in this world, through this world, for this world, or with this world. God is our helper in times of trouble. God is our hope in times of tragedy.

If we only realized how powerful our great God is, when we come to those times when God is the only helper we have, we would realize that God is the only helper we need.

While our current unrest, our anxieties, our heartaches, and our fear may be up front in our lives, they are nothing compared to the help of the Lord.

Think about a bolt of lightning for a moment. According to the National Weather Service - at any given moment, there can be as many as 2,000 thunderstorms occurring across the globe. Satellite research indicates these storms produce lightning flashes about 40 times a second worldwide. That lightning bolt is only two inches wide. You can only see it for 300 millionths of a second. That one bolt of lightning can reach over 50,000-degree Fahrenheit. That's about five times hotter than the surface of the sun. Your house probably runs on 120 volts, but one bolt of lightning has around 300 billion volts. If you could harness the power of just one lightning bolt, then you would be able to power on average 56 homes for a day.

The God I'm talking about helping you is the God who controls all that power.

So, when you hear the psalmist tell us “My help comes from the Lord,” you need to know that lightning bolts are nothing more than His chariots. I think all of us can agree that there's a tight relationship between God and the things He creates. This is your secret weapon to handle all the anxiety, all the fear, all the heartache, all the unrest that you may be going through.

I. The Lord Is My Provider

II. The Lord Is My Protector

Verse 5 states – “The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side.”

The English Standard translates verse 5 this why:

“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand.”

And he repeats this meaning in verse 7:

“The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul.”

And he then concludes this psalm:

“The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forever.”

God is our keeper. Much like a prescription from our doctor, this word provides us protection for what is ailing us.

Several times in these verses we read the word "keep." In fact, this word is used six different times in this one psalm. It literally means “to protect” or “to guard.” Not only is the Lord our provider, but the Lord is our protector.

We are told specifically that the Lord stands at our right hand. Now why the right hand? In ancient days a soldier had two primary weapons. He had a shield and he had a sword. But his most valued weapon was the shield. Not only was the shield used for his defense, but it was used by the Roman empire to form a “wall” when being attacked. For many, it was the only defense and the shield was always held in the left hand. So, the most vulnerable part of a soldier was his right side.

That is exactly where God always stands, at our most vulnerable point. The Lord always puts His strength at our greatest point of weakness. He deliberately takes up a position so he can defend us no matter where an attack may come from. It may come from a definite foe or from a deceitful friend. But regardless of where it comes from, we are promised that the Lord is our shield.

Psalm 84:11 reminds us “For the Lord God is a sun and shield.”

Psalm 18:30 states “He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.”

The trials that we go through so often are fierce trials. Peter explicitly warns us of this in I Peter 4:12: “Dear friends, don’t be surprised when the fiery ordeal comes among you to test you, as if something unusual were happening to you.”

You all know the saying: “If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.” We can rest assured that God never puts us in the kitchen where we can’t stand the heat. You see, God is our shade. He protects us from the burning heat and the blinding light of fiery trials.

Psalm 121:6 goes on to tell us, “The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night.” That simply means that no matter what time of day, God will be there to protect us. In both the bright light of the sun and the night light of the moon, the Lord is our shade and our shield that protects us from both heat and hurt.

Newscaster Paul Harvey told a remarkable story of God’s providential care over thousands of allied prisoners during World War II; many of whom where Christians. One of America’s mighty bombers took off from the island of Guam headed for Kokura, Japan. Because clouds covered the target area, the B-29 bomber circle for nearly an hour waiting for the target area to clear. After circling for about an hour, the captain and his crew, filling frustrated that they were unable to fulfill their mission and destroy the primary target, left their primary target, changed course and proceeded to their secondary target. The secondary target was clear and after giving the command, their cargo was dropped onto the target and the B-29 headed for home.

Sometime later an officer received some startling information from military intelligence. Just one week before that bombing mission, the Japanese had transferred one of their largest concentrations of captured Americans to the city of Kokura. Upon reading this, the officer exclaimed, “Thank God for that protecting cloud! If the city hadn’t been hidden from the bomber, it would have been destroyed and thousands of American boys would have been died.”

I tell you that Satan and this world seeks to drop their fiery bomb of doubt, discouragement, depression, despair, and disappointment upon the people of God. But God is our shade and God is our shield, and we are promised God's wonderful protection. God's ways are behind the scenes; but He moves all the scenes which He is behind. We have to learn this and let Him work.

I. The Lord Is My Provider

II. The Lord Is My Protector

III. The Lord Is My Preserver

Verse 7-8 tells us:

“The Lord will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life. The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.”

The New King James Version puts it this way:

“The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul.

The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.”

Now the word translated "preserve" is the same Hebrew word used for the word protect. But it is still a good alternative translation because God does more than just protect us, He preserves us. We need him to do both. You see, protection is not the same thing as prevention.

God does not always prevent us from trouble, but He does promise to protect us in trouble, and preserve us through trouble.

Now the word evil here in the Hebrew language does not refer to evil that is done to us. It refers rather to evil that is done by us. God promises us that if we will follow Him, love Him, serve Him, and obey Him, He will not lead us into temptation, but He will deliver us from evil.

Verse 8 – “The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore.”

That is one of the greatest one-sentence statements on eternal security found in the Word of God. From the very moment that a person is saved and born into the kingdom of God, throughout all eternity, God promises to preserve and protect his soul.

You know, there are some people who think that we cannot have eternal salvation until we get to heaven. They get this idea that after we are saved we get into a race with the Devil. We are running to heaven with the Devil on our coattails, trying as best as he can to catch us and drag us back into hell, and they think that when we die we are somehow going to rush into heaven, slam the door, lock it, swallow the key, wipe our brow and go – “Whew! made it.”

The term salvation is the most common biblical expression to identify the change wrought in the life of one who by faith obtains the benefits of the atonement of Christ. Salvation means to be brought from a state or condition not favorable to our welfare or happiness into a condition which is favorable. The word salvation represents the whole work of God by which He rescues man from the eternal ruin and doom of sin and bestows on him the riches of His grace, even eternal life now and eternal glory in Heaven. Salvation is both an instantaneous event and a progressive experience.

Protestant soteriology (so-teri-ology), the doctrine of salvation, distinguishes between justification, regeneration, and sanctification. Justification is God’s decree whereby believers are set right with him “positionally” and whereby he imputes the merits of Christ to them by grace. It is, so to speak, the objective side of an individual’s salvation. The subjective side is regeneration, the experience of being born again as a new creature, a child of God. And sanctification is the process whereby that new life is nourished and matures into conformity with one’s justified “positional” status.

So, if you are new to Wesleyan theology or been struggling with the salvation question whether there is eternal salvation, here is what the Wesleyan church believes – taken from the disciple, section 230:

READ SECTION 230 AND 234

To adhere to Wesleyan Christianity is to devote oneself to a life of obedience and ever-increasing love for God and fellow man. To be sure, there will be moments in which both love and obedience falter, but the Spirit provides the energy and strength to restore both and continue along the path of holiness.

Certainly; there will be those that will turn away from Christ without any further desire to be restored. Apostasy - the abandonment or renunciation of a religious or political belief - is a very real possibility for the Wesleyan. Though humankind may fall from grace, we never fall beyond grace. The Spirit will not abandon the believer but may be silenced by an ever-harder heart.

I want to tell you that our God will not only be faithful to the end, He will be faithful beyond the end. When you feel as if you are at the end of your rope, you've come to a dead-end in the journey, you cannot take another step, just remember who your hope is, and where your help is.

I want to tell you today God has wrapped us in his grace and his love.

When friends abandon you, remember God is your Provider.

When foes attack you, remember God is your Protector.

When fears assail you, remember God is your Preserver.

More than two decades after his first moon walk, Neil Armstrong visited Israel where he didn’t chart a new path but followed an old one. Because of his faith, this was something that he acknowledged as being even more significant than his 1969 moon walk.

When Armstrong visited Israel in 1994, he was brought to a place in the Old City of Jerusalem and he asked his host if Jesus himself actually would have walked there. He was told that Jesus was a Jew and that these were the steps that lead to the Temple, so he must have walked here many times. Armstrong then asked if these were the original steps and was told that they were. Hearing this, Armstrong states, “So Jesus stepped right here? I have to tell you, I am more excited stepping on these stones than I was stepping on the moon.”

- The Lord is Your Provider

- The Lord is Your Protector

- The Lord is Your Preserver

God doesn't take breaks from the job and He never gets tired. He will never once fall asleep on the job. His energy level never fails.

He's never distracted. He is there for you no matter where you are or what you are facing.

While you sleep, God handles the world quite nicely. You can go to sleep because He's awake! God is on watch 24/7, 365 days a year!

- Do you realize you don't have what it takes to meet the challenges life is throwing at you? Life can be too much!

- When the school system asks you to teach students online as well as in the classroom. Life can be too much!

- When you have to hold down a job, ensure your children are doing their schoolwork at the same time and all the while trying to look professional on video conference calls. Life can be too much!

- When the doctor says, ''For someone your age...'' Life can be too much!

- Your parents are locked away in an assisted living home with declining mental health and all you can do is speak to them through a window. Life can be too much!

We need to realize that we don't have the personal resources to meet the challenges in front of us on our own strength. God is there for us whenever we need him. As Keeper, as Protector, and as Preserver.

Joshua 1:9:

“Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”