Lift Up your Eyes

Introduction

Protection is invaluable in life! Last week there were some tornado watches and warnings across the midwest and we know that these situations will become more and more frequent as the spring months continue because of where we live. In 2019, tornados caused over $3 billion in damage in the United States! Because of the destruction caused by these storms, having some protection is smart. From a storm shelter/basement to homeowners insurance, there are several ways that we can protect ourselves from these natural disasters. As nice as these sources of protection can be, though, they only can do so much.

Tornado shelters only offer so much protection. Insurance is a blessing, but it can’t fix everything. I know an individual who works in the insurance industry and part of his job is to write insurance claims following natural disasters such as tornados and floods. While it can be nice to receive a sizable check from an insurance agent, no amount of money can completely make you whole.

What would be great is if we had a better type of protection. Not something that helps after the injury or disaster, but something that actually helps to prevent those problems in the first place! One such example would with cars. Did you know that newer cars offer something called lane assist and it keeps you in the middle of your lane and alerts you if there is anyone in your way whenever you try to merge. This technology helps prevent future problems and it is helpful - but it’s still not perfect. You can still make a mistake even after being alerted or after the computer tries to correct you - you can still cause an accident.

We need protection from natural disasters. We need protection from other people. We also need protection from ourselves. As great as we might be at doing things, we all need protection. Thankfully, we see in Scripture that the Lord is the protector of His people. In Psalm 23 we see that the Lord is the Shepherd who protects His sheep. In Psalm 46 we see that the Lord is a refuge and helper for His people. In our text this evening, we will see how the Lord is our ultimate protector. He protects us from all harm and is where our help comes from! Because of this, we must lift up our eyes and see all that He has protected us from and what He is doing for us today.

Psalm 121 CSB

A song of ascents. 1 I lift my eyes toward the mountains. Where will my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber. 4 Indeed, the Protector of Israel does not slumber or sleep. 5 The Lord protects you; the Lord is a shelter right by your side. 6 The sun will not strike you by day or the moon by night. 7 The Lord will protect you from all harm; he will protect your life. 8 The Lord will protect your coming and going both now and forever.

Where? (1-2)

Where are we called to lift up our eyes? The Psalmist says that he lifts up his eyes towards the mountains and wonders, “where will my help come from?” It can be easy to lift our eyes towards a number of different things. I want to consider 3 different places that we can lift our eyes to and the ramifications of each one.

We can lift up our eyes to our problems. Whenever we are struggling with anxiety or any number of problems, it can be easy to look to that particular situation and focus on it to an unhealthy level. There is an unhealthy extreme that says to ignore our problems rather than focus on them. While we shouldn’t focus all of our attention on our problems, we also can’t simply ignore them. Think of the consequences associated with lifting your eyes exclusively to your problems: you can get depressed, anxious, or confused. We are tempted to look at the negative things and focus on them. In context of Psalm 121, the Psalmist is looking ahead to the hills. In the ancient world, there were often robbers who hid in the hillside and attacked travelers and stole their goods. We see this with Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan. This was common in the ancient world and whenever the psalmist looks ahead to the hills, he is likely filled with anxiety and concern because of the problem awaiting him. Likewise, we can look ahead at a situation in our life with anxiety or concern and be justified to do so.

We can lift up our eyes to another person. Whenever we are struggling with a problem, looking or focusing on the problem isn’t an adequate solution. What should we do? The world says that we should consult another person. This is good advice! We should open up and talk with other people, especially our spouse, a dear friend, or spiritual mentor. This is a good thing. Ultimately, can this person offer protection to us? Maybe they can give us good advice. Maybe they can point us in the right direction. Maybe they can give us some help. At the end of the day, though, whenever we look to another person to give us hope and direction they will undoubtedly let us down. We can’t lift up our eyes to them because we require something greater.

We can lift up our eyes to our God. Our ultimate help doesn’t come from other humans, as great as fellowship is, our ultimate help comes from the Lord who is the maker of heaven and earth. He is the Creator! He knows us. He made us! Whenever we are facing anxiety or concern, we look immediately to our God and we recognize who He is. He is the King.

I appreciate what Daniel Estes says about this verse, “Fear argues that the mountains are too big, but faith asserts that the Lord is bigger than the mountains.” If you’ve been to Colorado and seen the Rocky mountains, it can be difficult to imagine something bigger than the mountains. If you’ve seen pictures of Mt. Everest in Nepal, at over 29,000 feet tall, it can be next to impossible to think of something bigger than it! Yet, we know that even the tallest mountain cannot stand against the power of our God. He is bigger. He is also our helper and comforter.

Whenever we are in danger, we look to Him because He provides. The Psalmist is confident that the Lord provides. We should turn to Him with confidence as well. Similar to the mentality seen throughout Scripture, we know that God is able to protect us, we believe that He will, and even if He has a different plan or outcome in mind, we trust in Him and worship Him.

Think of all the places that our world turns to in times of distress. Contrast that with turning to God in such moments. We are able to have comfort in difficult times. Even when we suffer or experience loss, we can have joy and peace! Consider how you can help others around you look to God in difficult moments.

Why? (3-4)

The Psalmist says that his help comes from the Lord. We know that the Lord is our helper and we should look to Him… Why is this the case, though? We see a couple of different words in these verses as the word protector and slumber pop up on 2 occasions. In the ancient world, many people believed that their respective god/gods slept. In the Bible, though, God does not slumber. Yes, on the 7th day God rested from work, but it’s not like He’s napping and unable to answer the phone whenever you call Him once a week!

Have you ever been trying to get ahold of someone because you have something urgent to share with them? This happens from time to time and, as great as technology is, it can be frustrating to not be able to get ahold of someone during an emergency. This happened with Lindsey and I the first few times that we came here to preach in January and February of 2019. The cell towers weren’t as strong back then and we didn’t have internet at the house or church, because of this whenever our parents would try to contact us we wouldn’t answer. Not because we were purposely ignoring them but because the call wouldn’t even come through. Whenever you cry out to God, do you have to worry about the call not going through? No! You don’t have to worry about Him being asleep and unable to pick up the phone so to speak. He’s there!

In 1 Kings 18 we see that Elijah goes toe to toe versus the prophets of Ba’al on Mount Carmel. As the prophets are calling out to Ba’al, Elijah pokes a little fun at them and says, “Maybe your god is asleep.” What a blessing to know that our God doesn’t sleep. He doesn’t need to - He is there for us, whatever the hour and regardless of the amount of people praying to Him at any given moment in time. One conference I attended a few years ago had 5-6,000 people at it and the preacher invited everyone in attendance to spend a few moments in prayer and to ask God to reveal any sin in their life before the message. If you had 5,000 people text you, it would take weeks to reply to everyone! It would take even longer to call those people back! Yet, that is not a problem for our God! He’s there.

He is also our protector. Night or day, work or home, God is our protector. He watches over His sheep as Psalm 23 talks about. Just as the shepherd protects his flock from wild animals and threats, our God protects us from would be attackers and false teachers. He protects us from the powers of darkness and the psalmist says that He will not allow our foot to slip. He supports us!

Psalm 94:18 says this

Psalm 94:18 CSB

18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,” your faithful love will support me, Lord.

He protected the Israelites through the wilderness. He had protected them in the promised land. We know that He will protect them even through destruction and captivity. He kept and saved Israel at each and every turn. We know that the Israelites are God’s chosen people and we see this throughout the Old Testament - however, we also know that as Jesus brings about the New Covenant, it’s not exclusively for Israel. It’s a message for all people! Because of this, we can have confidence as we turn our eyes to the Lord because we have assurance that He will protect and keep us.

Why lift your eyes to the Lord in difficult times? Because He hears you when you call and He is the only one capable of protecting and saving you from your enemy. He’s got the goods to get it done!

How? (5-8)

Practically, though, how do we lift our eyes to the Lord? The Psalmist highlights an important truth about God in verse 5. The Lord is a shelter around us. Some translations say that He is a shade by your side. He not only protects us from opposition, but He literally protects us from the elements around us. The sun and moon are complete opposites and illustrate that God protects us from all dangers we face. The Psalmist would have been familiar with the hot climate in Israel and in such a climate, shade was extremely helpful!

In a few months, we know that it’s going to get pretty hot and humid outside. Whenever it’s hot outside, it can be much harder to stay active because we get tired a lot quicker than normal. We have some protection from the heat, we have hats and sunscreen, but the sun still zaps us pretty quick! The Lord, though, serves as shade that prevents the sun from striking the Psalmist. He prevents the moon from striking him as well.

The Lord, as verses 7-8 share, protects us from all harm now and forever!

How do we lift our eyes to the Lord? We acknowledge what the Bible says. That He is with us. That He is watching over us! That nothing catches Him off guard. We understand that He is our protector and we are called to trust fully and confidently in Him. We don’t need to look to our problem. We don’t need to find hope in a person or idea. We need to look to and trust in the Lord because He and He alone is able to guard and protect us from all life throws our way!

Does this mean that we won’t experience hardship or difficulties? Absolutely not. But we know in our soul that we don’t experience hardship or difficulty alone. We have a faithful shepherd, protector, and savior who will walk with us through the fire. Even though it might be easier in our eyes of the problem was simply removed from the situation, we have something even better: We have a God who is stronger, bigger, and more powerful than whatever obstacle stands in our way! He is our protector and He is with us. This is the hope and confidence that Paul has in Romans 8

Romans 8:38–39 CSB

38 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God - God is greater than whatever we are facing today!

Conclusion

Our world looks for protection and safety in all sorts of things. From insurance, air bags, or built in shelters, people want to be as protected as possible. For us as Christians, though, we have the best protection out there. God is on our side. He is our defender. He is our protector. He is our shepherd who guides us through life’s journey. We know that He is with us, yet there are times in life where we have the wrong mentality and perspective. It can be easy to focus on the problem at hand or to ignore it entirely. Both mindsets are wrong, though. We look at the situation and as we do this, we have confidence because our God is able to deliver us. He is greater than the problem in our lives.

Because of this, we fix our eyes on Him. We trust in Him. We rest comfortably at night in knowing that He is in control and that He has a plan. As my former pastor put it, “You are untouchable until God says it’s your time.”