Help! I'm Struggling!
Help! I'm Struggling! • Sermon • Submitted
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Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage singing, the next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.
His problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage wit a vacuum. She stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers in the bottom of the cage. Then the phone rang. Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She barely said hello when—sswwwwppppp! Chippie got sucked in. She gasped, let the phone drop, and snapped off the vacuum. With her heart in her mouth, she unzipped the bag.
There was Chippie—alive, but stunned— covered with heavy black dust. She grabbed him and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast, and held Chippie under a torrent of ice-cold water, power-washing him clean. So she did what any compassionate pet owner would do: She snatched up the hair dryer and blasted the wet, shivering little bird with hot air.
Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore...
—Chuck Swindoll
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
He observes the Problem
He observes the Problem
“I lift up my eyes to the hills” Ps. 121:1a
His problem, in this song of ascent, is essentially that it is a song of ascent.
The hills were certainly places where the pagans would go and worship their gods.
The hills were also places of danger due to robbers and bandits.
The hills carried the danger of travel due to the climate or natural struggles (i.e., weather & animals).
Consider the 20 miles from the Dead Sea to Jerusalem and the 4000 feet in elevation to climb.
He Ponders His Need.
He Ponders His Need.
“from where does my help come?” Ps. 121:1b
Some scholars have assigned the applied the Psalmist’ words to spiritual questioning over which God, but as much writer begins with a question it is immediately answered.
The reality is when we are overwhelmed.
When life catches us off guard.
When the waves mount up
When the winds threaten
When anxiety overwhelms
When Sickness is discovered
When finances are too little
When tragedy strikes
When relationships are broken
When substances take control
When we feel helpless.
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
He Announces His Comforter
He Announces His Comforter
2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.