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Where Does My Help Come From?

             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. (Psalm 121:1-2)

 

            The commentaries I have don’t explain this verse very well. In fact, that make it clear that they don’t quite know what to make of it. Does the psalmist lift up his eyes to the mountains in fear of the mountains? After all, there might be thieves, or a mountain slide, of beasts of prey. In joy? In longing? Might the psalm have been written during the exile, in which case the psalmist is longing for “the mountains of home”? For many people, the mountains and hillsides were places where sacrifices to other gods were made, and armies tend to like to hold “the high ground.” What is clear is that the mountains were not the place that the help he wanted came from.

            As we look around our world, things are a mess. We clearly need help. I’m even in one of my “knight in shining armor” modes, though what I really want is closer to a small army of handymen, a gardener or two, and maids to fix things and take care of tasks that I want to get done. I know what I have to do, and I’m working on it, but there’s that not so little voice saying, “I need help!” But clearly, I’m not looking to God.

            Society, the world, isn’t much better. Some look to other gods. In America, a good many – even those who call themselves Christians – look to the government. Another substantial number – again even those who call themselves Christians – look to themselves. There are probably things I look to the government or to myself for, but I see myself as in the “to themselves” camp. The point is that both camps are wrong. The truth is that our help – our best help – comes from the Lord.

            This is one of the reasons why the folks who contend that we must relieve all of a person’s felt needs before we suggest that they have spiritual needs are mistaken. God may use us to deal with either kind of need, but it is not our job to address their needs except as God instructs us. And Scripture never suggests that we should force others to help those who have physical needs, or use the government to do so.  That is the teaching of idolatry.

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