Lechem Panim #49 ”Beyond The Hills” (Psalm 121) Pastor Cameron Ury

Our Passage today is Psalm 121. In it the Psalmist writes…

Psalm 121 (ESV)-- 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. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Context— One of the things that I have learned during my years of training in Biblical studies is that before you can understand (at least fully) what a passage of scripture means, you have to understand the context. And context is absolutely critical to our passage today (Psalm 121); especially when it comes to this word “hills”, which we will talk about today. Now some of your Bibles (particularly those of you who are using the King James), may have as your verse 1: “I will lift up mine eyes unto there hills, from whence comes my help.” And that does seem like a beautiful picture. I've remarked numerous times how much I have enjoyed looking up at the hills and the mountains of this area and just being in awe over them. There is something in your heart that moves every time you see them. But that is not what this psalm is about. In fact, it is just the opposite of what the Psalmist is trying to say here. The correct phrasing is: 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come?

No Help On The Hills-- This verse is not a declaration of praise for how great the hills are or how help can be found on them, but is rather [a recognition that the hills do not really provide any help and a question as to where real help can be found.] That question is really the key to the entire psalm. From where does my help come?

Our innate desire for a helper – Have any of you ever been in a position where are you have cried out to God for help? A couple weeks ago at my house, I suddenly heard my son cry out for me. And when I got to the bedroom, I found that he had gotten his leg stuck in between the wall and the bed and couldn’t get out. And so he asked if I could help get him out. And so I took hold of him and lifted him up. I think everyone of us has been (perhaps in a larger more significant way) stuck in problem. There are many difficulties that you and I face every day. And no matter what your belief system is, there is an innate desire in each and every one of us to try to reach beyond ourselves during times of trouble to seek the strength of one who might have some ability to change our circumstances. That is why there are so many various religions in the world, each of which represent man's desire to find an answer to that question “From where does my help come?” Now while the question is not unusual, the answer that the Psalmist gives us is highly unusual when you consider the world in which he lived and worshipped in: 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.

Beyond the hills-- He’s essentially saying, "My inspiration and hope does not come from the hills or the mountains, but from the one who created the hills and the mountains.” And the reason this passage is so remarkable is that against the backdrop of the ancient world this concept of an all-powerful God who created all the world and Who had absolute authority over it was altogether new. Nobody in the ancient world believed in a god who wasn’t a part of (and subject to) nature. That is why you cannot say that there are supernatural beings in any mythological religion; because that is a contradiction in terms. All of the pagan mythological gods were bound by nature. And they reflected whatever regional particularities of nature existed in the land in which they were imagined. And the ancients had gods for many forces of nature. [You have Uranus, the heavens. You have Kronos, time. You have Gaia, the earth, Arabis, evening, Humeri, day, Eros, passion. Then you have Zeus, who is the sky, the atmosphere, the wind, the cloud, the rain, the thunder, the lightning, the Greek Baal.] But none of them were supernatural because none of them were thought to be transcendent over nature. They merely were the sources of the various natural forces. And people would worship (on the hilltops) all these various supposed gods of these natural forces.

The Hills-- Now when God was about to lead to His people into the promised land, He warned them not to worship like their neighbors did. They were to worship differently than their surrounding neighbors. However, we know that when king David was succeeded by his son Solomon, Solomon ended up bringing pagan hilltop worship of foreign gods into Israel. And that began with his breaking God's command not to intermarry with the women of the surrounding nations (1 Kings 11:1-8). And so Solomon led Israel astray in a huge way. And the kings who followed him also engaged in pagan worship, until eventually a man came to the throne by the name of king Ahab. He engaged in and led Israel in worship of Baal. But then you have this guy come along by the name of Elijah, who pretty much just shows up out of nowhere. We don't know much of his background or anything, save that he was from Tishbe and that he came with a word from Yahweh Himself. Because of a Ahab’s wickedness in leading Israel astray, Elijah pronounces that there will be a drought for a few years. And there was. And when Ahab eventually finds Elijah, Elijah tells him to summon people from all over Israel to gather on Mount caramel. And he tells him to bring the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah. And so Ahab does so; and they all gather at the top of Mount Carmel. And Elijah goes before the people and says, "How long will you waiver between two opinions? If the Lord [Yahweh] is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:16-21). Now notice that Elijah, in the way he forms the question, forces them to make a choice. They can either continue to worship Baal or they can return in worship to Yahweh. However, they cannot do both. The prophets of Baal had no problem with the Israelites having a little bit of worship of Yahweh. What they did have a problem with was the idea that Yahweh and Yahweh alone is God.

And the same is true in our day and age. People don't have a problem with Christianity being one of many viable options on the buffet table of world-views. But begin saying that Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone is the way of salvation, and people began to get upset. And they will hate you and may even try to kill you because of it. But Yahweh makes it clear that he wants to be worshiped exclusively. And that is clear in the way that Elijah frames the choice.

Elijah’s Instructions-- Now Elijah gives some very specific instructions. He tells them to bring two bulls. He allows the prophets of Baal to choose the bull they want and tells them to cut it up into pieces and put it on their altar, but not to set fire to it. And he says he will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. And he tells them to call on the name of Baal and he will call on the name of Yahweh. And the God who answers with fire—he is God. Now everyone thought that this was a good idea because [Baal was supposed to be the god of the thunderstorm. So he was the lightning god, the one who controlled the lightning. So Elijah was saying, "Let's play it on your court. We will do it according to your god's strength. The one that answers by fire–let him be God.”] And so they set up the altars and (as you know) Elijah even has the one to Yahweh soaked with water (3 times). And the fire doesn’t fall on the altar to Baal, but comes down upon the altar of Yahweh and consumes the sacrifice and the altar itself. And when all the people see it, they fall on their faces and say, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.”

What our Psalmist had in mind-- One author I read this week suggested that the author of this psalm may have been a witness to what God did on Mount Carmel that day. But regardless of whether he was or not, he obviously had the story of Elijah in mind, as he makes a distinction between Yahweh and all of the other gods of the ancient world. The pagan gods were mirror projections of you and me. They sleep because we sleep. They are limited because we are limited. Without the revelation that God gives us of himself, there is nowhere to turn for a picture of the divine but to nature. We end up being compelled to make the divine world look like our world. And so all of paganism was the worship of the forces of nature. Apart from the revelation of God, it could be nothing else. But here the Psalmist is saying "My neighbor goes to the top of the hill for his answer, but I am going to go elsewhere. I am going to the very Maker of heaven and earth.” And because Yahweh is transcendent over creation because it is just that (HIS CREATION), we don’t have to worry. The Psalmist writes:

Psalm 121:3-8 (ESV)-- 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber {(unlike Baal, who you will remember does sleep, as Elijah mockingly pointed out)}. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand {(the word here is actually shelter. You have at your side at all times the One who is your Shelter.)}. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. {(Why? Because Yahweh made them as he made you; and so you don’t have to be afraid of them)} 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

Our only hope-- Regarding this passage, one author I read recently said this: [Modern people have tried every earthly source to solve their problems: government, education, economics, social sciences, psychology, and psychoanalysis. We have expected somewhere within us or within our world to find the key, the solution that we seek. Thousands of years ago there was a man, wiser than we, who saw the sterility of our vain efforts. He decided that help for humans comes only from Yahweh, who created and rules over all the factors and all the processes in which we place our hopes. Our only true hope and our only sure help is in the God who made heaven and earth.]

​Today I want to encourage you with the fact that (because Yahweh is the Maker of heaven and earth) there is nothing that you are going through right now that is outside of the realm of His control. You and I do not worship a God who is weak like we are, but a God who is the very source and the definition of all strength and who wants to give you His strength today in and through his abiding presence. And you can have that strength today, if you merely call out to Him as Elijah did. And the fire of His presence will come down and anoint your life. And it will be a source of nourishment and strength no matter where you go or what you do. Ask Him for that strength today. Amen.