If you have your Bibles with you, I'd encourage you to follow along in the text from Psalm 121, and I'd like to read it for you, of course, and have you think about each of the lines as we go through it and look at them carefully. Psalm 121. I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Amen. As we come to this particular psalm, it's helpful to ask the question, what kind of psalm is this? And perhaps that's not a question that you've ever considered before, but I can assure you there are a number of different kinds of psalms in the Psalter. This, for example, is not a penitential psalm. You don't find the psalmist calling out to God and asking for forgiveness of his sins. It's not a psalm of personal reflection where the psalmist is thinking back on all the different events of his life. nor is it a psalm of praise, as if the psalmist is lifting up praise one after another to our holy and sovereign God. It's not that kind of psalm. It's not a psalm of prayer or a psalm of lament. It's not a historical psalm. There are some psalms that rehearse all the details of the history of Israel and walks you through all the significant events. It's not that kind of psalm. It's not a liturgical psalm. It's not a messianic psalm. We don't see any reference to the Messiah here. And it is not an imprecatory psalm. You don't see the psalmist seeking to cast down thunderbolts, as it were, upon the enemies of God. So what kind of psalm is this? It is a psalm of ascent. That's what this psalm is. This psalm of ascent was sung by the pilgrims as they journeyed down to Jerusalem, and then up into the hills they went, coming over to the hills surrounding Jerusalem and seeing all the different hills and the buildings that were built upon them, in particular, the temple where they would worship God. These Psalms, which start at Psalm 120, all the way through Psalm 134, are known as the Psalms of Ascent. And the pilgrims would sing them, starting at their starting point, their hometown, and as they went along, they would sing through all of these particular Psalms in anticipation of arriving at the end of their journey, which was in Jerusalem and the temple. In the Old Testament, we find that there is a requirement for all the males, all of those who are above the age of 13, to go to Jerusalem. And some of you young men might want to think about this. This was a requirement under the law of God. You're required to go to Jerusalem three times a year. And so, for example, in Exodus 23, you'll find this statement. Exodus 23, verse 14 and 17. Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. And then it lists out the various feasts. And then in verse 17, three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God. Now, as time went along and the nation of Israel grew and its borders became farther and farther away from Jerusalem, it was very difficult to make these journeys. And so, the various rabbis declared that it was only necessary to come once a year. And as time went along, following the dispersion of the Jews, then again the rabbis declared that it was necessary to come once in a lifetime to Jerusalem. Now I'm not commenting on the rabbis' decisions there, just simply informing you of them. Beyond that, since it was necessary for the men to come, oftentimes, because it was a long journey, they would take along their wives and their children. And perhaps you recall that one time in the early life on this earth of our Lord, his family made such a journey to Jerusalem. They traveled from Nazareth down the Jordan River Valley, they got to Jericho, they cast their eyes up into the hills, they climbed those hills up to Jerusalem, and they went to the temple. And you remember the rest of the story, how the Lord Jesus remained in the temple, listening to the various teachers and giving answers that surprised them all, because he spoke with authority, and his parents realized that he had remained in Jerusalem, and they went back for him. That's why they went in fulfillment of this law in the book of Exodus. Now, as they came to Jerusalem and got closer and closer, the expectation and the level of joy in the pilgrims would rise. You can imagine that. As you get closer to the end of your own journeys, getting closer to your destination, you start getting excited about where you're going to be, and that would happen to them. So they would be considering that expectation and joy of the presence of God. They would meet the Lord in His temple. And there they would have some of their concerns addressed and their prayers answered. Now, as we come to this psalm tonight, I want to help you just to understand that this psalm has not only a message for the pilgrims of the time in which it was written, but it also has a message for you and me. And I want to suggest to you some of those different applications to your own life tonight. For example, in this psalm, it talks to us about how we deal with adversity, with difficulties and trials in our life, and no one of us is exempt from that, right? We all have them at different times, and this psalm addresses that. Secondly, it instructs us in how we're to prepare for worship of our gods. And so this psalm gives us some applications about how we ought to worship and how we prepare ourselves. And thirdly, it reassures us of how the Lord keeps us safe through the pilgrimage of life that he takes us on. And he gives us a sense of assurance that as his people who are seeking to be faithful to him, we will make it to the heavenly Jerusalem. It gives that assurance as well. And so there's an application for us as we read this psalm. It's just not an ancient document that has historical interest. The Scripture relates to us in all the different parts of our life, and that's true here as very well as you might expect. Now, the psalmist begins with asking a question, and if you would, look at verse one. I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? Well, the first line, I look up my eyes to the hills, is exactly what a pilgrim would be doing as they're coming up to Jerusalem. Jericho was very low and I believe even a little bit below sea level in the Jordan River Valley. As you came up into the hills or the mountains, you would rise several thousand feet to come up to Jerusalem, that city which was built on many hills. And so, as you're coming up out of the valleys, you would be lifting up your eyes with a sense of anticipation at arriving at your destination, at being at the very place that God is calling us to be. But then, in asking the question, the psalmist gets you to start thinking that is you're lifting up your eyes to the hills that that's not where the help comes from. The help doesn't come from the hills. And he's going to answer us in verse two, my help comes from the Lord. And so as you think about this area of preparation for worship, Our help is not found in coming just with a sense of enthusiasm and thinking that because of our enthusiasm, God will reward us. No. We come to meet God. We don't come with an emotional expectation. But we come to meet the living God who ministers to us in ways that we can never fathom or understand. Beyond that, Our help is not found in the high places as if the hills themselves could minister to us. No, our help is in the Lord. In fact, on those high places that were around Jerusalem, you would find, at that time, the time of the kings of Judah, and also, even in the times of Jesus, you would find idols, ashram, and false places of worship. which thankfully in the times of righteous and holy kings were torn down and they were all burned in the Valley of Gehenna, which is a symbol of hell. And so, it's not in the high places, in these false religions that we find our help. Our help is only found in our true God, who ministers to us and helps us. And the psalmist certainly makes that very clear here, that that's where our help is found. Now, he says in verse, One, and the second part, where does my help come from? And in asking that question, we actually do find a very clear answer in the book of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah chapter three, verse 23, it reads, surely the hills are a deception, a tumult on the mountains. Surely in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. And so at a time after the writing of this psalm, you're seeing a prophet give a clear answer to the writing of this particular psalm, that again, our help is only from the Lord, not on the hills. Now let me give an answer to this question of to whom do you lift up your eyes? If it's not the hills, who do you lift up your eyes to? I wanna give you a series of answers or applications to that question that flow out of this particular text. And so the first one is found in verse three. It speaks of the Lord, of course. My help comes from the Lord who made the heaven and the earth, verse two tells us. So in verse three, we find an application to the statement of verse two. He, meaning the Lord, will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. This tells us that he alone gives you security in times of trial and temptation, that the Lord alone is the one who does that. He will not let your feet be moved. He will keep them from being knocked out from under you. The Lord will give us strength in times of trial and difficulty. Matthew Henry has this note to say about verse three in Psalm 121. He says, we must encourage our confidence in God with this, that he made the heaven and the earth, and he who did that can do anything. He made the world out of nothing, Himself alone, by a word speaking, in a little time, and all very good, very excellent and beautiful. And therefore, how great soever our straits and difficulties are, He has power sufficient for our succor and our relief. He that made heaven and earth is sovereign Lord over all the hosts of both and can make use of them as he pleases for the help of his people and restrain them as he pleases from hurting his people. Now that's a good lesson. And I thank God that the Lord gave Matthew Henry that insight which can be passed on down to us. But the Bible says it even more clearly than Matthew Henry. In Psalm 16, verse eight, David writes, I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand and I shall not be shaken. In 1 Corinthians 10 verse 13, Paul writes, God is faithful and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. And so verses like those show us the truth of this message in verse three. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. A second answer or application to this question, to whom do you lift up your eyes? And that is, we lift them up to the Lord because he alone watches over you in the perils of the day and of the night. So look at verse four. The psalmist writes, behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. God is always watching over his people. God is always concerned with our welfare. God is persistently, personally, and providentially watching over you and all your coming and going, all the details of your life. God is concerned with that. We find in Matthew 10, verse 29 and 31, these words from the teaching of our Lord. He states it this particular way. In Matthew 10, 29 to 31, he says, are not two sparrows sold for a penny? and not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than the sparrows." Now that's a comforting word when we're in the midst of a difficult circumstance and we don't know how it's going to work out and we're not sure exactly how the Lord's going to help us and deliver us. But we can be assured of this one truth, and that is that, behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Matthew Henry, who of course wrote the comment earlier that I read, also had an interesting application of this in his own life. One day as he was riding along, he was suddenly surprised by a robber who sprung out of a bush. He was on his horse and the robber held up his pistol and demanded all of his money and fearing for his life, he gave it to him. Later when he got home, he wrote in his journal the following words, He wrote in his diary, let me be thankful first because I was never robbed before. Second, let me be thankful because although they took my purse, they did not take my life. And third, let me be thankful because although they took my all, it was not very much. And fourth, let me be thankful because it was I who robbed rather than I who was doing the robbing. Now that's a man who knows how to be thankful, who realizes that God is taking care of him. Even in the midst of a difficult circumstance, God is watching over his people in the midst of all their perils in the day and in the night. A third area where the Lord answers the question, to whom do I lift up my eyes? To the Lord. and applies it is in verse five, that he alone provides refreshment in periods of spiritual drought. When we're feeling so empty, when we're feeling that we've come to the bottom of our resources and we have no way of knowing what's going to come next, God promises us in verse five, the Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The word keeper here in Hebrew is the word shamar. It means to guard, to protect, to build a hedge about you for preservation, for protection against the wild animals. That's what it means for the Lord to be our keeper. The Lord is the shade on your right hand. The idea of a shady spot in the glaring sun is a place of refreshment, a place of restoration, like an oasis. That's really what the image is conjuring up here as we think about it. What is the psalmist saying? Well, that God is an oasis to us. and he helps us in times of loneliness, sickness, trial, thirst, hunger, all the difficulties of life. God provides us refreshment in times of spiritual drought. That's why the psalmist can say in Psalm 23, verse three, he restores my soul, he leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. We see a fourth application in verse six. We ask the question, who is it whom we lift up our eyes to? The Lord. Well, he alone leads you when you're walking in light or when you're walking in darkness. We see in verse six, the sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by light. The light refers to the wisdom that we're seeking. that the sun will not strike you in the midst of all of its heat and burning trial, but it gives light so that wherever we go and whenever we go there, even if it is in our foolishness and our independent spirit, we can trust God to give us direction and light in the midst of that trial. And when we're in the darkness and in the light, or excuse me, in the night, then we can know that the Lord directs our steps in the midst of the darkness, in the nighttime. And he also causes us to be led in a way that will help us to get to our destination. In Hebrews chapter 12, verses five and six, We see the writer of Hebrews talking about the same basic issue, and he speaks of it in terms of the discipline of the Lord. There are times in the midst of our darkness when we're independent and wayward from the Lord, God will lovingly discipline us. We may not like it that he does that, yet he does that for our welfare and our good. So the writer of Hebrews will say in verses 5 and 6 of chapter 12, Have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastises every son whom he receives. And so we can remember that even in times of walking in a confused, wayward manner, God is still going to be involved in our life and discipline us, which is for our good, so that he alone leads us, whether we're walking in the light or we're in the midst of darkness. God will watch over his people. Number five as an application is found in verse seven. The question is asked, to whom should we lift up our eyes? To the Lord, because he alone sustains your life when you are threatened by evil circumstances. Verse seven. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. This means that you'll not be exempt from difficult trials or circumstances that come your way, but the Lord will sustain you through it. That's what he's referring to. In the King James, it reads that he will preserve thee from all evil. He will preserve you through the midst of it. Even if the evil overcomes you and you pay with your life, God will sustain you and help you by his providential hand. This is surely the meaning of Psalm 23 in verses four and five, where it says, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup overflows." Well, the psalmist here understands this lesson that God will help those in the midst of evil circumstances. There was a proud and arrogant skeptic who challenged a Christian evangelist and preacher one day, and in a triumphant and overbearing tone he said, just what did God do for the martyr Stephen when he was being stoned to death? And the preacher and evangelist replied, He enabled Stephen to say, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And the skeptic was silenced. And the evangelist went on further. He said, for do you see that God in his providence did not prevent Stephen's death, Yet, by his timely death, he spread the testimony of one who, by God's grace, had no hatred and no spirit of retaliation. And that led to life for many, many more. Even the apostle to the Gentiles, Saul, who became Paul, who, if you remember, stood by Stephen's side, holding the cloaks of those wicked men who stoned Stephen. The point being, by that illustration, to show that God even brings good out of wicked and difficult circumstances. And he gave surely Stephen's support in the midst of his death as a martyr for the sake of Christ. And he allowed him to say, Lord, do not hold this sin against them. And lastly, in verse eight, we see another answer, the sixth and final answer the psalmist gives to the question, to whom shall we lift up our eyes, to the Lord, is that he alone will preserve you through your whole life's pilgrimage. And so the psalmist writes in verse eight, the Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. The psalmist is seeking to say that whatever the circumstances you are in, whether it's at home or away from home, whether it's in your coming or it's in your going, whatever the circumstances will be, the Lord is watching over you and the Lord is preserving you in the midst of those circumstances. How can that be? Well, let's consider in our physical life. We can be confident that we will not die until it is the Lord's time and the Lord's circumstances. We can be confident of that. The things are not random. The things are not just brought about by a whim, a circumstance, a unpredictable occasion. The God is the one who controls all history, and not just the big picture, but also the details of your life. God's in control of that. And then in regard to our spiritual life, we can be confident that the Lord will never leave us nor forsake us as he promises because as his people, we belong to him. Over and over in the old and also in the new, the statement is made that we are your people and you are our God. And we have that confidence. that God will never leave us nor forsake us because we belong to him. And so whom do we lift up your eyes, the psalmist says, from where does our help come? Well, the answer is clear and certain. My help comes from the Lord who made the heaven and the earth. Amen, let us pray. Father, we thank you for the mercies that you have given to us as your people. We do not deserve them, but we are grateful, Lord, that through all the different parts of our life, we can have a sense of sure and certain faith, trust in you, that you are watching over us and helping us, that you are convicting us of our sins when we go astray, Even in times of foolishness and darkness, we can know, Lord, that you're involved in the details of our life. And also, Lord, when you're leading us into the green pastures and beside the still waters, we can know that you're watching over us then as well. And so we thank you for that, Lord, for all of your mercies and kindness that you've shown to us. And so we pray it now in Jesus' name, amen.