My Help
Psalm 121:1-2 NIV
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.
In this life we will have
trouble, heartache, and distress. Friends and family members will die, or they
will leave us or desert us in other ways. The church, too, in many cases, will
abandon us spiritually, and will not teach the truth of God’s Word or care for
our spiritual needs. Or, they will reject us because we do not fit with their
worldly marketing schemes and plans.
Some (or all) of our country’s
leaders, too, will abandon us in that they will lie to us, and will attempt to trick
us and deceive us for their evil purposes. They will do evil and then blame
others for what they have done, while they try to convince us that they are the
good guys, and that we should trust them that they are looking out for our
good.
Basically, humans will fail
us, they will abandon us, reject us and mistreat us, though not all humans,
thank the Lord. There are godly people out there, too, who will come alongside
us to encourage, strengthen and support us in our walks of faith, and I thank
God for them, too! But, they are human, and they may fail us at times, too. So,
we should never make humans our gods.
And, sometimes we will fail
ourselves, too, and we won’t always have just the right words at just the right
moments, or we won’t respond to our circumstances with all the grace of God, as
we had hoped we would. Or we will find that we grow weak and tired and get
discouraged, and we wish we were stronger than that all the time.
But, whatever the situation
in our lives, God is still on the throne. Amen! He is still completely
sovereign over all that he has made. For those of us who have put our trust and
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, he will never leave us or abandon us. We can depend
on him and on his strength. And, he will help us through any and every
challenge that we come up against in this life.
We just have to learn to look
to him for our help and not let the troubles of this life get us down. We have
to rely on his strength and wisdom, and believe that he is working out all
things for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to
His purpose (Rom. 8:28).
He Watches Over Us
Psalm 121:3-4 NIV
He will not let your foot slip—
he who
watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither
slumber nor sleep.
When we trust in Jesus Christ
to be Lord and Savior of our lives, we die with Christ to sin that we might
live with Christ to righteousness. Thus, we are delivered from our bondage to
sin that we might walk in freedom from sin’s control, and in freedom to live
godly and holy lives in the power of God now living within us in the person of
the Holy Spirit. And, that is awesome!
Jesus does not stop us from
sinning, if we choose to sin against him, but he provided the way out from
underneath the power of sin over our lives. By the grace of God, we can say “No”
to ungodliness and worldly (fleshly) passions (lusts) and we can live self-controlled,
godly and upright lives while we wait for Jesus Christ, when he returns for us,
his bride. Amen!
Our Shade
Psalm 121:5-6 NIV
The Lord watches over you—
the Lord is
your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon
by night.
Jesus Christ and his
salvation, which he provided for us, is our shield and our protection against
temptation to sin and the devil’s schemes against us. He is also our covering
of protection when Satan wants to harm us, in his attempts to destroy us. The
Lord may or may not protect us from physical harm or from emotional suffering,
but he will protect us spiritually from its ill effects on our lives and on our
hearts and minds.
Because our God is completely
in control over all that he has made, and over every power and authority in the
heavens or on the earth, nothing can touch us unless God allows it. And, he will
use it in our lives to draw us closer to him, so that we rely on him and not on
ourselves, and so we learn to find our strength and our hope in him, and in him
alone.
Trials and tribulations
should drive us to call on our Lord, and through them we should be strengthened
in our faith, and we should walk even closer to our Lord, in daily fellowship
with him, greater than we had before, leaning on him for the strength to make
it through each and every day.
Now and Forever
Psalm 121:7-8 NIV
The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will
watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and
forevermore.
Again, the Lord may or may
not protect us from physical harm or emotional suffering, but he will keep our
minds and hearts safe from the ill effects of such pain and suffering. Knowing
that we have Jesus on our side, walking with us every step of the way, and that
he is in complete control over everything, we can rest in the Lord and rejoice
in him even in the direst of circumstances.
It brings me great comfort to
know that my Lord is watching over my life, and that he has a plan and a purpose
in mind for everything which he allows to come into my life, and for what he is
going to do in me and through me because of what I went through. I know that He
is with me every step of the way, and that he will strengthen and help me, and
he will counsel me in the way that I should go, and he will provide for my
every need. I just need to trust him completely with my life, and always follow
wherever He leads.
Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken
Henry F. Lyte / Mozart/ Arr. Hubert P. Main
Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to
leave and follow Thee;
Destitute, despised, forsaken, Thou
from hence my all shall be.
Perish every fond ambition, all I’ve
sought or hoped or known;
Yet how rich is my condition! God and
heav’n are still mine own.
Let the world despise and leave me,
they have left my Savior, too;
Human hearts and looks deceive me; Thou
art not, like them, untrue.
And while Thou shalt smile upon me, God
of wisdom, love and might,
Foes may hate and friends disown me,
show Thy face and all is bright.
Go, then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn and pain!
In Thy service pain is pleasure; with
Thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called Thee, “Abba, Father”; I
have set my heart on Thee:
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather,
all must work for good to me.
Man may trouble and distress me, ’twill
but drive me to Thy breast;
Life with trials hard may press me;
heav’n will bring me sweeter rest.
Oh, ’tis not in grief to harm me, while
Thy love is left to me;
Oh, ’twere not in joy to charm me, were
that joy unmixed with Thee.
Haste then on from grace to glory,
armed by faith, and winged by prayer,
Heav’n’s eternal day’s before thee,
God’s own hand shall guide thee there.
Soon shall close thy earthly mission,
swift shall pass thy pilgrim days;
Hope soon change to glad fruition,
faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
Friday, June 22, 2018 – Thank
You, Jesus, for these encouraging words. Help us, Lord, to always look to You
for our help. Amen!
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