Tag: God

Psalm 121 – Moving Forwards – 7

Published on by James TravisLeave a comment

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.

This is so comprehensive, this is total, isn’t it, this is not half a job, 

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.

So, where can we look to draw hope and strength for the future as we move forwards?

We look to God, the maker of heaven and earth, a very present help, no sleeping or slumbering, keeping us from all evil. We need to know this, and we need to trust this, completely.

Trust me also when I say that this will totally and completely change how you view your life, everything that happens to you, or involving you, this will bring a total change in worldview.

A number of years ago Captain D. commanded a vessel sailing from Liverpool to New York, and on one voyage he had all his family with him on board the ship.
One night, when all were quietly asleep, there arose a sudden squall of wind, which came sweeping over the waters until it struck the vessel, and instantly threw her on her side, tumbling and crashing everything that was moveable, and awakening the passengers to a consciousness that they were in imminent peril.
Everyone on board was alarmed and uneasy, and some sprang from their berths and began to dress, that they might be ready for the worst.
Captain D. had a little girl on board, just eight years old, who, of course, awoke with the rest.
“What’s the matter?” said the frightened child.
They told her a squall had struck the ship.
“Is father on deck?” said she.
“Yes; father’s on deck.”
The little thing dropped herself on her pillow again without a fear, and in a few moments was sleeping sweetly in spite of winds or waves.

She knew that her Father was always watching, keeping her safe, not slumbering nor sleeping, and that he would keep her life safe.

For us then, we look ahead and move forwards to what is coming in the future, look ahead to what is coming in the new year and push on to it, safe in the knowledge that our help comes from the God who made and sustains heaven and earth, always watching, never sleeping, now and forever more.

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.

Psalm 121 – Moving Forwards – 6

Published on by James TravisLeave a comment

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.

Do you know, as with sunstroke, too much time in the sun and you feel ill, people believe that moonstroke is the same? There is also a thing called starstroke, apparently…

Whether these two things are solid, medically proven conditions or whether they are superstitions, any superstitious fears are of no concern to those whom God protects. He keeps, preserves, and protects all day and all night.

James Montgomery Boice said

“What the psalmist really means, though in figurative language, is that nothing either of the day or night can harm us if God is keeping guard. God is our covering against every calamity. He is our shade against the visible perils of the day as well as the hidden perils of the night.”

The main point here is that our help comes from God, and God alone, against things we see, and against things we don’t see, and everything in between.

What a peace this brings; everything that happens to us day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year, is known to Almighty God. 

Now, this isn’t to say that when you submit and commit to the Lord that your life is gonna be a sweet smelling, soft touch, bed of roses, no, that is not what the Bible says, but we do know that everything that happens to us, around us, and involving us has been Divinely ordained;

God knows…God knows, God cares, God guides, God decides…

So whatever we are moving forwards to He knows, He cares, He guides, and He decides.

Psalm 121 – Moving Forwards – 5

Published on by James TravisLeave a comment

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.

God would help His people by establishing them in a firm place, He will not let your foot be moved. Think back to 1 Peter; chosen and precious Cornerstone…that is where we stand, nowhere else. Our feet are not being moved from that!

I love what David Guzik wrote about this,

For the Christian, this reminds them of the principles found in Ephesians 6:11 and 13—that the believer is to find a place to stand, and this can only be done by looking to the Lord and trusting He who will not allow your foot to be moved.

The standing of the believer in Jesus is impressive.

· We stand in grace (Romans 5:2).

· We stand in the gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1).

· We stand in courage and strength (1 Corinthians 16:13).

· We stand in faith (2 Corinthians 1:24).

· We stand in Christian liberty (Galatians 5:1).

· We stand in Christian unity (Philippians 1:27).

· We stand in the Lord (Philippians 4:1).

· The goal: that we should stand perfect and complete in the will of God (Colossians 4:12).

Again then,

He will not let our foot be moved,

He will not slumber or sleep.

The short answer to where does my help come from? was that we look to God for our help.

He does not sleep or slumber, He is always watchful, always watching over us as we are moving forwards to the next thing He has called us to.

Isn’t that a glorious promise to us? God will not allow my foot to be moved. He’s watching over me night and day. He will preserve me (Smith).

Psalm 121 – Moving Forwards – 4

Published on by James TravisLeave a comment

People nowadays worship all sorts of gods, don’t they…pleasure, power, prestige, career, cash, all sorts…But the God that we worship is the only true, eternal God who has created the heavens and the earth, the living God. So, 

“From whence cometh my help?

My help comes from Yahweh which made the heaven and the earth.”

So, new year, new target, new goals, renewed you, maybe even new you if you are on the verge of committing to Christ or been window shopping Christianity and now is the time to really go for it. The new year then could well bring, literally, a new you. Literally. The new birth, the new you, and the Bible says that unless we are born again of the Spirit we will never see the riches that He has laid up for those who love Him.

So wherever you are on the journey, we look ahead to where we are going and we know that God is our help, a very present help, Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, the indwelling Holy Spirit is alive in us and active in the world, we know this, we look ahead, and we push on, knowing that God has a plan and a purpose for you this coming year, as He does every single day of your life. 

We just need to submit and commit, there is a new year’s resolution that we can get on board with;

submit and commit.

This is the year I will;

read the entire counsel of God’s Word to us,

attend a home group,

serve in church not just come and go as stealthily as possible,

this is the year I will smash that spiritual hangup I have had for X number of years,

this is the year I ditch all the excuses that have prevented me from living the life that God wants me to live, that I will ditch all the excuses that keep me from being here with God’s people, that I will ditch the excuses that stop me being who God has made me to be! 

We look ahead and we push on and we move forwards knowing that God is our help, and that if God is our help, if God is for us, then who can be against us?

Psalm 121 – Moving Forwards – 3

Published on by James TravisLeave a comment

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth.

Our  help comes from God. Not in the journey itself, not in the city we are walking towards, not in the job we are pursuing, not in the bank balance we are chasing, not in the promotion we are desperate for, in absolutely nothing that is of this world.

See no riches but in grace, no health but in piety, no beauty but in holiness, no treasure but in heaven, no delight but in “the things above.”

—Anthony Farindon.

I was running along recently, well, chasing along half a step behind two far better runners than me, trying not to wheeze out loud, running along and watching the water lap the shore or crash against rocks, can’t remember really as I was too focused on not collapsing, and the conversation went something like this…

this is beautiful…wheeze cough wheeze cough…this is beautiful…but we should never worship the creation always the creator…

That was quite profound given the beautiful, natural surrounds of where we were running, and it’s the same with the help. We don’t get help from the city, we don’t get help from where we are going, what we are going towards, we don’t get our help from the creation, our help comes from God, the Lord, not from anywhere else.

He works in and through others, sure, the church is His chosen vessel to bless the nations, wow, how much do we want to be part of the church, but the power, the goodness, the ability, is His, He actualises our potential, we are FULL of potential, God has none, He cannot become anything else, He IS, so, when we need help moving forwards,

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121 – Moving Forwards – 2

Published on by James TravisLeave a comment

Psalm 121 is probably up there as a favourite of many people, it’s certainly one of my favourites, and, the idea behind it is that the writer/poet/psalmist/person/you and me by extension and application is on a journey

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.

Where can we look to draw hope and strength for the future, where does our help come from?

The singer of Psalm 121 looked to the hills, likely the distant hills of Jerusalem as they travelled towards the city to fulfil their pilgrimage.

Imagine you’re on a journey, walking, towards a city that is set on a hill, you can see if from a distance because it’s higher than you are, you are walking along and you see the city, it’s on a hill so it can’t be hidden, can it, you’re walking along on a special journey towards this city, 

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

    From where does my help come?

You can see it, but you’re far away, but God is not far from each of us, is He, and on our journey, God is not, nor will He ever be, far from any of us, we lift up our eyes to the target in the future, in the distance, and we think, man, this journey is tough, this journey is long, this journey is dangerous, where is my help going to come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

Eggs; the inner egg and the outer shell

Published on by James TravisLeave a comment

In Romans 8.2 we read that the law of the Spirit of life has set us free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. We are no longer bound by meticulous religious rules covering everything from our dietary intake to our haircut (good news for some…).

This freedom is liberating, we are now bound only to live the life of the Spirit, in the Spirit, for Christ. If we want to mix milk and meat in a meal, that’s fine. If we want to cut our hair short on the sides and round off the corners of our beards, that’s fine. If you want a tattoo, or to pierce your ears, fine too. If the ladies don’t want to wear a head covering in church, that’s fine too. We are no longer under the law as a heavy yoke, which invariably we would break, which leads to sin, which leads to death. Bad. Now we are living under the Spirit of life. Good.

This means, in a strange sort of way, we are like an egg.

We are free to associate with whoever we want, go wherever we want, eat and drink whatever we want, watch anything we want on the tellybox, be friends with anyone we want. Jesus was not concerned with His outer shell or its appearance, was He? He hung out with some pretty down and dirty people during His incarnational ministry (His time on earth living as fully God and fully man, incarnation literally means ‘in the flesh’).

Like a toddler at meal times, Jesus’ outer egg shell was covered with all sorts of things that people thought it should not be; don’t talk to her, don’t touch them, don’t stay at his house…

Jesus trashed His outer shell, ultimately breaking it for us, but never compromised His inner self.

Therein lies the lesson for us; we are free from the law as a heavy yoke and now have a wonderful liberty as Christians. But, as Jesus ultimately broke His body for our benefit, we need to use our liberty for love, for the benefit of others, not to simply have a good time. 

So yes, we are free to eat, drink, watch whatever we want, but the bigger Christian principles still apply; who is being glorified through what you are doing? Things too, like Philippians 4.8,

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

So, yes, we can dirty up our outer shell, but we must never compromise our inner egg. And, if we are dirtying up our outer shell, let us make sure that it is for the benefit of others, using our liberty for love, not lusts.