My Help Comes only from The Lord

Psalm 121:1-8

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills — from whence comes my help? My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.  The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore.” NKJV

You can only know the true belief of a man during the time of crisis. Pressure proves the difference between iron and steel. When we come under pressure we either snap, break, bend, or prove our quality by standing the pressure.

Your reaction depends to a large extent on your source of power and resistance. In the years before the use of airplanes and ballistic missiles, the security of any nation depended on the topological features surrounding it. A nation or city surrounded by hills was considered secure because the enemy cannot approach it without being seen. An island was also considered secure. Such nations or cities made less preparation for war than cities or nations that lie on plain lands. Jerusalem was one of such cities considered by its citizens as secure because it was surrounded by hills. The Israelites of those days placed their hope of defense and security on the hills.

When the Psalmist wrote Psalm 121, he was saying – “Hey, men, your security is not in the hills. Do not depend on the hills because your help cannot come from them. You have to look beyond the hills!.” Israel was not the only nation deluded into the false hope of defense and security. Indeed, many men have over the years been deceived into placing their hope on things and people. There are so many false grounds of security.

In our own part of this country, there is the false hope of I.M. ("Who you know" or in Igbo language, "Ima Mmadu") So when they run into any problem whatsoever they tell you that I.M. (Ima Mmadu) will do it. But often it does not. Some in other parts of the country build their hopes on the false ground of “position pass rank”. When they have any problem they think of one in a position of authority to solve it. Sometimes, it seems to work, but in the final analysis, it does not really solve the problem rather it introduces another problem of injustice. Some also build their hopes on the false security of “It is a matter of cash”. They believe that, once there is money, you can always buy your way through all problems. Again, sometimes, it looks like it works, but it really does not. It brings the added problem of bribery and corruption. Money has never brought peace of mind and cannot give security. Ask most of our rich men and women, they will tell you that they will trade all the money they have for the sweet sleep of the honest labourer.

There is still the terrible false ground for security especially amongst our female folks. It is called “bottom power”. They believe they can sell their chastity and virtue for security. They believe that there are immoral, depraved and morally bankrupt men who can always fall to the seduction of women to get them out of any problem. This in itself is a bigger problem than the one it was trying to solve. It was Shakespeare who wrote “There is good in things evil, would men observantly distil it out?”

The conquest of Jerusalem made Israel to realize that there is no security in the hills. Jerusalem is not impregnable after all. Where then is the true and reliable security?

The Psalmist tells us – “My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” This is the source of real help and security. The Psalmist went on to give in details why God is the only source of real help. “He is the Creator of heaven and earth.” If God made the heaven and the earth – there is nothing He cannot do. He is greater than all your problems and will give the only meaningful and real solution to your problems. If He had the power to bring the heaven and the earth into existence and keeps them still today, definitely, no matter what my problem is, He is able. That is why the Psalmist further asserted: “He will not allow your foot to be moved.” Sometimes you feel that you are being moved, why not turn to Him who will not allow your feet to be moved?

The Psalmist went further to give more reasons why God is the best security. “He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep” The Psalmist here places his finger on a very important prerequisite for a true and real security provider. He must be alert and always ready. God is both. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. Whichever security system you use, it depends on the efficiency, alertness and quick wittiness and response of the man manning it. When the operator is asleep, the system is also asleep. Most people commit their lives to night guards who sleep more than half of the night; But not so with God. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. This is why the Psalmist assuredly says, “the Lord is your Keeper (Protector)”

“The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by the day, nor the moon by night”  The Psalmist now goes a little higher – What of forces beyond the human control – the sun by day and the moon by night? Who is your keeper from all unseen forces that would attack you? Who keeps you out of dangers from higher forces? No human agent or agency can. Money cannot, position cannot, rather it makes you more vulnerable. “As man know man” does not help. They all give you false hopes. The Psalmist tells us the only source of protection. “The Lord shall preserve you from all evil. He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in, from this time forth, even for ever more.”

What we have been discussing points to the fact that evil must come. Indeed, evil abound in all corners. What matters is not whether or not it will come to you. Sure enough, it will come in one form or the other now or later. But when it comes, - where do you look for help?

In our nation today, hard times are no longer things to read about. They have become our everyday experience. We discuss them in every nook and corner. We have seen hard times and will see more hard times. The world is never going to be better, rather it will grow worse. Indeed the Bible described the future in the following words: “But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!  For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.  But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance,  persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra — what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.  But evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.”(Second Timothy 3:1 -13) As you went through that list, I am sure you were shocked how true it is of our present situation. Every single one of what is listed there is happening today in our country. Your heart has started to beat fast. How do we get out of this? Where do we look for help and where do we go from here?

The answer is not too far from you. First, the solution is in reading the Bible – “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (Second Timothy 3:16-17) Your only defense against error is the truth. The only truth in the world today is the Word of God, the Bible.

The best form of defense is attack. So God has given the Christian the best weapon to attack the evil in our society today. The Bible commands: “I charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom:  Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching.  For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers;  and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables. But you be watchful in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, fulfil your ministry.” (Second Timothy 4:1-5) 

Our defense is in the Word of God – reading, preaching, believing and living it.

 God bless you all.