Psalm 121:1-2

NASB	NLT	VOICE
1 I will raise my eyes to the mountains; From where will my help come?	1 I look up to the mountains – does my help come from there?	1 I look up at the vast size of the mountains – from where will my help come in times of trouble?
2 My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.	2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!	2 The Eternal Creator of heaven and earth and these mountains will send the help I need.

Ascending Above the Hills

Psalm 121 is connected to the collection called the “Songs of Ascents.” These songs were sung by the Hebrew pilgrims. They sang as they went to Jerusalem for the three major feasts: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. The journey to Jerusalem was a time of reflection and renewal. For the ancient Israelites, the hills in Jerusalem were a symbol of strength and stability. In a broad spiritual sense, lifting your eyes to the hills meant looking beyond immediate circumstances. It was a way to find divine assistance. The hills also represented high places where people looked for divine encounters. The psalmist is having his own reflection in this psalm. The psalmist declares that help comes from God. It’s inviting us to think about our own sources of help and to place their trust in only God. 

Look From the Ground Up

Lifting our eyes shifts our focus from the earth to God. When things get to be too much in our world, our head hangs low. We keep our eyes on the ground. We feel the weight of the world around us pressuring our bodies to collapse to the ground. The stressors are trying to pull our focus away from our Heavenly Father and towards the spiral found on earth. Recognizing allows us to pull our focus away from the ground and put our focus back on God. Doing this can help us reframe a heavenly perspective on what we’re going through. Often our problems are not new to God. They are the same that God has seen ever since Adam and Eve, just modernized. When we can look at our situation through how God can make it work for his plan. Not that He caused our strife, but He can use our strife to fulfill His will. 

God Has Many Looks to Us

The Lord YHWH was recognized as the covenant God. He rescued the Israelites from Egypt. He also guided them through the wilderness. The acknowledge that the psalmist’s help comes from God is a sign of deep trust in His provision and protection. The Lord holds many titles. He is known as shepherd, protector, and deliverer. All have a foundation that God is our source of true help. Recognizing God as the maker of heaven and earth shows that God is always here. We can trust in this Creator because He created everything. God is the Creator. Jesus is an agent of creation. God can sustain and uphold His creation, which gives us comfort and confidence. 

An Ascent Not Meant to Be Done Alone

Our life is a journey. Our Christian walk is a journey. It’s a journey that we are not supposed to do ourselves. It’s a journey that we are called to do in community. God is the foundation of this journey. God shows us our plan, our path, our gifts, our talents, and His will for us. We need to develop a strong relationship with Him to make it known to us. The more we invest in our relationship with God, the stronger our plan and purpose on earth become. He reveals it in us and through us. We are also called to do life together. We need to get involved in a community. We need people who will cheer us on and help us out. They will be angry with us, cry with us, and never judge us. There’s a reason why the greatest command out there is to love God (our primary relationship) and love others (our communal relationships.) That right there proves that life was not meant to be done alone. 

Reflection Questions

1. What ascent are you in? How are you reflecting about your journey through God? 
2. What is God to you right now? Is he your Healer? Your guide? Your mentor? 
3. Who is in your circle right now? 

Call to Action

Call someone in your circle. Thank them for being there for you and with you. Think of one thing you can do for that person that shows your love for them.

Next slice of manna: Manna for the Mind #273