SERIES: Songs of Ascents
TEXT: Psalm 121:1-8
MESSAGE: “A Long Obedience”
“There is a great market for religious experience in our world; there is little enthusiasm for the patient acquisition of virtue, little inclination to sign up for a long apprenticeship in what earlier generations of Christians called holiness.” ― Eugene H. Peterson, (A Long Obedience in the Same Direction: Discipleship in an Instant Society)
Q: How can we face the long journey of life? By…(1. Looking & Deciding 2. Beholding & Resting 3. Experiencing & Remaining)
1. Looking & Deciding (v. 1-2)
“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.”
“I think it’s best to read the hills conveying the danger that exists along the journey. While he may have indeed had a mixture of emotions in his heart, I think his primary thought was that the hills were part of the problem. The hills sheltered bandits. And, significantly, they were home to pagan gods who “lived” among the high places (cf. Jer 3:23).” — Daniel Akin
“He looks away from the dangers they may hold, and beyond the safety they may promise…to the One who made them and everything else besides. God the Creator and his keeping power are the theme of the psalm.” — Michael Wilcock
2. Beholding & Resting (v. 3-5)
“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.”
Psalm 73:2: “But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.”
“The reason many of us do not ardently believe in the gospel is that we have never given it a rigorous testing, thrown our hard questions at it, faced it with our most prickly doubts.” ― Eugene H. Peterson
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” — Philippians 1:6
“What is God’s help? It is spiritual refreshment (‘shade’ verse 5) through his presence. It is God’s enabling us to avoid foot slipping or sin (v. 3). An ounce of sin can harm us more than a ton of suffering. Sin can harden our hearts so we lose everything, but suffering, if handled rightly, can make us wiser, happier, and deeper.” — Timothy Keller
3. Experiencing & Remaining (v. 6-8)
“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.”
“…the pilgrim needs something more. He needs to know of the personal, intimate nature of the covenant-keeping God of the Bible. He needs to know God not just as Creator but as Companion and Guardian…many Christians will affirm that they know God both as Creator and Redeemer through Jesus Christ but functionally live worried lives. We are prone to fear, aren’t we? In moments of crisis, we need to experience our theology. We need to work our theology of God into our hearts.” — Daniel L. Akin
“You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.” — Psalm 73:24
TAKEAWAYS: How can we continue on the long journey?
* Decide where you will find refuge
“God never tells me to get over something and just get past it. Never. Instead, He asks me to trust Him with every circumstance.” ― John S. Lynch
* Behold who God truly is
“We should be astonished at the goodness of God, stunned that He should bother to call us by name, our mouths wide open at His love, bewildered that at this very moment we are standing on holy ground.”
― Brennan Manning
* Remain in God’s loving care each day
“Lord, my life is filled with pressures that are like the sun beating down and draining me of all strength. But I have known times when your smile, sensed in prayer, was like cool shade or like a refreshing breeze to my heart. Give me the grace to know you more as my shade and my help. Amen.” — Tim Keller
“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” — Philippians 2:8