SERMON: SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER US

I.  Introduction

            -- turn in Bibles to Psalm 121

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

    where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—

    he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you—

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—

    he will watch over your life;

8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going

    both now and forevermore.

            -- this Psalm has always had a special place in my heart -- we talk about “life verses” in the church -- those verses that are significant to us -- those verses that we turn to for encouragement and hope in times that we really need a word from God -- this Psalm is my life verse

            -- it’s one of the first passages of Scripture that I ever memorized -- and its words have given me strength and support many times when I couldn’t sleep because of worry or fears or anxiety about things in my life

            -- when I was looking at this Psalm for today’s message, I couldn’t help but be struck again by how the Psalmist repeated the refrain, “watches over you,” time and time again -- we see it five times in these eight verses

            -- this refrain reminded me of that great song I remember from my childhood, “Someone to Watch over Me” -- it was written by George and Ira Gershwin and has been recorded countless times, but it is the version by Barbara Streisand that I remember most

            -- let me share with you the opening lyrics to that song:

“Looking everywhere, haven't found him yet

He's the big affair I cannot forget

Only man I ever think of with regret

“There's a somebody I'm longin' to see

I hope that he turns out to be

Someone who'll watch over me

“I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood

I know I could, always be good

To [the] one who'll watch over me”

            -- that longing for someone to watch over us -- for someone to just be there to help us -- to rescue us from danger -- to save us when we most desperately need it -- that is the message of this song -- that is the message of this Psalm -- and it’s the message in this season of Lent

            -- Lent is the season of preparation and penitence prior to the celebration of Easter as the Resurrection Day of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ

            -- it is a time when we remember who we are -- our mortal frailty -- when we remember that we are formed of dust and it is to dust we will return -- the very words that are spoken as the ashes are put on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday at the start of Lent

            -- it is a time when we remember what we have done -- of the many sins we have committed -- of how we have repeatedly turned away from our God and our Creator and followed our own path and not His

            -- and it is a time of waiting -- of fasting and prayer and repentance -- of hoping and longing for that Someone who will watch over us and save us from who we are and free us from our sins and make us into the people we were called to be

            -- so, on this second Sunday in the season of Lent, let’s look at this Psalm together and see what we can learn about waiting and trusting and believing in the One who watches over us

II.  Scripture Lesson -- Psalm 121:1-8

            -- we are unsure of who wrote this Psalm -- the scriptures do not tell us who the author is -- some commentators think it is likely that King David wrote this Psalm -- either in the time when he fled from Saul and his armies or later in life as he fled Jerusalem after his son Absalom usurped the throne

            -- but regardless of who wrote these words, they resonate in our hearts -- we have all felt the same emotions -- we have all experienced the same doubt and despair and uncertainty that the Psalmist expresses here -- and we know, as we read the heart-cry of this Psalmist, that we could have written these words ourselves

            -- while we don’t know exactly the situation that led to this Psalm, we do know this -- the Psalmist who penned these words was in the midst of chaos -- perhaps surrounded by enemies who sought his life -- perhaps seeking answers in the midst of a natural disaster

            -- he had little hope left of surviving -- and everywhere he looked, he saw danger and death and destruction -- he asked himself, “How do I live in this world? -- Where do I find help?” -- and then he gives us the answer in this Psalm

            -- look back at verse 1 and see what he wrote

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

    where does my help come from?

            -- Corrie ten Boom -- the great Dutch evangelist who was sent to a German concentration camp for hiding Jews in her home during World War II -- once wrote, “Look around and be distressed -- Look within and be depressed -- Look at Jesus and be at rest”

            -- the Psalmist looked around and was distressed -- he lived in an uncertain world -- a world of danger from those around him -- a world of crime and violence -- of natural disasters and economic uncertainties -- of plague and pestilence

            -- he looked within himself and didn’t see any hope there -- he remembered his many sins -- of the many times he had failed his God -- of the many times he had sinned and missed the mark and disobeyed God’s commands

            -- he remembered and he realized he needed help -- that he couldn’t do this on his own -- so, he lifted his eyes to the hills -- he lifted his eyes to heaven -- wondering where help would come from

            -- verse 2

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

            -- in a profound statement of faith, the Psalmist makes it clear -- our help does not come from charismatic presidents or politicians -- it doesn’t come from bank presidents or generals leading armies -- it doesn’t come from scientists or engineers

            -- our help only comes from the Lord -- from the maker of heaven and earth -- and that’s true, whether we’re talking about being surrounded by enemies or if we’re talking about natural or economic disasters or if we’re talking about the state of our soul -- our hope rests only in God -- our savior can only be God

            -- verse 3

3 He will not let your foot slip—

    he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

             -- when I read these verses, I am reminded of the great battle of faith on Mount Carmel when the prophet Elijah confronted the false prophets of Asherah and Baal -- if you remember this story, Elijah proposed a test of faith whereby the nation would see who the true God of Israel was based on which God could supernaturally light the fire on the altar

            -- the false prophets went first, and no matter how loud they wailed and cried out -- no matter how much they cut themselves and offered their souls to their gods -- nothing happened -- and Elijah mocked them and said, “Cry louder -- perhaps your god is asleep and cannot hear”

            -- the Psalmist here reminds of the great truth that our God doesn’t sleep or slumber -- the Bible tells us that God is with us always and will never leave us or forsake us -- that He is always watching over us, even on days of uncertainty

            -- God is watching over us in the midst of everything that is going on in our lives -- He’s watching over us in the midst of this coronavirus pandemic -- in the midst of the economic downturn -- in the midst of our sickness and hurts

            -- when bad things happen to good people, we always want to ask why God allowed it to happen -- why doesn’t He stop the coronavirus? -- why doesn’t He protect us from sickness and violence and war?

            -- and the answer to that is we don’t know -- God is God and His purposes and His ways are higher than ours -- all we can do is follow the Psalmist’s lead here and trust and believe on our darkest days

            -- but we can know this -- without winter, we can never enjoy the beauty of spring -- without sickness, we can never rejoice in health -- without pain and death, we can never realize the blessing of life and of eternity with God

            -- why do bad things happen? -- why does God allow bad things to happen? -- we don’t know -- but we do know that He is there in the midst of our pain and suffering -- ministering to our hearts and spirits and giving comfort to our souls

            -- the Psalmist gives us the promise that God will never let our foot slip off the path of salvation -- He will never let our faith waiver -- no matter what we may experience -- no matter the tragedies we may face

            -- He will hold us firm and keep us on the straight and narrow because our God never sleeps -- He never slumbers -- but He is always there to lift us up and to bring us hope and help wherever our feet may tread and in whatever uncertain days we face

           

            -- verse 5

5 The Lord watches over you—

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—

    he will watch over your life;

8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going

    both now and forevermore.

             -- this is the reason this Psalm is my life verse -- I don’t know how many of you have spent sleepless nights worrying about things in your life -- about your family -- about your work -- about school or tests or friends -- but I know the feeling of being wide awake at 3:00 in the morning -- worried and anxious about things to come

            -- some are doing that right now with everything that is going on with the coronavirus and the economic condition -- they have no one to trust in, so they’re trusting in their own strength -- to the point where they’re hoarding face masks and water and even toilet paper

            -- but these verses say that we don’t have to worry -- when the heat is on in the middle of the day -- or when we’re in our darkest hour in the middle of the night -- God is with us and He is watching over us

            -- I saw a quote on the internet one time that really speaks to our current situation: “Why take your worries and troubles to bed with you? -- Give them to God -- He’s going to be up anyway!”

            -- Philippians 4:6-7 says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. -- And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

            -- all the worrying in the world won’t make the slightest difference about the coronavirus -- staying up all night and fretting about your family or your job or your friends won’t change the situation in the slightest

            -- worry is actually the opposite of faith -- worry says that the problem is too great for God and that we must come up with some answer on our own to fix the problems in our lives and in this world

            -- but, the Psalmist reminds us that it’s not up to us -- it’s up to God -- the Lord is with us and He watches over us -- regardless of whether we slumber or sleep or whether we stay up all night worrying and fretting -- God watches over us and He keeps us from all harm -- not only now but in the future as well

            -- but what about those who get the virus? -- what about those who pass away? -- it looks like God didn’t keep them from all harm, doesn’t it?

            -- the thing to remember is that God’s focus is on eternity and not on this world -- Jesus said in Matthew 10:28, “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

            -- that’s where the hope of Easter comes in during this Lenten Season -- Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we would live a life free from trouble and pain here on earth -- He didn’t die on the cross so that our 401Ks and bank accounts would be full and that we would enjoy a peaceful and secure retirement in the sunset of life -- no, Jesus died on the cross so that we might have eternal life with Him

            -- God’s focus is always on the eternal and on bringing glory to Himself -- when the Psalmist says here that God will not let our foot slip and that He will keep us from all harm, he is not referring to life here on earth -- he is referring to eternity

            -- the message of this psalm is that our trust and our faith should be on the God who watches over us and sees past the immediate -- who sees past the worry and stress of the crisis -- to the great eternity we will share with Him in heaven

            -- the Lord will watch over us -- He sees our coming and our going -- both now, in this mortal plane -- and forevermore, when we live in eternity with Him

III.  Closing

            -- as we close this morning, let me call your attention to the words written right below the title to this Psalm -- it tells us this Psalm is “a song of ascents” -- this is one of the psalms that the worshipers would sing as they made their way up Mount Zion to Jerusalem to worship the Lord

            -- it is a psalm that causes us to look up -- to look past our momentary afflictions to the God who saves -- to the God who watches over us -- to the God who gave His life for us, so that we might have life with Him forevermore

            -- as you continue to reflect and to prepare your hearts to rejoice anew at the resurrection of our God and Savior on Easter morning, remember the words of the Psalmist -- lift up your eyes to the hills -- look to the God who watches over you -- and trust in His protection and grace to see you through

            -- let us pray