I Shall Lift Up My Eyes

     Life is filled with good times and times of trouble.  Quite often, when something was getting me down, my mother took time to talk with me while she was cooking, and she patiently listened as I bemoaned some problem during my high school years.  One of her remedies for difficulties in life was the Psalms.  She encouraged me through the years to read the Psalms to find comfort and assurance there.  As a result, I often went into my room to read and pray the Psalms.  This never failed to bring me peace of mind.
     One of my favorite Psalms is 121.  It is short but a very powerful assurance of God's abiding love and presence:  "I lift up my eyes to the hills from where does my help come?  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  He will not let your foot be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.  The Lord is your keeper;  the Lord is your shade on your right hand.  The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.  The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore."
     The Psalm is comprised of eight short verses of powerful truth about our God.  Looking at verse 1, it becomes clear to us that God is our help.  After all, He is the Creator of heaven and earth.  Can anything be too difficult for Him?  Why is it that we try everything else under the sun before we turn to God in prayer?  I think it goes back to our old flesh that tells us we have to be in control.  However, God should always be the first One we run to when our lives are in turmoil or even at times of great joy!
     God will also not allow our foot to be moved.  In other words, He gives us the ability to stand in the face of trials.  We don't have to worry about a slippery relationship with God.  He is our Rock and a mighty fortress for us. In fact, God never slumbers.  Unlike real life body guards who can fall asleep on the job, God is watching over us 24/7.  This should give our hearts security.  Knowing He is awake, allows us to sleep well at night and to know that He is with us always guarding His own.
     Another comfort comes in verse 5 where it is stated that God is our keeper.  Just as our shadow is always with us everywhere we go, so our Lord is always with us.  This is verified by the writer of Deuteronomy 6  who tells us that God will never leave us nor forsake us.  This allows us to be strong and bold in Christ on a day to day basis.  Why should I fear when I know that nothing will happen to me today that has not already passed through the hands of my heavenly Father who loves me?
     Verses 7 and 8 conclude this Psalm with a promise of deliverance from evil.  Our lives are held in God's Hands.  He knows our beginning and end for all our days are appointed by Him (Psalm 139:16).  He keeps us in all our goings and comings.  Do we not find comfort in knowing that?
     Now, someone could read this Psalm and say that this appears to promise complete protection from all the bad things that can cross our paths in life.  However, this Psalm does not exempt us from death, sickness, tribulation any more than it keeps us from joy, blessings and peace.  This Psalm, instead, expresses the confidence we have in knowing that God is there walking with us every step
through both the happy moments as well as the sad ones.  He has created us for His glory and desires for us to enjoy Him forever.  Therefore, we can face anything as we walk through this world knowing He is sovereign over all things.  We do not need to worry, fear or tremble for we serve a risen Savior who will come again to rule and reign.  As His children, let us lift up our eyes today for our God can be trusted to do all He says He will do.  Selah!


Photograph courtesy of Aaron Thayer taken at the Naples, FL Botanical Gardens

Failure is not the End

Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing...

     Years ago, a family friend and computer guru, helped us set up our first desk top computer with Windows.  We knew virtually nothing about making this new piece of equipment work so he gave us some quick rundowns.  He told us, "Above all, do not be afraid of this machine and don't worry about trying things."  With that bit of encouragement, I plunged in as I planned to use this wonderful device in our homeschooling endeavors.
     According to my husband, I was an absentee wife on many occasions spending a lot of time learning by trial and error how to work the computer.  I admit that it fascinated me, and after a while, I was able to do the basics with no problem.  Of course, I probably could have made faster progress if I had read the directions, but many times, booklets on how to operate a computer can be more confusing than just trying something.
     While I tried my best to learn all the safety rules to keep things running smoothly, one evening I failed to do something basic.  I did not back up a lengthy paper I was in the process of writing.  I had been warned by friends to always back up my work and save as I went.  This night, though, I did not heed their warnings.  After typing a number of pages in Word, we had some sort of glitch in the program and I lost the entire paper.  I felt sick.  I tried everything I could think of to recover the lost document but to no avail.  I called our computer guru and talked with him.  After trying a number of things with no results, he concluded as I did that I would have to start over again.  I felt like a failure.  I told my husband that I might as well drop the project and forget about it, but he encouraged me to take my time and try to reconstruct my ideas.
     On the following day, with a nudge from the Lord and remembering the words of my husband, I began to reconstruct the paper.  I was amazed as the entire thing came together.  In fact, I felt like it was an improvement.  Only this time, I was careful to back up my work all along the way.  God had taught me a valuable lesson in this whole process.  This was confirmed in Scripture.
     James 1:2-3 reads:  "My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials, come your way, for you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure" (English Version).  If we never had failures, troubles or difficulties, we would miss some of the most precious lessons which build our character and enable us to face the storms of life.  For we know that smooth sailing on a daily basis often leads to neglect of our relationship with God.  We have it all together so we feel we can handle it.  However, when failure comes our way, we realize our need of God and His grace to see us through.  Remember what Jesus admonished us?  "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (John 15:5b).
     Our society fears failure, but the man/woman of God welcomes the lessons that come from our momentary trials which build our endurance.  We learn from our mistakes when we bring the Lord into focus and ask for His wisdom.  What we must always keep in mind is that we are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37).  Therefore, we do not quit in the face of trials or failures.  Instead, we trust and listen to God so that we may grow through this difficulty.
     As for me and the computer, we have a great working relationship now.  I still have my moments and make my mistakes, but I have learned to persist.  I know that even if I stumble, the Lord is there to help me work through my problems.  May we look at failure as merely a stepping stone to the awesome possibilities that God has waiting for us on the other side of a trial.  Selah!


Photo courtesy of Jill Clardy on Flickr  http://flickr.com/photo/22829128@N08/2826955496 using