Exemplary Creature Of An Impeccable Creation

God who is Creator is also my Helper

1. Psalm 121:1-2 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Here is a pauper turned psalmist because in the midst of grueling horror he sees a glorious hope. He may have been battered and bruised, injured and isolated, even stripped and savaged. At times like these, we too, perhaps not to this extent or perhaps worse, are most in need of divine comfort and solace. In deep distress and heavy with hurt, all he could do was to lift the lids of his eyes up to his Redeemer. When all we have is God, God is all we need. A thousand years later, a Teacher would say these words to the despair - “Seek ye first His kingdom and righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you (Matt.6:33).” No, this is not random.

Scripture is never sudden but always relevant. The inter-relatable nature of Scripture connects a kingdom charge (Matt. 6:33) to our earthly craving (Ps. 121:1-2). The trauma of suffering which we experience in life no matter how great, grander still is our Savior to rescue those who cry out His name. The fallen condition of man is only so that the Creator could pick him back up. He is with us always and in His Son never will we part. Never will He forsake. He remains in us if we remain in Him. Even in death we enter not into finality because on His cross new life is given.

That man on the cross teaches us to purpose our ambition towards a higher cause. He points us to a greater goal and promises to reward those who set their minds on the sovereign terrains of His kingdom. On earth and in this world, sin has slapped us with a sentence destined us for doom. Jesus who is Messiah restores us with grace. Grace that saves the righteous and silence the wicked. Grace to strengthen, to weather storms, to grow in His love.

Though the psalmist sees not his Maker but the character of a delightful Creator is ever in display in His Creation. Love formed the heavens. Love shaped the earth. Love carved a lifeless mannequin out of dirt and then breathed life to give spiritual oxygen to sustain every pulse of man, his heart beating to the rhythm of the Father’s heart. Psalm 121 gives us a behind-the-scene perspective of the person behind the Creator. It reveals the voice behind each Word that when spoken brought everything into existence. The psalmist testifies the Creator’s attentiveness and protectiveness. Shall we also acknowledge His unfailing faithfulness as seen in His only begotten Son – the promised Seed – the source of blessing in God’s perfect plan (Gen. 3:15)

Psalm 121 brings life to the theology of Creation as it relates to our daily clash with life’s realities. Indeed, Creation is not a one-time event. It’s an event for a lifetime. God continues to work in our lives. Understanding how we are made in His image brings pieces of the puzzle together to understand why a good and perfect Worker could produce a masterpiece to be deformed into a monarchy of bitterness, agony and grief we call suffering. In His image we once bore the reflection of a perfect resemblance only to be shattered when a pursuit to disregard an authoritative order and by a mere whisper of persuasive deception of a much smaller creature. It was a battle between minds – the serpent’s and ours. His was as twisted as its physique. A puppet of Satan permitted only to inflict harm as destructive and lethal as death itself. Try not be astonished. Yes, only death, because the Lord is still the Sovereign King. Death has a conqueror. Eternal life is the victory. And so our mind as opposed to the serpent’s, is still made in the very intelligence of One who thinks and works unceasingly for the glory of His own divine ego.

My mind He gave to have but not own. My thoughts are my own but my conscience He visits. In desolation God claimed the psalmist’s mind and filled it with exultation. Creation is unique but we are not too distinctive beyond the Creator’s reach. He sent His Son to bridge us with Him and to show how much He loves us when He had us in mind even before we are conceived. Hence Psalm 121 is one of many examples that brings all things back to the sanctuary of the Lord’s Creation.

God has prepared us in advance to do good works

2. Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.