Where’s Your Help Coming From?
Psalm 124
December 28th, 2002.
I can picture the processional party of pilgrims passing through the pleasant countryside.
From all different walks of life, they come.
Some are common shepherds who had toiled all year round under the brisk, bleak blanket of the night air tending disobedient, and disobliging sheep.
Others were farmers, who had plowed and planted the hard, harsh ground that was stubborn to yield food.
Some were merchants who had traveled all over buying, bartering and bargaining to bring home bounty to put bread in their families bellies.
From different homes and different circumstances.
From different economic and social levels.
From different sizes of houses and types of cars.
From different educational and professional achievements.
From east, west, north and south. Tall, short, young and old they came for one common purpose, to worship at Jerusalem.
You see this morning church as we look at this Psalm in front of us, Psalm 124, the Bible labels this as a Song of degrees in some versions or a Song of Ascent. It is a part of a group from Psalm 120 to Psalm 134 that was sung by the Israelites as they journeyed to the special annual feasts.
My preacher’s imagination now, I see them packing up everything and beginning the long walk up to Jerusalem.
When the load was heavy and the road was stony someone would begin to sing Psalm 121 “Will I lift up mine eyes to the hills? Whence should my help come from? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.”
When the sun would be blazing and the ground burning, I could hear a voice sing, “The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.”
When murmuring and complaining would start up and folks began to bicker, Psalm 133 would remind them, “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.”
The Psalms would carry them on their way as they journeyed to Jerusalem.
But in the midst of the singing, I can hear someone open up and begin singing Psalm 124 (verses 1-5).
The question I have today is why in the midst of so much joy and gladness. Why when they were headed up to the temple to worship God, to lift up holy hands, to magnify His name?
Why is it when they got the chance to see family and friends who they had not seen for a long time?
Why is it that they remember all this bad stuff at such a time like this?
Why bring back up all those bad memories of trials and tribulations?
Why before such a joyous occasion would they sing about such hardships and heartaches?
Why even go there?
You must understand today church that the text does not say that men would not rise up against us.
It does not say that the waters would not try to overwhelm us and the raging water would not try to wash us away. They will.
There’s nothing pleasant about enemies attempting to swallow you alive. Nothing good about rushing waters trying to drown you.
Nothing nice about someone being surrounded by angry enemies on every side.
My question then is why would they even bother to remember those bitter experiences.
You see it is natural in life for us to memorialize the good things.
We keep photo albums of birthday parties and engagement parties and wedding ceremonies.
We have videos of baby dedications and high school graduations and Fourth of July celebrations.
But I have not seen anyone yet say:
“I need to get a picture of myself when that boyfriend broke my heart.”
Let me get the video camera, I must get a shot of how my family looks when they’re hungry.
Take the picture of how I look when I lose my job.
My wife and I must take a picture together when we are upset with each other.
It just doesn’t happen.
Why remember the times when doubt and depression came up against us like a flood and were ready to drown our souls?
Why should we remember when we were ostracized and criticized and chastised for no good reason?
Why would you want to sing about the times when the bills were too high and the money was so low?
Why remember those times when we felt hopeless, helpless and couldn’t care less?
Why think about the times when we were used, abused and confused?
Church today any recollection of our history that includes only the good things, is an incomplete history.
If you only remember the times when you had peace in the home and peace on the job and peace at school then you are missing something.
If you only remember when money was good and the bills were paid on time and you lived in a nice house, you don’t have the full story.
If all you remember are the times when you felt happy and healthy and holy then you don’t have it all.
You see this text lets us know today, that everyone of us in here, everyone of us in here will go through some trouble sometime. It’s a guarantee. If yours has never come yet, I invite you to keep on living.
But most of us if not all of us can testify that even though there were some good times this past year, we have had some rough times also.
Some of us know how it feels when the enemies of loneliness and depression arose against us. There were times when no one understood what we were going through. Only God and the pillow that we cried on knew what we were holding on to deep inside.
Maybe someone has been betrayed this year by someone they trusted.
They told you they would have your back and then you realize that they stabbed you in it.
You told them your secrets only to realize later that they were broadcasting it better than CNN.
This year some of us know how the waters of unemployment can come against us.
You worked hard for that company but instead of getting a raise you got a pink slip.
For someone the death of a loved one may have been your rushing water. You didn’t know how to make it. Who to turn to? Where to go?
I don’t know what may have come your way this year.
Maybe you had trouble in the home. That child wouldn’t act right.
That parent just wouldn’t understand.
Fighting and arguing may have replaced love and affection for you.
It seems like the raging waters are trying to wash you away.
I must confess church today, I don’t know what trouble you may have seen this year. I don’t know what burden you had to bear. I don’t know what sorrow might have been yours or pain you had to endure. I don’t know how many nights you stayed up counting sheep to fall asleep. I don’t know how many times you had to borrow from one credit card to pay another.
But I know this, that after all the trouble in our world, in our country, in our neighborhood this year. After all that has gone on in our church, in our homes, in our lives the reason we are still here today is because the Lord has been on our side.
I’m not asking you to dwell on your troubles. I’m not saying that you should drag up the details of every heartache and pain. But if we forget we have gone through, we forget that God has been the one to bring us from through. If we only remember the good times, we forget that God has been the God of our weary years and the God of our silent tears.
My first point today church as we look back is that when things are at their worst God is at His best.
When we come to our Red Sea, we find out He can make a highway through the waters.
When we get tossed into the fiery-furnaces, we realize that He will take the heat for us.
When we lose our jobs, we recognize that He can stretch our food and our money.
God shows up and shows off in our trouble.
You know over this last year, that the times when we see God most are those times when we were down and out and He lifted us up.
Those times when we were friendless and He stuck closer than a brother.
Those times when our heart was broken and he put it back together again.
When our joy was gone and He gave us a song in the night.
When we didn’t know where to turn and He led the way.
I thank God today that we can say like verse 6,
“Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us a prey to their teeth.”
Praise God because they could have devoured us.
We could have been left with nothing.
The devil could have taken all we had.
All our hopes and dreams could have been totally gone.
But God did not give us up. He was for us.
And Romans 8:31 says, “If God be for us, who can be against us?”
As we look at verse 7, we see something interesting today. It says,
“Our soul is delivered as a bird out of the trap of the bait-layers: the trap is destroyed, and we are saved.”
I know it might be a little different than your King James. But this meaning is closer to what the original language says. Follow this picture with me.
We are all portrayed as a wayward bird that sees some bait and reaches out for it. All of a sudden we are caught in a trap and we can’t get out.
I don’t know how it has been with you this year, but I must confess that there were times when the devil dangled that delicious fruit called sin in front of my eye and sometimes like that bird I grabbed on to it.
Maybe you may have strayed away from God, somewhere, somehow and got caught in the trap of that old bait-layer. Before you know it, you are stuck in a situation.
You know how you feel when you get caught by the enemy.
You beat yourself over the head thinking I should have known better.
In January I made a resolution not to do this but here I am in July and I’m gossiping again.
Here I am in May, not having my devotion again.
Here I am, watching too much television again. I’ve been caught.
But the text says that someone came and delivered us from the trap of the bait-layer. Someone came and freed us from the penalty of sin and guilt.
I’m glad to tell you today that even though we may have fallen down this year.
Even though we may have failed this year.
Even though we may have messed up this year, thanks be to God because He didn’t leave us in our own mess.
He came and delivered us.
He broke the shackles of sin.
He loosed us from the chains of guilt.
He paid our penalty and gave us liberty.
My second point is when we look back over this year we realize that we have not been perfect, but we have a God who never did leave us nor forsake us.
He didn’t give up on us.
He didn’t throw in the towel on our lives.
He is slow to anger somebody and plenteous in mercy.
I’m so glad that he lifted me out of the miry clay of my mistakes.
He set me free. He set me free.
Tell the bait-layer, the enemy of our souls, the devil that God set us free by His blood, by His power, we are free. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
As I close today, verse 8 gives us our resolution for every New Year.
When you are looking back, never forget to look up.
When you are looking forward, never forget to look up.
“Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”
You see church as we face the unknown year ahead of us there is only one thing we should fear.
In Life Sketches p. 196, Ellen White writes that, “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us, and His teaching in our past history.”
The only problem we have is when we forget where our help came from.
Looking back over our lives this year, we should never believe that our help came from our bank account.
Our help didn’t come from where we live or what we drive.
Our help didn’t come from the schools we went to.
Our help didn’t come the Democrats or the Republicans.
Our help didn’t come from the bottle or some pills.
Our help didn’t come from any man or woman.
Our help didn’t come from who or what we know.
No our help came from the Lord.
We made it this year because He took us through our troubles.
We made it this year because when the going got tough, God got tougher. We made it this year because for every problem He was the problem solver. We made it this year because for every rushing water in our lives, He was a bridge over troubled waters.
We made it because for every heartache that we had he was a heart fixer.
We made it because every time we fell, He picked us up.
Every time we were knocked down He told us to get back up again.
Every time we failed, He covered us with His victory.
We made it because our help came from the Lord.
Now this year may be over and we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief, but let me tell you that the next year is one in which we don’t know what’s ahead.
It’s like walking into a dark alley where you know trouble will be waiting for you.
If you are wise, you don’t go into a dark alley alone.
You need to know that if something happens to you, you’ve got help. Someone’s got your back. Before you go into that dark alley you need to know where your help is coming from.
Do you know where your help is coming from? Is He with you?
Well today as we go into the great unknown called a New Year, I challenge you with this:
Some may trust in horses and chariots.
Some may trust in stocks and bonds.
Some may trust in clothes and fashion,
But our help comes from the Lord.
Some may believe in their friends and family.
Some may believe in their favorite superstar.
Some may look to preachers and pastors,
But our help comes from the Lord.
Some may look to their three story houses.
Others look at their fancy cars,
Some look at the clothes they are wearing.
But our help comes from the Lord.
Our help, our help, our help comes from the Lord.
