Psalm 121 (NRSVA)

1 

I lift up my eyes to the hills—
    from where will my help come?

2 

My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

3 

He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.

4 

He who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 

The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

6 

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 on and for evermore.

This psalm is often misunderstood. It can be assumed that the psalmist was looking to the hills for help when in fact, in the time of the psalmist, the hills were often a source of danger. Rather, the Lord is the source of our help and only he can be trusted to keep us safe when danger looms on the horizon.

The Psalms are permeated with the psalmist’s trust in God. The history of Israel shows that they were not immune to hardship: war, famine, and enslavement. The psalms themselves are punctuated with cries of hopelessness, helplessness, and despair. Yet even in the midst of the most negative of circumstances the psalmist finds the courage to praise God. The psalmist has faith that whatever life throws at him, ultimately God is in charge and his life is safe in God's keeping.

Prayer:

Father, forgive us when we become weighed down by the cares of the world

forgetting that our times are in your hands.

Forgive us when we grumble and complain

forgetting all the blessings and benefits we live with.

Thank you that in this country we live in safety.

Help us never to take for granted

the freedoms we enjoy, the laws which govern our lives and preserve our communities.

Give us compassion for those who live in places where they are not safe

because of the colour of their skin,

because of their choices in life,

because they have been invaded by a foreign power.

Help us to know what we can do,

how we can support,

what we can offer,

that others might know the safety we enjoy, Amen

Written by

Jane Denniston