Psalm Meditation 536
Eighteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time
September 26, 2010

Psalm 121
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 forevermore.
(NRSV)

In some translations the first verse of this psalm is a question as it is here. In others it is a statement. “I lift up my eyes to the hills from where my help comes / will come.” It is an appropriate difference. There are times we know exactly where we can turn for help and other times we are not so sure. We know there is a source of help outside us somewhere we are simply unclear as to where that might be at this moment.

In both cases, whether it is a question or a statement, the psalmist is sure that the answer is the same. Help comes from Yahweh. God is a constant source of help and is already watching over us before we begin our search for help and comfort. Whether we turn to God immediately or cast about for some unknown source of help it is finally God who gives us the help and hope we need.

God is with us. God is with us in our celebrations as well as in our grief. God is with us as we shout out praises and as we shout angrily about the unfairness of the way things are going currently. God is with us in the easy and hard times between our celebrations and the low moments of our lives. Whether we are asking or stating where our help comes from we have the assurance of the psalmist and the host of folks who have taken this psalm as their own that it is God who gives us help and who keeps our lives.

© September 21, 2010