I was listening early this morning to one of my favorite apps, The Bible in One Year (BIOY). Nicky Gumbel reflects on the Psalmist looking up to the Lord and the promise God has made to us all.   

Psalm 121

I look up to the mountains – where does my help come from there?

My help comes from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth!

He will not let you stumble and fall;

the one who watches over you will not sleep.

Indeed, he who watches over Israel never tires and never sleeps.

The Lord himself watches over you!

The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade.

The sun will not hurt you by day, nor the moon at night.

The Lord keeps you from all evil and preserves your life.

The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever

God will guard and protect you!

Where is the first place you look when you’re in trouble or don’t know what to do?

• Friends

• Family

• Medical professionals

There is nothing wrong in looking for help in all these directions, but the first place the Psalmist looks is upwards!

Regret looks back

Fear looks around

Worry looks in and

Faith looks up! “I look up to the mountains.”

Your health, strength and protection come from God. Wow, now do I have your attention? This beautiful Psalm speaks to the Lord’s love for us. The promise is that the Lord will guard and protect you from ultimate harm. Why then do we often smile at these powerful words and sentiments and shrug them off and seek to look in a different direction for answers to our troubles?

Could it be just that simple? God promises to guard us and keep us safe from harm? I thought to myself how wonderful that promise is and then I felt and heard another word in my head. That word was “faith”. Do I have the faith to trust the Lord of the universe at his word?

In the Gospel of Mark 9: 17-28, Jesus is approached by a man with a child who has an evil spirit in him that would not come out. The man asks Jesus to step in and do something, if he can. Jesus said, “’If you can?’” All things are possible for the one who believes.” The man replies with a much-quoted response that I myself say all the time in prayer, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”

This attitude of trust and confidence, the Bible calls belief or faith (Hebrews 11:1-6), is not something we can obtain without help. Faith is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9). No matter how much faith we have, we never reach a point of being self-sufficient. Faith is not stored up, especially during a pandemic! Faith is not stored up like money in the bank. Growing in faith is a constant process of daily renewing our trust in Jesus.

So, what are the takeaways from this blog message? First, the Lord God is personally watching over us, our health, strength and protection come from him so keep looking up in faith! The second would be even as a believer, we still need faith. Growing in our faith is a constant process. Lastly, growing in faith is a gift from God. He created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Even if you are a man over 50, God is still calling and equipping you to show our faith with acts of service.

We all have a great opportunity to serve God’s people by signing up for our Mighty Men traditional Thanksgiving food delivery Sunday November 22. To sign up now, click on this link to volunteer. Please note wives, neighbors and other family members are very welcomed.  www.mightymenofc.com/upcomingevents

~ Hammer