Looking to God for Help

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Looking to God for Help

• Songs of Ascent Practices of
• the Lifelong Journey Series 2
• Psalm 121

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RECAP OVERVIEW OF SONGS OF ASCENT SERIES

• Songs of Ascent are the 15 psalms Psalms120134
  which were sung by Hebrew pilgrims on the road
  ascending to Jerusalem (poetry prayer).
• Songs of Ascent are consisted of 5 triads with
  the same patternthe first in each triad deals
  with trouble, the second with trust, and the
  third with triumph John Phillips. We are on the
  first triad
• Psalm 120 Starting with a U-turn trouble
• Psalm 121 Looking to God for Help trust TODAY
• Psalm 122 Gathering to Worship God triumph

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• Psalm 121 ESV
• 1I lift up my eyes to the hills.   From where
  does my help come?2 My help comes from the
  LORD,   who made heaven and earth. 
• 3He will not let your foot be moved   he who
  keeps you will not slumber.4Behold, he who keeps
  Israel   will neither slumber nor sleep.
• 5The LORD is your keeper   the LORD is your
  shade on your right hand.6 The sun shall not
  strike you by day,   nor the moon by night.

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• Psalm 121 ESV
•  7The LORD will keep you from all evil   he
  will keep your life.8The LORD will keep   your
  going out and your coming in   from this time
  forth and forevermore.

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FACING THE HILLS IN OUR JOURNEY

• 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills.
• From where does my help come?
• 2 My help comes from the LORD,
• who made heaven and earth. (vs. 1-2)
• Back in those days, the hills presented FOUR
  POTENTIAL HARMS to Hebrew pilgrims
• Foot-slips due to steep climb slippery road
  (v.3).
• Sunstroke exposure to hot sun by day (v.6).
• Moonstroke exposure to anxiety fatigue by
  night (v.6).
• Evil thieves bandits targeting pilgrims (v.7).

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FACING THE HILLS IN OUR JOURNEY

• Life of faiththe Christian pilgrimagedoes NOT
  exempt us from difficulties and challenges of
  life.
• Each of us faces hills in our journeys.
• The hills present various troubles to us. Jesus
  said
• In this world you will have trouble.
• But take heart! I have overcome the world.
• John 1633
• A QUESTION TO REMEMBER when facing hills
• Where does my help come from?

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FACING THE HILLS IN OUR JOURNEY

• Back in those days, the hills also presented the
  offers of help for the anxious Hebrew
  travelersthe lures from the wrong places for
  help.
• The hilltop shrines offered protection through
  pagan-worship and orgies for fearful travelers.
• Truly the hills are a delusion,
• the orgies on the mountains.
• Truly in the LORD our God
• is the salvation of Israel.
• Jeremiah 323
• But, this psalmist makes a decisive DECLARATION
  OF TRUST in the true God My help comes from the
  LORD who made heaven and earthand also hills!

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FACING THE HILLS IN OUR JOURNEY

• We look in all the wrong places for help, when we
  disregard the Creator GOD who is BIGGER than any
  hills or mountains
• Sometimes, we look to positive attitude
  self-help.
• Sometimes, we look to practical advices
  quick-fixes.
• Sometimes, we look to people (friends/spouse/other
  s).
• All these may be helpful to a certain degree and
  momentarily, but they all have limitations.

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• The Great Danger of Christian Discipleship
• The great danger of Christian discipleship is
  that we should have two religions a glorious,
  biblical Sunday gospel that sets us free from the
  world, that in the cross and resurrection of
  Christ makes eternity alive in us, a magnificent
  gospel of Genesis and Romans and Revelation and,
  then, an everyday religion that we make do with
  during the week between the time of leaving the
  world and arriving in heaven. We save the Sunday
  gospel for the big crises of existence. For the
  mundane trivialities, we use the everyday
  religion of the Reader's Digest reprint, advice
  from a friend, an Ann Landers column, the
  huckstered wisdom of a talk-show celebrity. We
  practice patent-medicine religion. We know that
  God created the universe and has accomplished our
  eternal salvation. But we can't believe that he
  condescends to watch the soap opera of our daily
  trials and tribulations so we purchase our own
  remedies for that. To ask him to deal with what
  troubles us each day is like asking a famous
  surgeon to put iodine on a scratch.
• - Eugene Peterson

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WHY LOOK TO GOD FOR HELP?

• SHAMAR The key descriptive word for GOD in
  Psalm 121
• In the original Hebrew text, the word shamar
  means to watch over with great care.
• It occurs six times in the next six verses (vs.
  3-8)translated in English Bibles as keep, guard,
  protect. The repetition of this word was
  obviously to emphasize why we ought to look GOD
  for help.
• If we insert the original Hebrew word, shamar
  into this psalm, it would read like this Robert
  Morgan

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• 3He will not let your foot be moved
• he who shamar(s) you will not slumber.
• 4Behold, he who shamar(s) Israel
• will neither slumber nor sleep.
•  
• 5The LORD is your shamar(er)
• the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
• 6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
• nor the moon by night.
•  
• 7The LORD will shamar you from all evil
• he will shamar your life.
• 8The LORD will shamar
• your going out and your coming in
• from this time forth and forevermore.
• Psalm 1213-8

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WHY LOOK TO GOD FOR HELP?

• 1) GOD watches over us with his unending
  attentiveness.
• 3He will not let your foot be moved
• he who keeps you will not slumber.
• 4Behold, he who keeps Israel
• will neither slumber nor sleep. (vs. 3-4)
• GOD watches over us 24/7 nonstop.
• He has been capable to watch over the Israelites
  for 4000 yearsso, he will keep our foot from
  slipping.
• He needs no sleepHe never tires he never loses
  his attentiveness (even when he appears to be
  asleep to us).

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• To the child of God,
• there is not such thing as accident.
• He travels an appointed way. Accidents may
  indeed
• appear to befall him and misfortune stalk his
  way
• but these evils will be so in appearance only and
  
• will seem evils only because we cannot read
• the secret script of Gods hidden providence.
• A. W. Tozer

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WHY LOOK TO GOD FOR HELP?

• 2) GOD watches over us with his unfailing care.
•   
• 5The LORD is your keeper
• the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
• 6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
• nor the moon by night. (vs. 5-6)
• GOD watches over us as his beloved children,
  calling us his ownthe LORD is OUR keeper.
• He watches over our every need so closely in
  order to protect us.
• There is no exception in what he watches over for
  us. So, no harm will befall useven though we may
  be threatened by the harsh realities of lifes
  trials.

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•  8 "But you, O Israel, my servant,        Jacob,
  whom I have chosen,        you descendants of
  Abraham my friend,
•  9 I took you from the ends of the earth,       
  from its farthest corners I called you.        I
  said, 'You are my servant'        I have chosen
  you and have not rejected you.
•  10 So do not fear, for I am with you        do
  not be dismayed, for I am your God.        I
  will strengthen you and help you        I will
  uphold you with my righteous right hand.
• Isaiah 418-10

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WHY LOOK TO GOD FOR HELP?

• 3) GOD watches over us with his unlimited power.
•   
• 7The LORD will keep you from all evil
• he will keep your life.
• 8The LORD will keep
• your going out and your coming in
• from this time forth and forevermore. (vs. 7-8)
• He will keep us from ALL evil (no limit on
  degrees of evil).
• He will keep us in ALL our activities (no limit
  on kinds of activities).
• He will keep us in ALL time (no limit on time).
• What is the promise? The promise is to keep us in
  Gods purpose/goodness for us.

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• 28And we know that in all things God works
• for the good of those who love him,
• who have been called according to his purpose
• 31What, then, shall we say in response to this?
• If God is for us, who can be against us?
• 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him
  up
• for us allhow will he not also, along with him,
  
• graciously give us all things?
• Romans 828, 31-32

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• Praying the Songs of Ascent 2 -- Psalm 121
  MSG
• 1-2 1-2 I look up to the mountains
• does my strength come from mountains?
• No, my strength comes from God,
• who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
•  
• 3-4 He won't let you stumble,
• your Guardian God won't fall asleep.
• Not on your life! Israel's
• Guardian will never doze or sleep.
•  
• 5-6 God's your Guardian,
• right at your side to protect you
• Shielding you from sunstroke,
• sheltering you from moonstroke.

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• Praying the Songs of Ascent 2 -- Psalm 121
  MSG
• 7-8 God guards you from every evil,
• he guards your very life.
• He guards you when you leave and when you
  return,
• he guards you now, he guards you always.

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PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS FOR OUR EVERYDAY LIFE

• Declare that YOUR HELP COMES FROM GODthe creator
  and keeper of your life.
• Face the current difficulties in your journey.
• Relinquish all your wrong places for help.
• Look to God for every-present help!
• Hang on to GODS WATCH-CARE SHAMAR for all of
  your needs!
• Knowing that God keeps you with his unceasing
  attentiveness.
• Knowing that God keeps you with his unfailing
  care.
• Knowing that God keeps you with his unlimited
  power.

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