When Pastor Schleis and I first talked about our Advent services about a month ago, he suggested, “I think we should do something about hope.” Of course, I thought, “Why? Everybody’s so hopeful already! All I hear is hopeful things from people all day long!” Not! There’s so little hope, isn’t there? So much frustration. We need hope. At least, I do. I haven’t gotten sick. I haven’t lost my job. But somehow things aren’t the same. Life seems darker. Colder. Unfriendlier. Tension and anxiety are always right beneath the surface. Do you know what I’m talking about? Pastor Schleis was right. Maybe we should do something about hope!
If you want to find hope in the Bible, do you know where to go? Here’s a good place to start: The book of Psalms. I looked it up: The word “hope” is used 34 times just in the book of psalms. In verses like this, “The eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love” (Psalm 33:18). “No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame” (Psalm 25:3). “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (Psalm 42:5). There’s a lot of hope in the psalms.
But the psalm we’re going to start with today isn’t any of those. Actually, it doesn’t use the word hope at all. A couple years ago, I was meeting with a woman who’s husband had just died. I asked if the family had any particular Bible lesson in mind for his funeral. Usually, people say, “No.” Not this woman. Right away, she said, “Psalm 121. I love Psalm 121.” I have to admit, at that moment, I didn’t know what Psalm 121 was. Do you? Now I do. It goes like this:
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 121:1-8)
If you’re looking for hope, there is no better place to start than in this opening verse: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from?” Do you know the answer? “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” God invites us to look at the mountains. Why? When we look at mountains, what direction do our eyes go? Up! That’s the point. Hope looks up! When you’re sad and lonely… When you’re down and discouraged… Lift up your eyes to the mountains. Our help comes from the Lord! If you need hope, hope looks up.
Duh. You knew that already. Hope comes from looking up to Jesus. You can say, “Pastor, we know that.” So why don’t you do it? Here’s the strange thing in our lives. We know that hope comes from looking up to Jesus. But where do we spend most of our time looking? Down. Guess what? There isn’t a lot of hope down here. And yet, for some reason, we’re often looking down.
So where do you really look to for hope? Maybe it’s Cyber Monday! Did you get some good deals? We did! It felt good! We love stuff. But that was just two days ago, and the excitement has already wore off. Where do you look to for hope? Maybe it’s family. Family is such a blessing! But if your hope is dependent on family, they might not all be here tomorrow. Then what? Where do you look to for hope? Maybe it’s food or alcohol. We look down at that plate or that cup—yum! Then it’s gone, and we’re left looking for more and more. Hope looks up! It sounds obvious, doesn’t it? But “up” is often the last thing on our minds.
Especially because we’re down here. Where do our eyes look most often? Down at us. I told you that I need hope. It’s because I spend a lot of time looking down at me. At my work. At what I’ve done. At what I can’t do. At what people have done to me. At what opportunities haven’t come my way. My eyes are always looking down. When I look down, know what happens? I feel down. I see my sins—and your sins—and it’s easy to feel so helpless. So hopeless. Do you?
Do you know what do we need? Mountains. Literal mountains would be nice, but sometimes God puts figurative mountains in our way too. Why? “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” This is what we do in Advent. We stop looking around, and we look up. We look up to see God himself come down to save us in Jesus. Oh, that gives us so much hope! We look up, waiting for Jesus to come again and take us home to heaven. Oh, that gives us so much hope! Hope looks up!
Listen to what our God does: “He will not let your foot slip…” How many of us today feel like we’re sliding in the wrong direction? There are so many temptations. So many ways to slip into despair or hopelessness or adultery or anger. On our own, we’re going to slip. But we’re not on our own. God “will keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful.” (1 Corinthians 1:8-9). God is the one who keeps us from slipping, and when we do, he is always ready to pick us up again with his love and with his forgiveness.
24/7. Like Waffle House. Do you know about Waffle House? Down south, there are Waffle Houses everywhere. They say that when a new Waffle House is built, they throw away the keys to the restaurant, because Waffle House is open 24/7, 365 days of the year. Just like God. “He who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” It might seem at times like God is sleeping—like during a pandemic! Don’t believe it. Our God neither slumbers nor sleeps. There might be times when you can’t sleep. Remember this: God’s going to stay up with you. God can’t sleep either. He cares for you too much!
But not just when you’re sleeping. “The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.” “The Lord is your shade.” A refuge. A cool, safe place. I need that. I bet you do too. I noticed that this Thanksgiving. We got to visit my parents—just us and my parents. They still live in the house where I grew up. Know how I feel there? Safe. At home. Loved. Like I belong. That’s what you have in Jesus. How often doesn’t life feel like this scorching sun beating on you? “The Lord is your shade.”
In fact, “The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” “The Lord watches over you…” You can’t hear that and shrug your shoulders! The Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth… The Almighty God who died and rose for you… The Almighty God who has planned out the entire future of the world… That Almighty God is watching over you and me. Life doesn’t depend on us. “The Lord watches… the Lord watches…” Six times in one psalm! Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, “both now and forevermore!”
This psalm was written with a special purpose. It was a pilgrim psalm. A song that the Israelites sang on their journeys to worship God in Jerusalem. It was a psalm you sang on the road. That’s why it talks about feet slipping and shade and coming and going. The people were traveling to be with God. It was a long journey to Jerusalem, but they knew they were getting close when they saw the mountains. Jerusalem is surrounded by high hills. When they got tired, they could look up in the distance and see the mountains and find hope for their journey: “My help comes from the Lord!” For people on a journey, it’s good to see the destination. Hope looks up!
That’s a lot like life, isn’t it? We are not at home. We are on a journey. It’s so important for us to remember that. We are strangers here! If we think that this life is our permanent home, we’ll always be disappointed, because it isn’t permanent, and it often doesn’t feel like home. So you need to look up and know that you’re going somewhere better. Our final destination in heaven makes the journey bearable. One thing is absolutely certain every step of the way: “The Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Today. Tomorrow. Forever.
It’s all because one pilgrim was especially determined to travel to Jerusalem. Do you know who it was? There is someone who set his sights on Jerusalem and didn’t look back. Know whom I’m talking about? Jesus. He knows what it’s like to be a on difficult journey. He left heaven to come to earth. Then he headed to Jerusalem, knowing that he would suffer, knowing that he would die. Why? Because he loves you. And because he wants to give you hope. No matter where you’re at in your life’s journey, these words are true: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” Hope looks up!
It’s just that we have a problem here in Green Bay. We don’t have any mountains! But life still provides plenty of opportunities to lift our eyes to Jesus. Sin, sickness, pandemics, death, depression, frustration… You can add your struggles to the list. Every struggle is a mountain in our way pointing our eyes up to God. God won’t let your foot slip. God doesn’t ever sleep. God is your shade in every trial. God watches over you in this life. God will watch over you forever in heaven. Pastor Schleis was right: We need hope. It starts with this: Hope looks up.
“I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” (Psalm 121:1-8)
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