Speaker: Andrew Brown
Key Passage: Psalm 121, Romans 8:28
Date: 31 Jan 2010

Over the summer many of you will have seen the desperate stories coming out of Haiti. We haven’t talked must about it here at PBC, but many of you will have been moved by the media’s various stories of over 200,000 people killed, Port au Prince the major city reduced to rubble, the desperate search for survivors, and the chaotic struggle to get aid supplies in. One story that’s been mentioned though, but slightly overlooked has been the astounding story of the faith and heroism of Haiti’s churches.
Just this week I was deeply stirred to read a report on Second Baptist Church in Port au Prince. The Sunday after the disaster they meet in the rubble of their collapsed church to worship God. Pastor Vilneus [that’s in him in the photo] stood and preached from Matthew 24 that “Every stone will be cast down.” He urged the people of his congregation to look to Jesus and he reminded them that Jesus was present right there in their current situation. They ended their service by shouting “Victory, victory, alleluia, alleluia.”

Now to be honest you and I might not completely agree with some of the things he said in his sermon, but consider this: the Catholic National Cathedral next door was completely destroyed by the earthquake, every church including his own is wrecked (they have no roof), Second Baptist Church has lost 50% of its 3,000 members, the Pastor has lost his home, and his best friend, although fortunately not his family. The church rubble is being used as a shelter. Elders are housing people in their homes, and yet they stand up on Sunday morning and cry, “Victory Jesus! Victory, alleluia, alleluia.”

You know it’s bizarre, but there is something incredibly heroic about the Christian faith in situations like this. I mean, many non-religious people might just say, “That’s life man. It sucks. You just have to harden up and try again!” Some might even say, “It just proves that there is no God,” but the Haitians Christians, although shattered and tested, are finding their strength and consolation in Jesus! It’s like something amazing happens when you put real Christians under real pressure.

We’ve seen the same thing to a lesser extent here in NZ. Think of some of the major news stories of the last few years’ -the Elim canyoning tragedy, the murder of Austin Hemming, and the disappearance of Aisling Symes. These all affected regular Christian families and yet their faith shone through their troubles. Their love, hope, confidence, forgiveness, and resilience have been evident to us all in their darkest hour. In fact I believe that Christianity is beginning to enjoy a much higher profile in New Zealand, because although some secular people might not like everything that some Christians believe, the Christian faith and it’s sheer vitality is becoming incredibly attractive and appealing in our day and age!

And you all know what I’m talking about. Some of you in PBC have risen above unemployment difficulties, the threat of cancer, the death of loved ones, and marriage difficulties, all kinds of things, in the most amazing of ways. There’s what President Obama would call an ‘audacious hope’ within you.

So my question today is where do Christians find the inner resources to overcome such massive obstacles? Why are Christians able to face horrendous circumstances with such grace and composure? Ultimately, where does true peace come from?

I invite you to open your Bibles at Psalm 121 and we are going to look at what is commonly known as a pilgrim Psalm. [Pause] In this Psalm the speaker, a man, is leaving his hometown to head up to Jerusalem to the Temple to worship God. He looks ahead in his minds eye to the two mountains that lie at the end of His journey, Mt Zion and the city of Jerusalem, Mt. Moriah and the Temple itself, and there’s a short moment of anxiety. This man has to travel through hostile, anti-Jewish territory. He will be exposed to travellers’ dangers like sunstroke, thirst and thieves. So like that moment when you hop into the car and first turn the keys at the start of a long journey and you wonder, ‘Will we get there without an accident? Will we all arrive safely?’ he begins with a question. He says, “(1) I lift up my eyes to the hills where does my help come from?”

Maybe you’ve asked that same question before in your quieter moments. Maybe you’ve asked that question about life, because ultimately this Psalm is all about life. Life is a journey. Jesus said, “Follow me,” you’ve followed and you don’t always know where it leads. Life has its ups and downs, and so the Psalmist asks, ‘Where does my help come from?” Then he responds with a series of four awe-inspiring statements.

1. The first thing he says is that “(2) My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.” I’ll repeat that again so you can take it in – “(2) My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever taken any time to contemplate that statement, but it’s one of the most daring and confident statements that any one can ever make.

The reason I say this is that in the front of my passport it says (I always get a kick out of reading this) –“The Governor General in the Realm of New Zealand requests in the name of her Majesty the Queen all whom it may concern to allow the holder to pass without delay or hindrance and in case of need to give all lawful assistance and protection.” In other words, my passport says, “Get out of my way. The Queen of England asks you to help Andrew if he needs it,” but here the speaker looks to an even higher authority, one that existed even before the beginning of the world for their strength! He looks to the Sovereign Lord, creator and maker of universe for help –what an impressive source!

I wonder whom do you look to for your strength and support as you go through life? 400 years ago if you were in church you might have prayed to the saints or to angels for good luck. You would have worn medallions and paid the church indulgences to improve your fortune. Some people still rely upon superstitions for good luck today. But now-a-days many people look to help from man. They expect their family; the government, the church or certain paid professionals to help. They complain that the health system, the welfare agencies, the Council, you name it simply isn’t good enough. They cry out at times that the arm of the law is too short.

But the Psalmist looks beyond the ineffective and the impermanent. He looks beyond the cities of men and the institutions that they build. He raises his eyes to the Sovereign Lord, the maker and creator of our universe, and says, “See it’s you who will help me. I look to you eternal God! I call to you for help.” He chooses a foundation that can never be moved, and says, “I will rely upon God!”

2. The next thing that he says is that (3) He will not let your foot slip; He who watches over you will not slumber; (4) indeed, He who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.” And here he takes a step further with what he’s been saying. Because up to now he has been saying “I rely upon the eternal God. I rely upon this supernatural being that is behind the universe to help me.” And most of us, whether we are Christian today or not, believe that there is something or someone out there, don’t we? We believe that there must be someone around us that we call ‘God.’

But now the Psalmist makes it’s personal. He makes it real. He brings it right down to earth. He says this is not just any God who’s out there (if there is one who can be bothered) [Knock, knock, is there anyone there?] He reminds himself that I am in a covenant relationship with this God. We have a treaty and an agreement between us where He has promised to watch over Jacob and His descendants. I’m a beneficiary of God’s promise to Abraham and all Israel.

To stretch the travel analogy a little bit further, when you travel overseas you can and should purchase travel insurance. Do you remember the last time you bought travel insurance? You can buy insurance from many different companies, but the important point is that you must actually buy a policy if you want to get the benefits. It’s no good having an accident and lying in a hospital overseas wishing that you had bought one. It’s too late then. So you buy one from your travel agent, or Southern Cross or wherever you go, and you hang on to it. In a similar, but far less commercial way the Psalmist says, “I have this special relationship with God!”

And if you’re a follower of Jesus this morning you too have a special relationship with God. Just recently I’ve been reading a book called the ‘The Hidden Power of the Blood of Jesus’ by Pastor Mahesh Chavada. In there he makes the point that the Hebrew word for covenant means ‘to cut.’ Very often in Hebrew culture deals were sealed with ‘a cut deep enough to draw blood. It might be two men cutting their arms and mingling the blood or it might be the sacrifice of an animal and the offering of its blood. But the purpose of the ritual was to bind the two parties together. In this way they entered an unbreakable agreement to work for each other’s good. It was like becoming family and today we refer to this practise as becoming ‘blood brothers.’

Well the point that Mahesh makes is that because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, you are now in a blood covenant with God. God and you are bound by blood! So the God who watches over His people will take an intense interest in you, because you now belong to His flock! In other words, you are never alone. You might feel that at times, but you aren’t. God has not forgotten you, because God is there 24/7. God watches over you and cares. He will not slumber or asleep! As Jesus said, in John 6:37, 39) “All that the Father gives me will come to me… I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day.” In short, you can never be lost to God’s love.

3. Perhaps that why the Psalmist then goes on to say, “(5) The LORD watches over you; the LORD is your shade at your right hand; (6) the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.” Because God cares for him he knows that things will be okay.

For instance the word ‘shade’ means protection. ‘Right hand’ refers to a person’s point of need. (If you’re right handed you reach out for help with your right hand). So he says God is your protection at your point of need. The word ‘harm’ means to strike. ‘The sun’ refers to sunstroke and thirst. ‘The moon’ may have referred to lunacy, because they thought this was caused by moon stroke. So what he is saying is that God will protect him from all real and imagined danger.

The big question for us all is, of course, how does He do it? I suspect that its in two ways. The Lord rescues you through providence and miracles, and other times the Lord emotionally supports you through great challenges with hope. With enough love and hope in your heart you can just about conqueror anything.

What I mean is that the Psalmist still has to complete his journey. Even though He’s going with God the days will still be stinking hot. He will still get thirsty and weary. Dust will still clog his nose. When he lies down at night dew will still fall upon him. He will still get cold and wet. God may not intervene to soften the day or to ease the night. But what’s the difference? This man is travelling with a full heart! Whether he burns or freezes, he has a heart full of gratitude, a heart full of praise, a heart full of determination, and a heart full of hope. The knowledge of God’s love and care keeps him in a kind of emotional bubble wrap that helps him overcome all of his obstacles.

American ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker tells the story of how his aircraft crashed in the Pacific in 1942 dangerously close to Japanese-held territory. Rickenbacker and his crew drifted at sea in a life raft. Every one was injured to some degree. Their food supply ran out after three days. They were thinking about chopping off someone’s toes to eat, but on the eighth day they prayed. As Rickenbacker later slept a seagull gently landed on his cap. He reached up very carefully and caught it. They divided it up and ate it. That miracle gave them new hope. Although one man died and was buried at sea, the crew didn’t give up. The newspapers reported that they had died. The military planned to abandon the search, but his wife convinced them to try for one more week. Finally the men were rescued off the coast of Samoa after 24 days at sea. What Captain Rickenbacker discovered is the truth that the Psalmist knew. “(The Lord) will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you” Isaiah 26:3 TNIV.

4. Finally the Psalmist goes on to say, “(7) The LORD will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life; (8) the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” And isn’t this a wonderful truth, because although he is referring to going in and out of his home, and in and out of Jerusalem, He is also looking ahead to the day when He will die. What He’s saying is that the Lord will be there for all of his life and then even after it ends. Nothing can separate you from your Saviour. God will watch over you until you reach your ultimate destination and He will then watch over you for eternity there.

I saw a card in a Christian bookshop recently that sums it up perfectly. God does not promise you a safe journey, but He does promise you a safe arrival.

So that’s the Psalmists story about the hope that gives him confidence and peace. How about you? The Psalmist reminded himself of these vital truths as he went along on his journey to Jerusalem. Do you remind yourself of these truths as you journey through life? Have you tried?

One neat thing that you can do is to read the Psalms regularly, and keep an eye out for the ones that really speak to you. Then change the words so that it’s as if you are saying them yourself. Personalise them, put your name in them and then say them out loud. It may not always feel comfortable at the start, but it will lift you up, and stretch and enlarge your faith. Sing out the Psalms and discover the peace that God offers.

I’d like to end by inviting you to do that with me right now. You don’t have to sing, but I will invite you to speak. Let’s stand together and read out loud Psalm 121.

“(1) I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from?

(2) My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

(3) He will not let my foot slip; He who watches over me will not slumber;

(4) Indeed, He who watches over me will neither slumber nor sleep.

(5) The LORD watches over me; the LORD is the shade at my right hand;

(6) the sun will not harm me by day, nor the moon by night.

(7) The LORD will keep me from all harm; He will watch over my life;

(8) the LORD will watch over my coming and going both now and forevermore.

Amen.”

Prayer