Rev. David Holwick I [modified from Serm93r, May 16, 1993]
Boothbay Baptist Church
Boothbay, Maine
November 10, 2024
Psalm 121
OUR GOD IS BIG AND HE IS CLOSE
I. Focusing on positives.
A. Last week Pastor Glen Carter introduced his new sermon series.
1) The theme is found in Philippians 4:8:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely,
whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence,
if there is anything worthy of praise,
think about these things."
This is my wife Celeste's favorite verse in the Bible.
2) The content of the series will come from the psalms.
a) He will be giving sermons from psalms that remind us of
the blessing of having God in your life.
B. Not everyone gets warm feelings from the psalms.
When he was young, the Christian author Philip Yancey
was told by others to go to the psalms when he was
in distress.
Like, if you are depressed, read Psalm 37.
Or, if your health is lousy, read Psalm 121.
That approach never worked for Yancey.
He would always land on a psalm that made him feel
worse, not better.
Many of the psalms do deal with the darker themes of
life.
But they always point us to the God who is bigger than
our problems.
#5950
II. Psalm 121 is for those who are on a dangerous journey.
A. The ancient note at the top says it is a "song of ascents."
1) This means it was a psalm for pilgrims as they journeyed
to Jerusalem for the three annual festivals.
2) From Nazareth to Jerusalem was 90 miles, so that is a fair
distance to walk.
3) When you are on foot you notice things.
When I was 14 years old I went on a 50-mile Boy Scout hike
in central Kansas.
I noticed things you don't pay attention to from a car -
coke cans in the ditch, weeds growing by the fence posts.
Jewish pilgrims would also have noticed the dangers, like
bandits and storms.
Psalm 121 puts all that in the right perspective.
B. If you need help, where will it come from?
1) The psalmist glances up at the hills around him.
Many think he is reflecting on the God who made them.
It is more likely he is thinking of the idols who were
worshipped on the hilltops.
Those idols can't help him. But there is One who can.
2) We worship a big God, the creator of heaven and earth.
III. Our God is big enough. 121:2,4
A. The God of Psalm 121 is the God of creation.
1) "Heaven and earth" encompasses everything.
2) Our planet, the Sun, the stars, every galaxy - all of it.
B. The universe is bigger than we can imagine.
When Halley's Comet swept past earth in 1986, I went
out and bought a used telescope.
It was a small one but it showed some detail on the
comet.
I wanted to see more, so I invested $1,500 in a bigger
telescope.
(This was back when I was making maybe $14,000 a year.)
Soon after, I got an even bigger telescope that had a
10-inch mirror.
With that telescope I have viewed all the planets - even
Pluto when it was still a planet - and 54 comets and
almost 800 galaxies.
I brought it to Maine, and dropped it on my sidewalk.
That really bummed me out.
But I have repaired it and like to observe from my back
deck on dark nights.
I have seen objects that are a billion light-years away.
They are just a smudge, but have hundreds of millions
of stars.
They probably have even more planets.
It is humbling to think how vast it all is.
Even ancient people appreciated this. Psalm 8 says:
"When I look at your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
what is man that you are mindful of him?"
That is a great question.
And the psalmist gives an answer that is not humble at all
- God has made us masters of all this.
The only appropriate response is to praise our God.
He made all this for us, and he continues to control it.
IV. Our God is small enough. 121:5
A. God cares about YOU.
1) Not just as a member of the human race, but he cares for you,
personally.
a) Many see God as the Great Designer and little more.
b) If he created distant galaxies, what would he care about
our scrawny concerns?
2) But the God of the Bible is a personal God.
a) He sent Jesus to die for you PERSONALLY.
B. God is a watcher. (NIV's translation; ESV: keeper)
1) We don't like to be watched - Big Brother syndrome.
a) "Be Careful Little Hands What You Do..."
b) Usually, we are hiding something.
2) God's watching is meant to be comforting.
a) He watches to protect us, not to catch us.
b) He pays constant attention - no sleeping.
c) Note the emphasis - it is mentioned 5 times.
Sam Watkins was a native Liberian, and an electrical engineer
with responsibilities in the national communication grid of
Liberia in Africa.
In 1989 a coup toppled the government following a civil war and
the military took over.
Sam began noticing that neighbors were disappearing in the middle
of the night, their bodies turning up in deserted alleys.
He himself felt safe, but he began to be concerned.
Being an electrical engineer, Sam had wired up a surveillance
system so he could check out his visitors.
(You might say he did his own watching.)
One night a heavily armed soldier showed up at his front door.
He looked menacing, but Sam had nowhere to go, so he prayed and
opened the door.
The soldier stood there with an automatic weapon hanging from one
arm.
He said, "I would like to talk with you."
Sam let him in, but had a sinking feeling in his gut.
As he sat on the sofa, streams of sweat cascaded down his arms.
The soldier said, "Do you remember me?" Sam didn't.
"You came and gave out Bibles at my barracks two years ago.
I read mine, and now I am a Christian and I wanted to come and
tell you so."
Sam's pools of sweat turned to perspiration of joy.
A wave of relief swept over him.
He proceeded to tell Sam that he was part of the President's
special security squad.
Each night the highest officials in the government gathered in a
secret room and drew up a list of the political opponents who
were to be killed.
The previous night, Sam Watkin's name had come up.
Sam's sweat began dropping again and a severe depression came
over him.
The soldier told him he must leave the country immediately and as
secretly as possible, and that he would help him.
It would not be possible to take any belongings with him.
As a matter of fact, they would have to go underground and stay
at safe houses until he was out of the country.
This is what Sam did, and now he works in New Jersey, and with
the local Gideon chapter.
As good as we might watch out for ourselves, can we do better than
God?
#2490
C. God sweats the details.
1) He is concerned about your foot slipping.
In 1988, Ben Patterson and three friends climbed Mount Lyell
which is the highest peak in Yosemite National Park.
He didn't have much experience, but his friends did.
As his friends got farther and farther ahead of him, Ben
took a shortcut so he could catch up.
Thirty minutes later he was stuck in a dead-end on the
Lyell glacier.
The ice sloped away from him at a 45-degree angle.
It was slippery.
An hour later his friends made their way back to him.
They were on a large rock that was 10 feet away from Ben.
One of the friends used his ice axe to chip two little
footholds on their side.
Then he gave the following instructions:
"Ben, you must step out from where you are and put your foot
where the first foothold is.
When your foot touches it, without a moment's hesitation
swing your other foot across and land it on the next step.
When you do that, reach out and I will take your hand and
pull you to safety."
That sounded good to Ben.
But the next instructions gave him the heebie-jeebies.
"As you step across, do not lean into the mountain!
If anything, lean out a bit.
Otherwise, your feet may fly out from under you, and you
will start sliding down."
What Been wanted to do was hug that mountain.
He looked hard at his friend - was there any reason, any
reason at all, that he should not trust him?
He hoped not!
It took less than two seconds to find out Ben's faith was
well-founded.
His friend caught him.
To save us, God often tells us to do things that are the
opposite of our natural inclination.
Is God loving and faithful? Can we trust him?
He is. We can.
#2836
2) Is this a guarantee God will never let us slip?
a) Plenty of Christians have had terrible things happen
to them.
1> Perhaps all will, eventually.
b) What is the worst that could happen to you?
Hollywood stuntman Robert Wilton became a Christian as
a young child but drifted away and became worldly.
Later in life he recommitted himself to the Lord.
He even witnessed to other stuntmen.
Once, a crew member asked him why his friend's child
had died.
Where was God in this tragedy?
Wilton tried explaining God's heart to him.
The crew member said that much of what he had shared
made sense - at least compared to other religious
people who used platitudes about God working in
mysterious ways.
But the crew member wondered whether Wilton's own faith
would survive the death of one of his own children.
Wilton wondered the same thing.
He still thinks of that conversation from time to time
because the question has been answered.
Wilton watched his wife's heart crumble as she rocked
their 19-day-old son while he died in her arms.
Three years later, he cradled their newborn daughter as
she met the same fate.
Robert Wilton says God never promises us a life without
pain and suffering.
However, God more than sustains us through challenges.
As it says in Romans 8, nothing can separate us from
God's love.
#66503
3) The harm he keeps us from must be seen from wide perspective.
a) Note the paradox of Jesus's teaching in Luke 21:16 & 18.
1> In verse 16, Jesus says some of his followers will
be put to death.
2> Yet two verses later, he says "not a hair of your
head will perish."
b) Our lives can blow up like anyone else's.
c) But we have a victory that goes beyond anything in this
life.
V. Our God controls the future. 121:8
A. God protects us "now and forevermore."
B. If he does, should you be fearful right now?
C. Trusting in God puts things in a different perspective.
It is appropriate on Veteran's Day Sunday to remember an
American veteran who was also a movie star.
Jimmy Stewart left Hollywood to enlist in the Army Air Corps.
He flew 20 combat missions and rose from private to colonel.
Later he was made a brigadier general.
Stewart learned about the Christian faith from his devout
Presbyterian father, a veteran himself.
On each combat mission, Jimmy carried a tattered copy of Psalm 91
in his pocket.
Like Psalm 121, the 91st psalm speaks of God's protection of us.
God protected Jimmy Stewart, and he can protect you.
#18721 and sermon #64698
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 2490 "The Best Security System," by Sam Watkins, testimony at
Gideon Banquet in East Hanover, New Jersey, April 1, 1993.
# 5950 "How I Learned To Stop Hating and Start Loving the Psalms,"
by Philip D. Yancey, Christianity Today magazine, page 28,
October 6, 1989.
#18721 "God's 911," by Victor Parachin, Christian Reader,
Christianitytoday.com; Sept-Oct 2000, page 65. (It could be noted
that Jimmy Stewart's stepson died in the Vietnam War.)
#66503 "I Was Filming a Dangerous Action Scene When I Gave My Life
To Christ," by Robert Wilton, Christianity Today,
Jan-Feb 2021; <https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/january-february/robert-wilton-film-television-stuntman-action-scene.html>.
These and 35,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
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