Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of our great Helper. What a blessing that we have a definite source of help.
“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).
Why does he lift up his eyes to the mountains? Obviously, the mountains themselves are not the source of his help. He denies that possibility by asserting in v. 2 that his help comes from the LORD, and the whole psalm is about God as his helper. The mountains aren’t even mentioned again. So the mountains are not the source of help, but there has to be a reason why he started this way.
I think there are three answers, all of which are correct, but distinct in their angle of approach. On the first (and in some ways the lowest) level, lifting up his eyes is a manifestation of deliberate consideration. The other half of the verse shows that he is in a process of remembering or deliberately focusing on the source of his help. This is especially clear if the second clause is considered to be a question, as it widely is. (“From whence cometh my help?”) He is gazing out into the distance in an act of contemplation, ignoring the details and distractions of life that are swirling around him. By gazing up to the mountains, he is facilitating the process of clearly evaluating.
In using the mountains as a tool for thinking, this is a low-level significance, more of a mental tool than a spiritual one. On the other hand, there is great significance, because the practice of doing so is a deliberate action whereby he considers God his helper. It is highly significant that someone stops to consider the true source of his help, and in this case, it is a deliberate focus and an intentional turning of his attention to this topic. It is significant that he does not flounder and flail helplessly, feeling as if there is no help available. He knows there is help, he knows who that helper is, and he knows the necessary consideration process to cause him to properly direct his thoughts.
Which leads to another question. Why is he considering this question regarding the source of his help? The obvious answer is that he needs help. Why would you even ponder this question if you did not need help? But what is interesting about this psalm is that it is completely calm and reassuring. It is confident and trusting. There is no tumult, no anguish, no desperation expressed. Many other psalms include those “negatives,” but this one is starkly free of them. This suggests to me that the lifting up his eyes in consideration is a comfortable practice and a well-established routine. This is not the first time he has considered the question. He is not wildly seeking to find an answer in a moment of desperation. Instead, he is reminding himself of truth that he knows well. He expects his help to come from the LORD, because that is where it always had come from before. God had proven Himself to this man, and the result is unalarmed, confident trust and dependence.
This reminds me of the Old Testament’s words for “refuge.” There are several, but two of them are contrasted. One means “to flee for protection”; the other is also to go for protection, but “not as precipitately.” The Psalm 121 author is the second of those. He has learned where his help comes from, and when new trouble comes, he simply has to remind himself by deliberately asking and answering the question. There is no crisis of trauma; there is only purposeful comforting remembrance.
Back to “why the mountains?” The second answer is that he is thinking of the one “which made heaven and earth,” and that includes the mountains. In the scope of one’s vision, mountains are one of the more prominent and noticeable features of God’s creation. The mountains remind him of his Creator. The verse is not referring to the god who made heaven and earth, as opposed to the god of fertility or the god of war or the god of the harvest. “Which made heaven and earth” is not the identification of which god out of many; rather, it is sharing one amazing thing about his God, who is the only one.
Even the secular world recognizes the peace and tranquility that can be found in nature. Nature is calming. Mountains are relaxing. Wide open spaces are therapeutic. Going to nature, especially when leaving behind the distractions and stress of technology and civilization, can be helpful. But I’m not sure those aspects are even part of this man’s evaluation, at least not directly. They will still be true for him, because God his Creator designed the mountains (and nature) to have that influence.
The psalmist is not looking to the mountains for therapeutic value, however. He is looking to them as reminders and evidence of his Creator. This is a very comforting thought, because if God can make the heavens and the earth, He can easily take care of individuals and the issues of their lives. Considering some of the intricacies of creation – the stars that follow set patterns, the oceans that contain incomprehensible volumes of water, the mountains that still stand after millennia – provides a wonderful reassurance about the power and wisdom of the One who watches over man. That’s some kind of Helper to have!
“Why the mountains?” The third answer has something to do with why it is mountains that he looks to, rather than oceans or deserts or pastures. Each of those could also be the background used for focused thought. Each of them would also be displays of the creative hand of God. So why mountains specifically? I think this is the most significant (and probably primary) answer. I believe he is looking specifically to the mountains surrounding Jerusalem. This is, after all, one of the psalms of ascent, which the Jews used as they made their trips to Jerusalem to worship.
From this aspect, the mountains are reminders not of the Creator, but of the LORD who dwelled there and whom he would worship there. He is Jehovah or Yahweh. He is the only God, the self-existing one, the one who surpasses all qualifications. He simply is – the I AM. In focusing on God by this distinct name, the psalmist is acknowledging the only true God as his helper.
This psalmist needs help. He turns to a familiar routine of reminding himself of who his God is. His helper is both the Creator who is incomparably capable and the unique God who is worthy of his worship. The mountains, in their serenity, in their grandeur, and in their specific location, are a reminder of those truths.
May God help you to fix your eyes continually and confidently on Him as your Helper.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
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