Lift my eyes…

White Lake, Island of Love and Venus pavilion by Иван Стасюк

Good morning, beloved,

Surrender.

Psalm 121:

¹ I will lift up my eyes to the hills [around Jerusalem, to sacred Mount Zion and Mount Moriah]—From whence shall my help come?^(A)

² My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

³ He will not allow your foot to slip or to be moved; He Who keeps you will not slumber.

I will lift…lift–

1) to lift, lift up

2) to bear, carry, support, sustain, endure

3) to take, take away, carry off, forgive

to the hills..mountains-

“Farther, to the religion of the ancients, esp. the Hebrews, who regarded the mountains as holy, as the abodes of the gods..this would more be about superstition and idolatry than revealed religion.” Genesius’ Lexicon

David is giving us a picture of lifting our burdens to the Lord as described by the mountains. Of course, the Hebrews would remember their patriarch, Moses, on the mountain bringing the Law to them, bringing God’s word into their midst..the lightning and thunder coming off the mountain. They would keep themselves from touching the mountain for it was holy ground.

From whence does my help-think of help, but add this picture to your mind: “girding, surrounding, hence defending.”GL

I don’t know about you, but I need pictures in my mind to help me. God has given us this picture of His help as a mountain: strong, powerful, mighty, unmovable, steadfast. If you are on one side of the mountain, and the elements (sun, wind) are on the other, just think, you are not going to be touched. Shadows will cast over you. There are clefts in the rock. Hiding places…

Now the Lord, consider His Name, I AM. Jehovah. Now, I consider this word and how the Hebrews would not even utter this name. Not even as a whisper, think of the reverence of His Name. That in itself is an act of worship, is it not?

Let me share the root of this Name with you…

) to happen, fall out, occur, take place, come about, come to pass

b) to come about, come to pass

2) to come into being, become

a) to arise, appear, come

b) to become

1) to become

2) to become like

3) to be instituted, be established

3) to be

a) to exist, be in existence

b) to abide, remain, continue (with word of place or time)

c) to stand, lie, be in, be at, be situated (with word of locality)

d) to accompany, be with

b) (Niphal)

1) to occur, come to pass, be done, be brought about

2) to be done, be finished, be gone

Do you notice there is past, present and future verbs here? That is the essence of this Name. I AM. He is eternal. Never beginning, always existing.

This is who is our help. Yes, we can consider the mountains. Yet, He is the glory that we can rest our weary heads upon. He is the maker of the heavens and earth and holy is His Name.

I must say I needed to ponder Him today. I am hurting a bit with my jaw and stuff and I just wanted to lift my eyes to Him. The physical pain is something I’ve never experienced for this long. To those who suffer in pain, my heart extends to you. I have to tell you there is no greater way to spend your time while in pain than considering the wonder and greatness of our God.

How do I allow people to walk in my pain with me? I don’t like to surrender to needing help. I want to be the help. Yet, in this, my children are learning to be caretakers. I rest my head on their shoulders, they rub my jaw, they bring me things to help. Now they are getting a chance to be at a dear friend’s house and not worry about me today. Now, I could spend the day watching Downton Abbey, or any other show on Netflix, but I believe the Lord wants me to keep Him forefront in my mind today.  So I will be working on memorizing, listening to Kay Arthur’s teaching and resting. Maybe I’ll watch a show too. 😉

God bless you in this day. Pray on.