Help From the Hills / David Jeremiah

 

Help From the Hills I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help? Psalm 121:1   The phrase “high places” occurs around seventy times in the Old Testament. The frequent reference to “high places” reflects the ongoing temptation in Israel to worship idols instead of the one true God (2 Chronicles 28:25). But Israel had its own “high place,” and that was Jerusalem, situated on Mount Moriah and surrounded by hills. Three times a year Israelites would journey to Jerusalem for feasts and celebrations.

Recommended Reading: Psalm 123:1-2

A special group of psalms, called Songs of Ascents—Psalms 120–134—was compiled for pilgrims to sing as they made their way from the plains of Israel to Jerusalem. Psalm 121 begins with a question a pilgrim might ask rhetorically as he walked on his journey: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills—from whence comes my help?” Instead of looking to the idols on the pagan high places, he is looking to God: “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (verse 2). Just as the Jewish pilgrims journeyed to Jerusalem, so we journey through life toward the New Jerusalem. And just as God was their help, so He will be ours. Look to God, not to the “high places” of this world.   Man must have God or an idol. Martin Luther