Post by Les on Jul 31, 2022 13:54:35 GMT -5
No Plan B By: Adam Holz
Click here for the Audio Message
Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.
Psalm 121:1–2
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 121
George Müller founded the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol in 1854 where he cared for over 10,000 orphans. How did he do this? Faith-filled prayer! Daily he committed every need into God’s hands.
Years before he opened the orphanage, he said, “The home will only be established if God provides the means and suitable staff to run it. . . . I don’t look to Bristol, nor even to England, but to the living God, whose is the gold and the silver.”
His principle of prayer echoes the words of the psalmist, who asked, “Where does my help come from?” (Psalm 121:1). Perhaps you’re also asking where you should look for answers, for comfort, for provision. Notice the psalmist gives only one solution: “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (v. 2).
The psalmist and George Müller both lived by the same principle, namely that help and provision come from God alone—through whatever means He determines. Sometimes we’re tempted to create back-up plans in case God doesn’t come through for us. Instead, we can take the promise of this psalm to heart: “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber” (v. 3). All provision comes from the Maker of heaven and earth. We will find we have all we need when we keep our hope in Him alone.
Reflect & Pray
When are you likely to create a back-up plan? What might it look like in your life to wait for the Lord wholeheartedly?
Father God, Maker of heaven and earth, I place all my needs into Your hands. Where does my help come from? You alone, Lord.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Three times a year, all male Israelites were to come to the temple in Jerusalem to observe the three annual national feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16): Passover (Unleavened Bread), Pentecost (Weeks) and Tabernacles. As the pilgrims walked the mountain paths to Jerusalem, they sang from an anthology of fifteen songs known as the “Pilgrim Psalms,” characteristically titled “A song of ascents” in the superscription. Psalm 121, known as “The Traveller’s Psalm,” is a prayer for journeying mercies, addressing safety and security concerns as we journey through life. This psalm is dominated by the Hebrew verb šāmar, rendered watches/watch ( vv. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) or keep (v. 7), meaning “to preserve, to guard, to watch carefully over.” Even as the psalmist speaks of unknown dangers, he confidently affirms that God—our Helper (vv. 1–3) and Keeper (vv. 4–8)—will continually watch over us.
K. T. Sim
Psalm 121
King James Version
121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.
Click here for the Audio Message
Where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord.
Psalm 121:1–2
Today's Scripture & Insight:
Psalm 121
George Müller founded the Ashley Down orphanage in Bristol in 1854 where he cared for over 10,000 orphans. How did he do this? Faith-filled prayer! Daily he committed every need into God’s hands.
Years before he opened the orphanage, he said, “The home will only be established if God provides the means and suitable staff to run it. . . . I don’t look to Bristol, nor even to England, but to the living God, whose is the gold and the silver.”
His principle of prayer echoes the words of the psalmist, who asked, “Where does my help come from?” (Psalm 121:1). Perhaps you’re also asking where you should look for answers, for comfort, for provision. Notice the psalmist gives only one solution: “My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth” (v. 2).
The psalmist and George Müller both lived by the same principle, namely that help and provision come from God alone—through whatever means He determines. Sometimes we’re tempted to create back-up plans in case God doesn’t come through for us. Instead, we can take the promise of this psalm to heart: “He will not let your foot slip—he who watches over you will not slumber” (v. 3). All provision comes from the Maker of heaven and earth. We will find we have all we need when we keep our hope in Him alone.
Reflect & Pray
When are you likely to create a back-up plan? What might it look like in your life to wait for the Lord wholeheartedly?
Father God, Maker of heaven and earth, I place all my needs into Your hands. Where does my help come from? You alone, Lord.
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Three times a year, all male Israelites were to come to the temple in Jerusalem to observe the three annual national feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16): Passover (Unleavened Bread), Pentecost (Weeks) and Tabernacles. As the pilgrims walked the mountain paths to Jerusalem, they sang from an anthology of fifteen songs known as the “Pilgrim Psalms,” characteristically titled “A song of ascents” in the superscription. Psalm 121, known as “The Traveller’s Psalm,” is a prayer for journeying mercies, addressing safety and security concerns as we journey through life. This psalm is dominated by the Hebrew verb šāmar, rendered watches/watch ( vv. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) or keep (v. 7), meaning “to preserve, to guard, to watch carefully over.” Even as the psalmist speaks of unknown dangers, he confidently affirms that God—our Helper (vv. 1–3) and Keeper (vv. 4–8)—will continually watch over us.
K. T. Sim
Psalm 121
King James Version
121 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2 My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.
4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The Lord is thy keeper: the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand.
6 The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.
8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.