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Day 23 - God, Our Help

The older I’ve gotten, the more I have felt vulnerable.  Nothing that has been there for several decades has gotten easier.  Physically the ability to do almost everything has become more difficult.  Now, does it mean it times for despair?  No, because in the physical changes there is also a greater wisdom of what is necessary versus what is absolute.

The reason I began with this is because with age comes a reality check.  We’re not just getting older, we’re journeying towards a future where we need more help.

That’s the nature of the journey of the pilgrim.  We need help.  The Psalms of Ascent, sung by the pilgrim on his journey “up” to Jerusalem knows it – he needs help and that help comes from one source.

Psalm 124:1-8
1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side— let Israel now say—
2  if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us,
3  then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;
4  then the flood would have swept us away, the torrent would have gone over us;
5  then over us would have gone the raging waters.
6  Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth!
7  We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!
8  Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

Did you notice the words:
·         Rose up gainst us
·         Swallowed us up alive
·         Anger kindled against us
·         Flood would have swept us
·         Torrent gone over us

There are lots of things out there every day that have the potential of being against us, 
Except….
Except…

“If it had not been the LORD who was on our side…”  - twice he says it.

And to make the point perfectly clear he ends it with saying it again…

“Our help is in the name of the Lord…”

Think about it a bit.  Life is not a walk in the park where everything is beautiful and safe.  Everyday life isn’t easy.  We never know what will make up the days and week ahead. 
Someone is going to face sickness, an accident, tragedy. 
The world is always precariously close to tragedy.  Headlines and news reports remind us every day of the potential for our ability to destroy our own world.

But the song of the pilgrim is not based on “something bad might happen”, but rather that I am free to walk through life because my help is in the LORD.

I am free to trust
I am free to live with hope
I am free to not be trapped by fears
I am free, not because something might not happen, but because regardless of what does happen, my help is in the Lord.

The Heidelberg Catechism summed it up best: 

What is your only comfort in life and death?

 That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.


Peace

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