Where Does My Help Come From?

Scripture Reading: Psalm 121:1-2

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth…

As beautiful as these verses are, they do present a couple of interpretative challenges. Is the first line a statement of fact or a question? The ESV has it as a statement of fact. The Psalmist is looking up toward the hills. Some believe this was meant to be a question like, “Should I lift up my eyes to the hills for help?” I think the way the ESV and other translators phrase it is the correct understanding.

The second question then becomes, what hills? If the Psalmist is making a statement of fact, he would most likely mean the hills of Jerusalem on which the Temple stood. This song is one of the “Songs of Ascent.” That is a group of Psalms (from 120-134) that were traditionally sung by Jews who were making the pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the great feasts.

Therefore, the picture we are meant to see is of a pilgrim who is weary and longing for his spiritual home. As he draws near, he lifts his eyes and sees the hills of Jerusalem in the distance and his heart is encouraged.

What is, I believe, critical at that point is what is said next. While the pilgrim has his eyes set on home, the physical geography is not the center of his hope and faith. He wisely makes that distinction. He looks toward the hills of home but he hopes for help from the Lord.

This is why he focuses in particular on the Lord as the maker of heaven and earth. He doesn’t think of God as a tribal god who is bound to a city in Israel. Yes, Jerusalem was the Lord’s chosen place for the temple and the feasts, but God is not contained in Israel, Jerusalem, the Temple, or the Holy Place.

Today, in our struggles we might look for help in the Word of God, the church, or our Christian friends, but we wisely and instinctively know that our help comes from the Lord. They might be the means through which God helps us, but God is the source of our help.

And what a God! The Maker of Heaven and Earth! What problem can we bring to Him that is too hard? What question would He be unable to answer? What need can He not provide for?

May you be able to say with the Psalmist, “My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”