*This is a devotion I wrote for Centennial ARP Church’s staff in 2018. It is most fitting for the season we’re in, where our focus can be so “zoomed in” that we forget to look at the bigger picture all around us. I encourage you to do the activity in the first sentence! Blessings, Jeremiah.
Psalm 121
Here’s a spiritual exercise for this week: describe God.
Now go back up a line. Did you really describe him, or are you wanting to see what’s written? Really do it, describe God.
Was it difficult to describe God? In all likelihood (and I hope!), your mind shot directly to some aspect of who God is. Perhaps you latched on to his grace and mercy in the salvation of sinners. Perhaps you clung tightly to his goodness, providence, and control as things seem to be in uncontrollable chaos around you. Or was it the righteousness of God in a world that just doesn’t seem fair? As my grandfather says, “there’s more than one way to skin a cat.” Now let’s complicate things even more.
Did you describe God now (the first day May in 2020) the same way you did last year? What about ten years ago? Twenty? Here’s what I’m trying to get at: we describe God differently during certain seasons of our lives, but God keeps all of these “descriptions” as they are found in Scripture. We need the fullness of God all the time—not pieces of him. Here’s an example my history teacher loved (that I also used for a video devotion is you’re interested!). The disciple John describes Jesus this way: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). After reading this verse, he would ask which one we were, a “grace” Christian or a “truth” Christian. Jesus had both aspects fulfilled perfectly, but we always fall off the horse one way or the other. My history professor would go on to say that—generally—“grace” Christians almost always neglected living rightly (the truth), and, on the other hand, “truth” Christians typically lacked the charity that comes with salvation through faith alone.
This concept goes for our descriptions of God. When we focus in on God’s grace and mercy in salvation, we might neglect the fact that grace and mercy is bound up in the cost of God’s absolute righteousness (Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf). As we cling to God’s control, we may neglect the free will God has blessed us with to make appropriate decisions in light of his own revelation to us. In our cries of injustice around us, are we neglecting the truth that we, too, treat those around us wrongly?
Healthy intake of Scripture reveals our God in his miraculous fullness.
How do you describe God right now? Why do you describe him that way? Now how can his other descriptions about himself add to your current season or situation? Take Psalm 121 as an example, and we’ll do it in sections:
“I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD” (Ps. 121:1,2). God is a helper. Lifting up one’s eyes implies the need for help. To modernize the context, it could read like this: you’re walking over to Centennial from Elmwood and are suddenly surrounded by muggers looking to do you harm. You look around. Is anyone there? Now imagine your God whose name you know whooshing in to save the day. Remember, L-O-R-D is God’s personal name (Jehovah in our Psalter). God is a personal helper to the one in need. In other words, Jehovah, help!
“My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth” (Ps 121:2). This personal helper the Psalmist speaks of is not some John Doe from down the road. You know him by name! And this God is also the creator of all things. This means that the one trusting in the help of the LORD is trusting in the help of a God with absolute power. The one who made all things is the one who is helping is the one who you know. I hope your still with me!
“He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper” (Ps 121:3-5a). This personal God, who made everything, who is coming to help you, also enjoys the reality of absolute power. He is an unfailing keeper. Not only does he provide such awesome protection that you need not flee, but he also does it 24/7.
“The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night” (Ps 121:5,6). This I-know-who-that-is God, who is coming to help, who is absolutely powerful, who is now using that power to protect you 24/7 doesn’t stop there. He could have. He could have stopped at helper in v. 1, 2! But we get more. We get an always comforter, too. Even as God’s protection ramps up, comfort is there. Protection and comfort are not the same. Reassurance of protection and even blessing in the midst of unfailing protection is an immense benefit from our God.
“The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore” (Ps 121:7, 8). This is the Psalmist’s final statement. This God of whom is spoken of, who is personal helper, all maker, unfailing keeper, and always comforter is also absolute savior. Again, notice the difference in description between help, comfort, and salvation. God helps us in deliverance. God comforts us in deliverance. God delivers. Slight variations on the very same truth lead us to nuances of beautiful spiritual discovery.
This Psalm was written to be sung, and this song was meant to be sung while one walked the path to Jerusalem for worship. This path would be the same one Jesus used as the setting for the parable of the good Samaritan. I lift up my eyes to the hills. Is anybody there? That parable from Jesus was told to answer the question of neighbor status. Who is our neighbor? Who should we love? But that’s not the first question to ask. A better first question is this: who is this God that loves me and has given me right desire to love others? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation [appeasement] for our sins” (1 John 4:9, 10).
How do you describe God? Will you nuance, grow, expand, grasp, and even learn more descriptions of God? The benefits are longstanding and the blessings sure. May God grow our knowledge of him from day to day as we praise him always, and may this growth benefit those around us as we share the Good News of Jesus Christ.
P.S.—This was only one Psalm out of 150, which is one book out of 66 in our Bibles. Remember the exercise and use it well: describe God.